The Philipsburg mail., 1897-11-12

test to come Off on their premises. and
that the North people have not already
arranged all particulars and worked
out trials good enough to bet on. We
may expect the engagement, If it is
carried ont, to cause vast amount Of
all Of them utterly untrustworthy) for
parallel trials. or something thereto
approaching. can easily call to mind
wagers something like this. Among
them the best is one old Doctor Short
house told me. My old friend was
great on a match between an aged
racer of Epson and a pig. To appre-
ciate the anecdote properly you must
accept the proposition that pigs nat
ural pace Is just tritie faster than
that of any created being sent in pur-
suit Now, it occurred chat a hard
headed derider of Is stud Of old horses
offered to back pig--not his pig in
particular, but any average sort of pig
to beat a horse we'll known at su-
hurban jumping meetings. By SO do
ling he raised the horse proprietor S
hottest ire, and articles were quickly
signed. All the pig backer stipulated
for was, imprimis, two months for
training from the date Of the pig being
delivered into his hands. Another
stipulation was that the horse must be
ridden by a jockey in colors to be de-
clared there and then. Lastly, the
quarter of mile course was to be fixed
at the time of making the first de-
posit. All was agreed. AS soon as the
porker was handed over to be put in
training nice sty was put up for him
with the feeding trough 20 yards away.
For the first day poor piggy had no
prog whatever, while another hireling
bacon maker was regaled in his sight.
Next morning a most appetizing menu
OF hog-wash was emptled under his
very nose into the trough, which was
moved on 40 yards, and he did fine
time to it when let out. So the train
ing went on the trough was gradually
shifted so that piggy had farther and
farther to bolt, and in his glrttonous
eagerness he acquired a fine turn of
speed-natural and unassisted speed,
you understand, up to this AS soon
as piggy fully understood the game
new incentive to make haste was turn.
ed on in the shape of lad clad in the
colors declared for the horse matched
to beat the pig, said rider being armed
with fine ng-thonged hunting
crop. This terror lay in wait for piggy
and directly he quilted his sty (Which,
at the first sign of hog wash in the dis
tance, he soon learned to do in way
that Sheffield sprinter-one on the
job, bien entendu-might have envied)
caused the unhappy animal much
anxiety and Inconvenience. Directly
the pig got fairly away, the crop
wielder rode after him shouting and
hallooing and whacking at him with
the horrible thong till the pursued was
safely lodged in the other sty where
the food was. By degrees the course
was extended to the full quarter of a
mile, and piggy got beautifully fit.
For the "a hours before he was to make
his debut as public racer, buckets of
sweetly sour buttermilk ETC., We're
paraded i'll front of his residential sty,
and in his agOnized view quietly car
ried to the far end of the course, where
the poor animals feelings were out
ragged by beholding strange swine gor-
mandizing on his allowance On the
day they bet odds on the horse, whose
rider, clad IN the agreed colors which
the other competitor had so long and
painfully associated with bashing on
the hide, was an experienced perform
er under proper rules. Bless you he
was never in it The pigs hackers at
intervals emptied food in his sight
and within range of his smell Imme-
diately he was loosed from his sty he
caught sight Of the race-horse and
jocky, and knew by the colors what to
expect-an awful hiding-so set off for
dear life, with agonizinged squeals, for
a haven of peace and plenty. Speedy
Payne or the champion sprinter of all
time could not have caught HIM, and
he had both fore feet in the trough be-
fore the horse came within 20 yards
a result which goes to prove my orig
inal proposition that pigs natural
pace is a trifie faster than his pur-
suer's You can prove it yourself any
day you please to try to cope with a
in