Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1905-07-07
THE COUNTRY RACE TRACK.
BY LII l. +. VERNON.


a race-Lorse, for Tom Blake, friend
of mine, operates a hack IN a small
town in Eastern Orcgon-and who by
the way, hardly makes living at
that-has one he picked up cheap, and
from the looks OF it you would think
he got it for n song, | mean perhaps
for nothing. if he softly whistled after
10 L. NJ. I've feelin' for you!"
In fact when it is at the hac k stand
there is always somebody rushing to
help Tom lift it to its feet. | believe
the horse likes to play the game for
little boys and girls, called King
William was King James son." and
so on, for ho is always willing to
knecl down" Poor fellow! some
times say to myself when gazing at
him, that | would rather see race
between two burros, at Hot Springs,
Arkansas. But never mind, | was
persuaded to join very select party
bound for the race-track, recently.
should not have went had | not
known that George Lewis has been
member of the Prohibition party for
some time. He is such a patronizcr
of the booze bazaar" when he is
putting away the liquid that at last
" bi,eth like a serpent and stinge,h
like an adder" that | wouldn't trust
him any farther than | could throw
him, and that is not far. Men
Only" was our motto, as the sign at
some shows read.
How got permission from my wife
to let me go, would tax the resources
OF . Florence Marvin, to the ut
most. But diplomacy did it. prom
ised to take her to Leschi Park, when
VIC went to Seattle, so she could see
the seals fed.
Among the select party was George
Lewis, whom have mentioned before !;
Mr.. Pete Brady, who Of course, is an
ornament to any society, as the papers
say; Jack Jameson, who plays the
banjo; Eddie Penny, who brought his
snare drum instead OF his bass drum,
for which l was very thankful; and II
fellow by name of Harry Saunders,
whom l didn't know, but he blows a
trumpet, ! think, one OF those that
you push in and out. He told me
that he was at one time a member Of
the Carrot Cabbage Band in Hacikma,
Missouri. After hearing him blow
the thing, have no reason whatever
to doubt his statement.
This WAS the crowd | WAS with, and
we started away to the rack-track in a
turnout which presented gay and
festive appearance, as the papers say.
As we started away Saunders struck
up on his trombone the "Anchor's
Weighed" Of course, this was All
old tune, but so was his trombone, so
it didn't damage the instrument as
badly perhaps, as it would have done
a bran.new one. Still the tune
sounded TO me more like a dead
march. said he struck up. He
also struck out, right in the middle oi
Tom Blake's back. l think the piece
starts with the tears falling gently
from pretty girls dreamy eyes.
Well, Harry started it by making all
sorts of swear words come fast and
furious from Toms mouth. The tune
ended in what some band.masters, l
think, term a "broken melody"
But never mind; I began whistling
Ben Hur's chariot race march, &C.
companied by Jack Jameson strum-
ing the banjo, and Eddie Penny Civ.
ing rat-tat-tat ON tho drum. l have
no doubt but what the music would
have sounded all right, il we all had
been in tune, but we wasn't. / was
under the impression they were still
playing the chariot march, and so was
Saunders with his trombone, and gee !!
what q racket he did make. But the
others had changed to the tune called
"Of to the Races" and the melody
caused a policeman to stop us and
make few remarks. But this did
not dampen our ardor, so on we went,
passing crowds OF people, bits OF paper,
peanut stands, balloon peddlers, All d
so on.
And Tom Blake did show them
how to 60, and Harry Saunders did
show them how to blow. All the way
to the race-track he kept it up. The
chuck holes in the road were some
what awkward for him, but he played
so we'll that all the horses we passed
Il mean that passed us-couldn't
keep from dancing to his music. And
when Jack Jameson joined in with
his banjo, and Eddie Penny with his
drum. why, man alive, the electric
cars themselves nearly attempted a
rag" and when the rest OF us joined
in-well, l guess we were going some.
At a business looking house we
stopped to see if they we're we'll sup
piled with refreshments, and with tina
proper quality, and then we proceed
on to the race. track.
And my, what crowd. Upon my
soul l never saw such sight in oil
my lie before. And the noise, and
the banana skins, and the fan-venders
and the sun, and the sons-of-guns, and