Evening star., 1921-04-17
TME: High noon. with q, glorious

Place: The grounds OF the
j Milo County Fair and Cents
Driving Association.
People and properties: Arriving
throngs: the blank spaces of the
grandstand darkening gradually; the
inner oval gulping automobiles and
horse-drawn buggies; the fabric Of a
balloon slowly bulking with the
thrust Of hot air, as if a gigantic
mushroom were growing IN the
grassed inclosure: horses OF the
aftarnoon.s caro-. hooded and blanket
ed, led In slow promenade by swipes.
Music: The excellent staccato of the
jazz stuff in the tents of the dancing
girls, the whine of bladder whistle es
and the monotonous obligato OF the
merry-go-round panmelodians
All Seti
Such was the state of the Milo fair.
A new management was endeavorlng
to make things hum. The old-timers,
who placed horse-trottinS above other r
attractions, were both resentful and
skeptical. The old-timers grouped
grounds. in the quieter purlieus of the
stalls where they could hear them
selves talk. At the other end were
the thoughtless modern merrymakers
VINO enJOSeu lakes anu lOollSn Sio" .
and believed in the trend of the times
in amusements, and were densely
ignorant of the Importance of equine
pedigree and past performances.
Therefore, SO to speak, the two ideas
were at war with each other that day
on the fair grounds; there were hints
that there might be a clinch between
conservatism and free rein. At any
rate, old Horace P. Towle. down at the
horse end, averred with disgust that
i ha ~~v ar
the grounds. that the world had be-
come SO silly during the ten years of
his retirement from the track. He was
back this day. like ghost from the
past. Most horsemen in the state
thought that old Horace P. Towle had
been dead long before.
But let these newfanglers rave and
hoot and howl" said he. They never
can change my idea that plain,
straight hoss-trot is what folks really
banker for and is what they're willing
to pay for. And I'd never be down to
brass tacks like this. if 1 hadn't been
cheated by. jodtggered renegade of
a partner"
Mr. Towle had only one horse in his
String"
In the old days. when he and Level
lyn Sturnell were in partnership. they
followed the state circuit with eight
or ten trotters.
In contrast to Mr.. Towle. Mr.. Stur-
nell, in a dingy little tent at the upper
and foolish end of the grounds, pro-
fessed to see the signs of the times in
the way of entertainment. He had
given up horses. He had a small and
surly black bear that sometimes could
be induced to sit upright or stand on
his head occasionally. if sufficiently
encouraged by a horsewhip and pro-
family. Mr.. Sturnell's son-in-law, as
sociated with him in the ownership of
the little tent, had a tame moose. 1t
was exhibited in the tent at 10 cents
look; for modest sum Mr.. Sturnell
@ had @d been driving the animal on fair
tracks. an exhibition half-mile. 'The
only trotting bull moose in the world" :"
was the way the announcer's mega
phone put it.
Il stuck to hosses, and what hap
pens" was Mr.. SturneIrs lament
Whae the gang didn't get away from
me on the track was gaffied by q
1odiggered renegade of a partner"
\ y
WAY down at the end of the stalls
man was dragging a balky
black bear: the man was Lell Sturnel
And very near gossiping group.
Horace P. Towle was serving as
as escort for horse. Mr. Towle had
thin legs that were curved in n sort
of wishbone style, and he walked
almost on the sides of his feet. He
was humped over with the ',sulky
siouch, and his drivers cap was pro-
svided with such a sugar-scoop Of a
visor that not much of his face was
visfoIe except from the end Of the
nose downward.
can remember when them two
were in partnership, stated a man,
who was pairing an apple which he
mad sneaked from the exhibition
hUildjp0
doing the state fair circuit with six
good ones. every season." He junked
on a cube of apple and at the morsei
from the tip of his, knife-blade.
Making a clean-up"
II remember the time they had
Cooper John and Belle Ellen" said
another informant "Lell would al
ways drive John to first money. seeing
that John had a mark and q SPAWN
, and couldn't be kept in the game
much longer. Hod would pull Belle
till her lower jaw hung down like the
tailboard of a cart, keeping her from
a mark. and making sure of second
money. The old cuss would look so
innocent when the judges called him
into the stand that they never had
the heart to take him or and put an
other driver up. But there wasn't a
Jockey on the circuit who didn't call'
eHl fuSH AelI anu k1OlO-OdCk fOQ.
] tell you, dishonesty may act like q
winner as far as the three-quarters
pole but she quits like blazes on the
homestretch!"
Looks like it." averred another.
Here's Lell down here with that
tame bear. making the bear stand on
Its head and then passing the hat;
here's Hod with only that twelve hun.
dred pounds Of cat-meat hitched onto
q bone-spavin. For goodness sake
has he entered it? What class?'
Two-nineteen."
THE two Of 'em did we'll in partner
ship. What split 'emT'
Probably they got so used to cheat
in outsiders in the trotting season
that they turned around in the win
ter. in the slack time. and went to
cheating each other to pass away
time" suggested the apple man. "At
any rate. they wound up busted"
The next time Mr.. Towle sauntered
that way mooking himself along on
his thin legs, one Of the group sug-
gested amiably that it was good to
see an old-timer back in the game
again.
What are you going to give US in
the two-nineteen today" inquired
one of them
You have spoke to me kindly and
asked fair QUESTION: here's what I've
got" He stripped of hood and blank
ct. "She's Mustache Maud"
There was no comment for some mo-
ments. The horsemen seemed to find
some difficulty in getting any words
out. Maud was of the ancient Gothic
type of horse architecture, and her
Slated sides suggested that she need
ed to be shingled She had plenty of