Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1896-03-13
LETTER FROM PRINCE WILLIAM.
Correspondence Alexandria Gazette.l
WATERFALL, Va, March IL.

WATERFALL, va, hafcn II.
Well, the long agony is over, the
Maupin bill is passed and the advocates
of that doubtful measure are, / pre-
sumo, patting each other on the back
and congratulating themselves that
they have taken one step nearer heav-
en-. Instead of doing so, however, it is
nv opinion that they are big with false
conceptions which time will prove to
be as complete fasco as that of the
famed mountain when similarly circum-
stanced. 1 have heard somewhere that
scientists proclaim that an owls hlth
is the most worthless substance upon
the face of this sublunary sphere,
and vet l would not give an
infnitesimal pinch oft for man whose
pulse did not quicken whilst gazing on
pretty woman or handsome horse,
though doubtless there are some God
forsaken specimens of humanity who
are unable to appreciate either the one
or the other. Virginia has always
been regarded as the home of the race
horse, and my earliest recollections are
associated with them. My father told
Col. Richard Tyler, of Prince William
the mare Stella, from which be raised
Sarah, and from whose progeny The do
lus family Mr.. Hancock, OF Albemarle,
has realized between seventy and eighty
thousand dollars. The raising of blood
ed horses has been source OF great
profit to the Virginia farmers, and why
our Soons should imperil that business
by passing any law of doubtful benefit ]
cannot image. Old d15op never ex-
emplihes his knowledge of human
nature more fully than when he wrote
the fable of the dog in the manger, and
it is this pernicious principle of envy,
which the bountiful giver OF all good
has implanted in the human breast
which is responsible for many things
that appear on the surface and not
traced to their true origin. Abraham
Lincoln was doubtless actuated by the
purest and most patriotic motives in
bis efforts TO emancipate the negro !;
while with the vast majority of his
followers the ruling course was that
enumerated above. Why did the
Creator so constitute man that ma
iority of the race should derive pleasure
from seeing horses run and laying
wagers thereon to increase the interest
in the result if there was such crying
sin in so doing? 1 take pleasure in
seeing horses run and in betting on the
result, and my brother does not. Is
that any reason for his going to work
to destroy my pleasure? Surely the
world is large enough for all of the
human race to enjoy themselves with
out getting in the way of or interfering
with each other. There are some things
that are perfectly harmless and molten
sive unless meddled with or stirred, and
ii people will not let them alone, they
have only themselves to blame if they
are Inconvenience thereby. Those
members of Congress who voted for a
law prohibiting athletes from contend
ing in trials of skill and endurance in
any Territory of the United States, and
then voted for precipitating the coun-
try into bloody war, wherein count
less thousands would undoubtedly have
lost their lives, strained at gnat and
swallowed camel. They were doubt
less pregnant with false conceptions
and the verdict of posterity will doubt
less be partwiunt monies nascetur RI
diculus mus. Yours truly, b.