[6] Morgan Horses, Linsley, page 136.
CHAPTER X.
IN WHICH “TRUE” BECOMES “JUSTIN MORGAN.”
Once or twice a week it was the custom among the farmers, waiting at Chase’s Mill, to pass the time testing their strength or that of their horses. It was healthful sport and kept them and their beasts in trim.
Many were the jugs of Medford rum consumed on these occasions, and anyone having a horse to try, or a new test of strength for the men, was welcomed.
Running their horses short distances for small stakes came to be very popular.[7] A course of eighty rods was measured, starting at the mill and extending along the highway; a line was drawn across the road, called a “scratch,” the horses were ranged in a row, and at the drop of a hat away they went, cheered by the crowd.
It so happened that Evans and True, who never finished their work until dusk, were rarely at these tests. Evans, himself, was too tired to join in the sports, but True often thought he would like to try his strength against the larger, heavier horses.
One day, coming along the River Road to the mill, his heavy farm-harness and tug-chains still dangling on True, they passed Master Justin Morgan—he stood under a maple tree and was lilting an old French song learned from the Canadian lumbermen, called “A la Claire Fontaine.” True and Evans paused to listen. Everyone liked Master Morgan for his sweet voice and gentle manners.
When the song was finished Evans gave the singer neighborly greeting and strode on to the mill, True following him, more like a dog than a horse.
The sun was gone and the evening shadows were beginning to fall, but there were still lingering along the horizon long streaks of crimson and gold that tinged the river with color.