The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1900-06-19

Nature meant JeWeJL lOI Il So1idi pun
sopher. Fate in elfin despite made him
a racing man. Fate's instrument was
his uncle. a rich and eccentric bachelor,
IN whom breeding horses and running
them afterward had seemed the only
things really worth while in a Vacuous
world. When death came a-kIocKlnS
at the door he did not think SO mdch
about the Jewett name. 1t was the
VINEYARD stable which Welshed upon
his mind-so Jewett inherited his lor-
tune contingently upon keeping up lhe
stable.
Jewett did not complain. He had no
consuming desire to keep on "ofklhS'
though he had worked with fair success
and hard enough to give an exquisite
relish to idling. now that idling was. IN
a manner, a duty. Moreover, ne louhu
himself nightly entertained; the turf
WAS wholly a new field OF observation
TO him. Bud Heaton, the trainer, whom
Iewett had inherited along with the sta
ble was n continuing delight. Bud was
a wiry fellow. six foot at least, gwen 10
dislocating the commemorative ENG
fish and set in his ways as the eVerlaSt-
inc hills. He knew a horse when ne
saw it, alive and having its being, put
nothing living ever moved him to en-
thusiasm. That was the prero&atlVe OF
the dead. He had a reverence amount
ing almost to awe for pedigree. Nat
urally, to his mind, it was sacrilege OF
the worst sort to name q colt or tilly eX-
cept in such fashion as to at least sug-
sest either sire. dam or the bright par
ticular star of the line.
So. when Jewett said of a sleepy.
d~roop-headed chestnut flly, long-waist-
ed to lankness: call her Sarsaparilla!
Never saw a more palpable case OF
that tired feeling" the trainer protest
ed:
I tell yer whut-no %critter wont
never earn oats. much less .nothin'
more. eff you call it out o its name
that-a-way That thar flly's bred to
run-Hanover out o a Great Tom mare
little as she looks it. You jest as we'll
shoot her right now, as ter go an
name her somethin' that don't mean
nothin'. Now had thought Tomhanner
would be just the size
Jewett shook his head obstinately:
'Heaton. YOU are ungrateful, and short
sighted" he said. The name strikes
me as a positive inspiration. You can
shorten it either way. In the stable it
may be Sassy, or 'Rilly. just as you
choose"
Then he strolled off, laughing. with
his hands in his pockets. Heaton shook
a fist after him, and slapped the flly
on her quarter. 1t was 4 quarter full
of power-in fact there was power ev-
erywhere, although the creature was
modelled on lines SO ungainly. She had
been highly tried. and Heaton had hau
great hope Of landing with her one OF
the big two-year-old events. Now he said
spitefully: ''Win the nursery, NOthin.
You couldn't win a quarter race, ~carryin'
that name"
sarsaparilla dropped her head and
looked sleeper than ever. But that
afternoon, she picked up her name and
her 9S pounds. and simply smothered a
field that had the best colts of the sea-
son in it. Still Heaton was ugly.
Wait, The hoodOo hadn't had no time
ter work" he said. Sure enough, the
next week, Sarsaparilla, with her three
pound penalty. came in a bad last behind
half the colts she had defeated with such
ease.
HIM. Turn her out. and let her
grow up to the name" Jewet said sage
ly by way of answer to Heaton's lamen-
~tations. Heaton would not agree to that.
He kept the flly going, and she seemed
to thrive on hard work. She ate justify,
frollicked and pranced in her exercise,
nipped her rubber if he did not use her
exactly to her liking, and found out
that she possessed a fine handy pair of
heels. She also ran beautifully. the day
before q race. Race days were her chos-
en- seasons Of elegant leisure.
After three months of it Jewett sent
her forcibly to grass. He had been tempt
ed TO sell her-but selling, except be
tween seasons, was against Wynyard
Stable traditions. Besides the filly had
won out more that a seasons expense
that lucky first time. She came back
to training in her three-year-old form.
tanker, leggier, u~ngainlier than ever.
Speedier, too-when she chose to run.
The when was always an unknown guam
tity, until after the race. Sometimes she
ran her race over night, after her old
habit. At others she simply would not
work, but went away from the post like
a lamb, and was never headed until she
came to the wire.
If her owner had not been lucky enough
to back her decently when she lost, and
let her run loose when she won, he
would have come through the season
without a thread of character. Heaton
stuck doggedly to his antipathy to the
name, swearing over and over, that as
Tomhanner, the brown mare would have
turned out another Miss Woodford, or at
least a bigger Firenzi. Heaton believed
~ iNNh " g ~ dii JIII. Tie DIONI
mares black rubber: so, most of all, did
Extry, her rider, who was Jim's stepson.
the Wynyard Stables second jockey, and
as near a bundle Of Whipcord, steel wire
and WhalebOne as q black lad IS years
old we'll could be.
Il done call dat dar boy Extry ease
he sholy th'owed in ter de match I
made. | nuver dreampt Mriar had i'm
Jim explained to Jewett. Jewett liked
Extry. so did SarSaparilla-shortened in
stable mouths to Sassy. as Jewett had
foretold. She had promoted Extry, indeed.
from stable boy to jockey; and would run
Tor him, when she would run at all. bet
ter than for anybody else. AS a conse-
quence, EXtry worshipped her. She revel-
ed III long races. When EXtry held her
hard, knowing there was nothing ahead
ana the winning post a good mile awav.
ne was IN heaven. The wind of her mad
rush might almost blind him. his head
might grow dizzy as the furlong nosts
flashed past, and the roar of the grand
stand swelled hOarse and angry as the
groWl of stormy seas, but he did not mind