The Pascagoula democrat-star., 1899-07-21


They know his temper; know where
he falters: know whether he is a free
runner that will do his best without
urging, or whether he needs actual
contest To rouse him to his best en-
deavor He Is an integral part Of the
race, or Of the trial preparatory to the
race. The trainer may depend only
upon his eyesight, his watch and what
the lad tells him when he dismounts
as to how the horse acted under him.
Or course many Of the boys fall
away. The life is one Of peculiar ex-
citement and temptation. 1t lacks
entirely the refining influences which
attach even to the humblest home.
The value Of money Is never known
in it. The tendency of gambling per.
vades the atmosphere in which they
live. The uncertainty attending con-
tests of speed possibly induces that
fatalism which eventually possesses
them. Their food and clothing and a
place to sleep, of which they always
are certain, aid the gambling instinct.
The morrow meyer is Of any concern
to them, save when it may see one OF
their horses racing.
The bright lads who become jockeys,
and who earn almost fabulous sums in
a season, are thus not fitted to appre.
ciate the value of money, and they
have no transition period in which tO
learn its value. Their season is a
brief one. They either make small
fortune in short time or they make
comparatively little. They mount
from the stable into the saddle and II
takes boy with strong will to with
stand the temptations that beseI
him--not so much the temptation tt
be dishonest, for that nowadays in re
duced TO a minimum, but the temp
tation to waste his money and hi
health in reckless dissipation. From
monthly pittance Of $40 to $l5 to tn,
earning of from $1,000 to 1000 in
season Of six months is a step tina
few, even with better facilities fo
steadying themselves than stabl'
boy has, could take with safety.
| In some wellregulated stables per
ccntage of the earnings OF the boy j,
trustced for him. Boys in stable,
like this are thus provided for wher
they become of age, or when, through
increasing weight, they are of little
value to their employers. But with
age they are better able to care foI
themselves, and it is especially to the
lads that the care OF the trainer is di.
rected. Men who have interests
in the turf, financial or sentimental,
are paying more attention to this fea-
ture every year. Many of the best
stables employ a school teacher, who
gives lessons to the boys four evenings
each week.
All about there iSa growing recog-
milton that the bright honest stable
boy is the honorable and successful
trainer of the future. There may
be captains nowadays who never have
been above the crOsstrees, and there
may be generals who never saw an ac-
tual battle. but there cannot be a
Jockey or a trainer who has not dealt
directly with the horse The best
and most successful trainers to-day
are men who were good stable boys,
and every one Of them you find exer-
cislng his best care of the boys under
him.
There is James Rowe, worth half
million dollars; John Hyland, who
holds as one single Investment block
of gilt-edged stock for which he paid
1925 900; james H. Mccormick, who
has rows OF tenements in Brooklyn
and in Hoboken; Frank McCabe, who
will own blocks Of city squares when
Gravesend is settled, as it will be
within few years, and half score
of Others at the head of their profes
fesslon as trainers. They were stable
boys and worked themselves up, ant
every one of them is interested in hav
ing the youngest and frailest of hi
help bright. intelligent, honest ant
careful about the practiceof his faith
whatever it may be. A racing stabl
is far from being a Sunday school
and boys are not to- be encouraged II
seeking II, for where one succeeds
hundred fail in bettering their condi
tiOn, but the boys In them are not al
lowed to run as wild as popular opln
ion assumes TREY do.