Sale

A face known to all followers of U.S. sport peered over a fence in Lexington, Ky., with a certain wistfulness apparent in the droop of the long-veined nose, the expression of the black-circled eyes. It is true that the owner* of this countenance has for some time been leading a life of considerable luxury, but it was in no way responsible for the melancholy that saddened his visage. His regret was caused by the fact that his father and mother were at that moment being sold at auction in a meadow three miles away. No one was so heartless as to describe that scene to him: the 3,000-odd onlookers, bidders, the group of old stallions, sway-backed mares, shaggy, spindling colts-remnants of the famed stable of the late August Belmont, being sold by a red-faced auctioneer. No one told him of the prices: how his father, Fair Play, went to Joseph E. Widener for $100,000; his mother, Mahubah, brought a miserable $8,000; his friends Dona Rocca and Blue Grass $40,000 and $27,000 respectively.

*Man O' War, often called the greatest living race-horse.