The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1935-04-27
of
Italy Keep
Horses Calm
Smartest Stables House
Small, Long-Eared
Animals.
BY HELEN WORDEN
Times SpeciaI Writer

NEW YORK, April 27.-There is
IN run on Italian donkeys in
smart racing circles.
All point point met fans are
familiar with Maria, Ambrose
Clark's cunning, fuzzy gray Sicilian
burro. Maria is stable-mate for the
high-strung thoroughbreds Of the
famous Clark stables. Like Mary's
little lamb, wherever they go, she
goes.
Until recently, Willis Sharpe Kill
mer, another well-known turfsman,
also owned a little Italian donkey.
1t was a great family pet, running
around like dog, in and out Of the
house, and at the heels of the Kill
mers. Mr.. Kilmer bought the noun
tain canary Of State Senator Walter
w. Stokes, Cooperstown, N. Y. Sen
atOr Stokes has the corner on Ital-
ian donkeys in the United States.
Several years ago, when he was mo-
toring through Sicily, he acquired
Ravioh and Spaghetti. They cost
him $50 apiece in Italy. However,
by the time he had got the burros
into this country, they stood him
$3.50 each.
Il wanted them for pets" Senator
Stokes said, but 'Brose Clark and
Willis Kilmer were SO crazy about
them, that when Spaghetti and
Ravioli'S children came along I let
the boys have a couple"
Mr.. Kilmer'S donkey died a few
months ago. He has recently bought
two others Of Senator Stokes.
Soothing to Nerves
I saw Maria Clark couple of
days after she was foaled on Mr..
Clark's estate in Old Waterbury. She
was a funny, long-eared, knock
kneed little burro that chung close
to her mothers side. At the time of
her birth, there were five Italian
donkeys on Long Island. Clarence
Mackey owned one, Mrs. Payne
Whitney had another and there were
three on Mr.. Clarke's estate.
For some reason the most nervous
race horse in the world will calm
down at sight of an Italian donkey.
Everything is all right if the stable
mate is a Sicilian burro.
The donkeys are about the size of
a Newfoundland dog. 81 train mine
by Harvesting them and driving them
at a brisk pace in front of me" ex-
planned Senator Stokes. "I never
use a cart. Their harness is really
more like a double leash than any
thing else"
Kathleen and Charles Norris, the
writer's, have herd of Sicilian dom
keys on their California ranch. The
original pair came from Italy. Mr..
and Mrs. Norris also bought an Ital-
ian cart and harness with scarlet
and white plumes waving from the
collar. The children of Saratoga,
Cal, jog over the Norris ranch in
the Italian donkey-draW cart.
Mr.. and Mrs. Norris are at home
now fighting the state income tax.
don't know when we'll see them in
New York again.
Town STEPPED in History
Senator and Mrs. Walter Stokes
live in an historic section of New
York state. CoOperstoWn was found
ed by the father of j. Fennimore
Cooper. 1t is a quaint little village
in Otsego County, so miles west of
Albany, settled in 1888 when William
Cooper moved his family into what
was then a wilderness. James Fen
nimore Cooper died in Cooperstown
in 1851.
My memories of the author of the
Leather Stocking Series center about
Lewiston, N. Y, the tiny town on
Lake Ontario where my father was
born. The old stone inn beloved by
Cooper still is standing. They say
he wrote THE Last of the Mohi-
cans" while a guest at the ancient
hotel.
Monroe Douglas Robinson prob
ably knows more about the history
of Cooperstown than any other man
in New York His family home is
still there. His mother, the late
Mrs. Douglas Robinson, sister of the
late Theodore Roosevelt, spent many
summers in Otsego County.
The great barony of Cooperstown,
however, is the Ambrose Clark estate
on Lake Otsego. The place is run
like small town. Iroquois Farm is
an institution. Fifty-three hundred
acres owned by Ambrose Clark are
under cultivation. The estate orig
inally belonged to MIR. Clark's moth
er, the late Mrs. Henry Goldman
Potter, wife of one of New York's
most famous bishops.
Two Of the landmarks on IroQuois
Farm are the Irish and Rhenish
towers. Mr.. Clark conducts most of
his business in the Irish tower which
overlooks his polo field and the
pleasant green pastures where Maria
I grazes.