Las Vegas daily optic. [volume] (Las Vegas, N.M.) 1880-1908, 1906-03-07

lucky, In that brief sentence IL OK.
pressed the utmost fulAllment OF my
old friends eMthy ambition. To own,
10 breed and 70 4 c as good horses
as may be seen upon the turf--that
Is glory enough for one man. Bed.
ford's keen judgment or horses and
all that pertains TO them. coupled with
an astute knowledge OF human ma,
ture In all It's infinite variety OF good.
ness and venialty, as revealed on the
race course, make him an interesting
companion.
Upon an occasion the talk turned
To some OF the great andA rae
ers OF the past generation. And then
IL was that Col. Bedford's head lite I
and his eyes kindled with the light Of
profound Interest
Did ] ever tell you" he asked,
about old High Steppah and how he
| won the Dubby"
Being OF the rank and file and al
most wholly unyersed In the volums
! inous history OF the turf, was
| obliged humbly to confess that I had
not heard OF the exploits OF old High
Stopper. or how he won the Derby.
The colonel chuckled softly and
! with evident enjoyment It the mem.
cries awakened BY his own question.
! And then he began:
AS God Is my Judge and timekeep-
an. sub: | sweah that Steppah was
the ugliest colt evan bawn to a thuah'
| bred mayuh. Mose--that's n Of my
niggahs-comes all the way over my
house one maynin' 10 tell me that
Flynn Angels got a boy baby. An
because the young I'M was two hands
highah than any colt even bawn at
the Beeches. we dubbed him old High
Steppah. An that name stuck to him
all his life. An awkwahd! Damme
II he didn't fall ovah his own feet a
bundled times a day. ] Don made
up my mind Id git rid of him at the
fust opportunity, BUT no n evar
seem to take a shine to Steppah.
AT the sales he'd sta aroun' and
look az wistful ana homely as a home.
ly spinstah al a bah. No n evan
looked at him vice. One glance
was enought to print his pictuh on q
mans memory fob a lifetime.
He was a poah colt, too, and new
All took on enough flesh TO make his
aide stan out decent. But fob his
habit o. falIin down evan few min
utes / think Id ma put him In the
hail fob a hatrack.
We'll, sub, we couldn't get anyone
to take Steppah, an SO we iest kept
him aroun fob a joke. An when
we'd begin to talk about pickin' out
a candidate for the Dubby, someone
would always make IL a point 10
! speak OF Steppah, an then laugh. An
Steppuh'd look kinder sheepish, as ii
lie knew he wasn't Beau Brummel an
wished to God he was, an then we'd
all laugh again.
sBut. sab, / always felt a whole
lot o sympathy fob Steppah; he was
a gentleman at hah.. He had no bad
habits and was blessed with a pub
feet disposition. In all his outward
physical aspects, however, Steppah
was nothin but a plain hnvarnished
stack Of bones an ugliness. He al
ways somehow reminded me OF Abe
Lincoln. He was all right, an SO
was Lincoln, but you couldn't prove
Il ID eitheh case BY theah looks. Bnt
the NOAH I studied Steppah the noah
] loved him, an | determined he
should have his chance In the void.
| gave him the best Of everything an
told the men i bring him out, an
always 10 be gentle an affectionate
with him. An so, rum bein' an uit.
cast an laughin' stock, Steppah sud
denly became the pet OF the fawm,
An he seemed to feel the change.
an showed in. every wah he could
that he was willin' 10 do his paht In
the effort TO effect the wished fob
pietamorphosis. Little by little he
| seemed to cayah less about stumblin'
over his feet. Day by day he got q
| hettah action, an week by week his
skin cleahed an his coat got mob
| shiny. But no genii in the void could
have made steppah anything but ugly
and awkward. He got to be such a
Joke at the sales that ! determined
10 keep him off The list an not to
: show him. But that only made the
boys the mob eagan to tantalize me
about him. They'd write me nnony!
nous lettahs fun all ovah the coun-
try. offering me five. ten. and twenty
thousand dollahrs fob old High
s. eppah--dcad nh alive.
An sub, that soht OF thing went
Oh foh SO long that 1t made me just
n little wahm. an ! said % myself,
III live II make Old Steppan tunn
soh pockets inside out nh I'll quit
boss racin' fob good. An FUN that
time on ! lived with Steppah.
" tched bis feed. I studied his action
an ] handled him. BY the time he
was two yeahs old | had him wukkin'
OF my course eve'y day. An while he
got bettah an bettah, 1t was slow an
unpromisin'. But Old Steppah nevah
So $50