The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1910-09-08
GARRISON,S FINISH.

GARRISON'S FINISH.
There is vital essence in any man who can
SO impress himself upon the world to give his
name to a quality, or to a vice. The world
is sometimes quick in Its sympathies and hates;
it is ever slow in its tenacious judgments. When
il accepts and typiies any mans work, it ia be-
cause of an iron substance in some field of effort
TO millions who never saw race track or
quivered with excitement as the hoofs Numbered
down the straight III whirlwind battle OF speed,
the expression Garrison finish carries a clear
and certain significance. 1t means the quality of
fight to the bitter end 1t means victory pulled
from the mouth of defeat. 1t calls to the minds
vision those grim pictures of will struggling
against fate, asserting it, own powers, believing
in itself to the final gasp. 1t carries the thrill
with which humanity recognizes the eternal
truth that spirit owns no master.
Garrison was simply small. wiry, hard-vis-
aged Jockey now off the track for years. As
personality he was the typical, unloyely product
of the stables. As man he was ignorant, vicious,
immoral, or unmoral-as You will He was a
jockey, with all that the word implies, so far as
surface indications went But somewhere deep
in the soul of Garrison there was something ex-
pressed in terms of jockeyship that made him
more than Il jockey. Somewhere in his veins
ran that priceless spiritual exhaation which lift
cd him out of his profession and made him a
man Seeing this, the world went to the race
track to coin phrase which should Stand for
one of the highest Of human manifestations.
For Garrison could ridei Once mounted he
became the spirit incarnate Of the race. Once
past the starter, life held for him nothing save
the wire, and victory. From his hands, from
the cruelty of his whip, from the contact of his
knees from every quivering nerve in his body he
communicated to his mount the imperous call to
the expenditure of the last ounce of effort Sulk
as he might, refuse to run as he would, no horse
failed to respond when The Snapper made the
call. And hopelessly beaten as he might seem
| to be- nothing short of the flag ever convinced
! Garrison that he was not going to win. To have
seen this human ynamo of purpose making the
final dash of great race-lifting his horse for
ward, crying to him, beating him, coaxing him
10 one grand orgasm of action--was to have
gained insight into the deeps of the human
heart. 1t was to know for certainty that life
is not circumscrbed by the body. 1t was to
come to a faith in the infinite power Of the hui
man mind.
The Renaissance of Garrison is suggested by
the news that he is appearing in race-track mono
/ logue in vaudeville Limitations III horsefesh
keep contemporary jockeys young. Age brings
weight. Game" as The Snapper doubtless
is to-day, he could not avoid paunch; blessed
with stomach, he could not remain on the
track. So hddles for living from popular
priced audiences The greatest man who ever
spored silk.
We do not know where the moral of Garrison
lies, except il is always good morals to contem
plate man who does one thing well, and who
believes he can do it best of all-and who, be-
lieving does it anyhow. Probably Garrison is
content 10 bask in the glory that his, mean
while making a slow finish on the boards. 1t
would seem, however, that it is poor finish for
him to make; that Fate, had it been kinder, might
have let him pass with the feel of a mighty horse
between his knees with the roar of the race at
his shoulder blade, with the riot and the tumult
Of Garrison finish" still ringing in his ears.
But Fate is careless even of those who manage to
give the world phrase,