The Washington weekly post. (Washington, D.C.) 1878-1916, 1899-03-07

| A lit:le company OF choice spirits were
| sitting In one Of the aleoves OF the Riggs
| House bar the other day discussing the
world. the devil, the flesh. and, incident
! ally, hOrsefesh. On the latter topic a GER
/ tain man Of the know-it-all type waxcd
particularly eloquent. Finally the subject
OF conversation drifted around to horse
mansh.p.
| do you know" said the man who
/ knew II all. there has been a whole lot
| of gun wasted on Rooseyeirs Rough
| Riders and their horsemanship? Talk
| about crack riders, they are not in it with
| the cavalry regiments OF Europe. Take
| the Italian cavalry, for instance. Those
| NEIL can go mounted where even a goat
would shudder and figure on going TO
| the blacksmith TO get shOd The French
| army has some of the best riders in the
world, aud as for the English. they can [
| be beaten. Tnose boys of the Wes-
are in the primary school when it comes
to comparing them with these fellows
| They ride those diminutive little bron-
! chos, whose every movement they know.
ana the tiny brutes are not big enough to
| bother man of much weight"
| Yes, I've heard all that before" sald
a man who had just ordered a dry Martini
| I've been to Iurrup myself, and I've
| seen all their best riders Fact is. I used
| 10 be in one of her British majesty :
sniartest cavalry regiments. But that is
aholher story-so III not tell you how l
happened to throw up my commission
ana 90 10 training polo ponies out in
/ wyoming. I'm a citizen of the United
states now. Speaking OF polo don't
know of anything that calls for better
Workmanship than that very game. II
you want 10 see ii played better than it
can De played in England come out to
my raAch near Sheridan, WyomiI z. and
Walch those cow-punchers give j. a rat
nc lou VIII think that tney invented
| the game
But they ride those little broncbos
interrupted the man VINO knew it all.
Some l. .=,.sn Views.
Ihey can ride other horses, too" muir.
INJURED the other man as he stnped his
Martini and loOi ed out of the nav viz
DOW i was in Paris in 80. when Ruffalo
BIZ had his show over there near tina
Arc de Triomphe. He had lust brought
IL over from England, where the neonla
mad gone daft over it. saw il while
IL was in England too. and I can say
that ne took the breath AWAY from nv
OLD countrymen as nothing had eyer
zone before. The islanders like that sort
OF thing. FOur-ffths of them believe
mat this country is still bowling will
derness, where man kills a buffalo for
breakfast and enterta!ns his friends with
an Indian ghost dance i'm the evenipg
Ihey think that Bret Harte writes orr
BOOKS OF etiquette, and that our society
sWeIls lead the cotillions attired in buck
SKIN breeches and a flannel shirt. with
slX-shooter to settle disputes about the
nsufes SO you see that when Col. Cody
TOOK MS snow over there as representa-
i've American exhibit it fattered their
vanity to think that they were such good
guessers.
win Paris it was different. The Gauls
uIdi Know even as much as their friends
across the channel, but they Thought thew
MAD the thing sized UP to 4 hairs
breadth They were determined to see
hothii-S wonderful about it, Then they
oeSah 10 crlticise. Your average French
man is an argumentative animal He
uoesh necessarily have logic. but he has
d supply OF verbiage that will carry MIN
through the whole menu of debate, from
soup 10 nuts, and even then he isn't sat-
Isheu- Ihey advanced the same objection
about Buffalo BilPs horsemen that Won
$4,000 ANON7SNSit , hOuSn Riders q
moment ago. They said that the COWBOYS
were acquainted with the buckins pro-
pensltieS of their why little animals and
could anticipate their every movement.
Ihey insisted that the ponies were
Trained TO jump; that the stiff-legged
jumps and jerky leaps were tricks that
the American riders could have put I'D
had th1y been asleep in the saddle. All
this talk soon began TO hurt the show
The Paris papers began to take IL up. and
the hckle pOpulace made up their minds
that they had better riders at home. and
so they stayed away. The Figaro had
columns devoted to invidious comuarisons
between the foreign horsemen and the
french chasseurs. The wild untamed
spirit OF the cowboys could not stand This
and they threatened TO give the CAV cant
tai sample of wild Yves: life at fun tilt
down the Bots de Boulogne if the talk
didn't stop.
Il don't know what would have been the
outcome II fortune hadn't brought about
a chance to put the thing to practical
test. Most Of this knocking had ernanat-
ed from the jockey club, where Cody was
frequent visitor. 1t was hushed I'D
while he was around, but il began again
as soon as ne was gone. One day one Of
the directors came up TO Bill with what
he evidently considered cinch PROPOSE
tiCn.
The Wager.
al III h