Patroclus and Penelope Part 10

Our roads part here,--yours towards the studious shades of Harvard, mine towards the rolling uplands of Chestnut Hill. Fare you well!

PATROCLUS AND PENELOPE

_A CHAT IN THE SADDLE_

BY THEODORE AYRAULT DODGE

BREVET LIEUTENANT-COLONEL UNITED STATES ARMY (RETIRED LIST); AUTHOR OF "THE CAMPAIGN OF CHANCELLORSVILLE," "A BIRD'S-EYE VIEW OF THE CIVIL WAR," ETC., ETC.

ILl.u.s.tRATED WITH FOURTEEN PHOTOTYPES OF THE HORSE IN MOTION

_Since--as it has been our fortune to be long engaged about horses--we consider that we have acquired some knowledge of horsemans.h.i.+p, we desire also to intimate to the younger part of our friends how we think that they may bestow their attention on horses to the best advantage._

XENOPHON _on Horsemans.h.i.+p_

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY BOSTON AND NEW YORK

PATROCLUS AND PENELOPE:

A Chat in the Saddle. By THEODORE AYRAULT DODGE, Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, U.S.A. (Retired List), author of "The Campaign of Chancellorsville,"

"A Bird's-Eye View of the Civil War," etc. Ill.u.s.trated with fourteen phototypes of the Horse in motion. In one volume, octavo, gilt top, half roan, $3.00.

CONTENTS: Patroclus and I; Saddles and Seats; Patroclus on a Rack; The Rack and Single-Foot; Patroclus Trotting; Thoroughbred or Half-Bred; The Saddle Mania; Park-Riding; A Fine Horse not necessarily a Good Hack; Soldiers have Stout Seats; A Gate and a Brook; The Old Trooper; Instruction in Riding; Chilly Fox-Hunting; Is Soldier or Fox-Hunter the Better Rider? The School-Rider; Patroclus Happy; Photography versus Art; A One-Man Horse; Baucher's Favorite Saddle Horse; Patroclus sniffs a Friend; Riding-Schools and School-Riding; Is Schooling of Value? Manuals of Training; Result of Training; Qualities of the Horse; Dress, Saddles, and Bridles; Mounting; How to hold the Reins; How to begin Training; Penelope's Unrestrained Courage; Hints before beginning to train a Horse; Guiding by the Neck; What an Arched Neck means; Flexions of the Neck; Flexions of the Croup; The Canter; Leading with either Shoulder; The Horse's Natural Lead; The Best Way to teach the Lead; Change of Lead in Motion; Suggestions; How to begin Jumping; The Reins in the Jump; Odds and Ends of Leaping; Hunting and Road-Riding; Advantages of True Rack; Who is the Best Rider? Vale!

_This book is written from an experience extending over thirty years,--in the English hunting-field, the Prussian army, the plains of the West, active service during the Civil War, and daily riding everywhere. The author has studied equestrianism as an art, and, although believing in the Haute Ecole of Baucher, enjoys with equal zest a ride to hounds or a gallop on the western prairies._

_The experienced equestrian will be delighted by the author's breezy talk and thorough knowledge of his subject. The young horseman who may have purchased a colt just broken to harness can by the use of its hints make him as clever as Patroclus. Even the man who rides but a dozen times a year will be interested in the book, while the every-day reader will be charmed by its simplicity, geniality, and heartiness._

NOTICES OF THE PRESS.

The reader must feel that he is in distinctively good company. It is a running commentary on saddle-riding, and gives the reader much the same advantages he would have from a season's riding in company with a gentleman who has ridden in all countries, on all sorts of animals, and under all sorts of conditions.... One of the most attractive of recent books.--_Boston Advertiser._

We all love Isaak Walton's talks about fish or John Burroughs's essays on birds; in the same spirit is this delightful book of Col.

Dodge's.... It is a familiar chat of a man who knows all about horsemans.h.i.+p and can tell you how to mount or ride, what saddle or bridle to use, and, at the same time, touch upon life in the saddle with words which will make your blood tingle.--_Sat.u.r.day Evening Gazette_ (Boston).

It consists of a series of essay-like chapters written in a lively, chatty, conversational manner which makes it charming reading. The advice is full of hints and suggestions to the experienced horseman as well as of instructions of the utmost value to the new initiate in the equestrian art. We are in sympathy with the author before the first page is turned.--_Yale Literary Magazine_ (New Haven).

The volume consists of a most charming series of chats about horses and horsemans.h.i.+p by a man who is thoroughly in the spirit of his subject, and who is not a hidebound partisan of any school of equestrianism, holding to the catholic belief that there are good riders in every land and in every species of saddle.--_Army and Navy Journal_ (New York).

It abounds in excellent suggestions, the fruit of sound experience, accurate observations, and good common sense. It is an excellent book for the amateur. Withal it is told in a pleasant, easy way, as if it had been written in the saddle instead of at the desk.--_Christian Register_ (Boston).

Col. Dodge combines to an altogether uncommon degree the merit of a close acquaintance with and real enthusiasm in his subject, and the quality of a trained literarian. The aspiring equestrian will gain instruction from the lips of a masterly instructor.--_Christian Union_ (New York).

Col. Dodge has given the beginner in the art of horsemans.h.i.+p the best possible introduction to his pleasurable task. The author has had a much wider store of practical experience in horsemans.h.i.+p than his predecessors in this field of instruction.--_New York Evening Post._

The practical horseman cannot fail to admire the firm, easy seat which the beginner will do well to copy. "Patroclus" is ably described, and, if up to what is said of him, must be a gem of the first water.--_New York Times._

One who has had some experience in the saddle will derive from it the same sort of profit and entertainment which might be expected from an accomplished, observant, clear-headed, and good-natured companion on the road.--_New York Tribune._

Col. Dodge rode his horse at the time the photographs were taken, and his skill in horsemans.h.i.+p is exhibited by a seat that was undisturbed by even the most violent exertions of his steed.--_Sporting and Dramatic News_ (London).

His horse "Patroclus" is his hero, his mare "Penelope" his heroine, and the adventures undertaken with the aid of these two good animals make a story which will fire the blood of every reader.--_Brooklyn Union._

Col. Dodge has succeeded in giving much excellent advice on the management of the horse, while at the same time holding the reader's attention by the interest of the narrative.--_Herald-Crimson_ (Cambridge).

The beginner who will follow the excellent and simple rules of training given by our author will be sure to win success in the art and a great deal of pleasure by the way.--_The Nation_ (New York).

Considerable as is the s.p.a.ce allotted to jumping, it is not too great in view of the popularity of cross-country riding. We find in it nothing to criticise.--_Philadelphia Record._

Written in a pleasant, sympathetic vein and in almost conversational form, it has an abundance of keen hints and graceful thoughts on horseback riding as an art.--_Cincinnati Commercial Gazette._

He covers the whole ground of good horsemans.h.i.+p, not as an amateur or theorist, but as one who knows all the facts with which he deals.--_San Francisco Chronicle._

Col. Dodge is an expert in all the finesse and paraphernalia of horses and horseback-riding.... The advice is sound and simple and very direct.--_The Critic_ (New York).

The chapters on the training of horse and rider are full of sound information, clearly stated, and practical to the last.--_Journal of Military Service Inst.i.tution_ (New York).

A lover of horses will find in this volume a book which will give him unlimited pleasure.--_The Book-Buyer_ (New York).

This book will be given an enthusiastic welcome by all lovers of equestrianism.--_Chicago Journal._

The hearty animal spirits which gallop through its pages are catching.--_New York Mail and Express._

Col. Dodge is a charming teacher.--_Boston Herald._

HOUGHTON, MIFFLIN AND COMPANY, _Publishers_, BOSTON AND NEW YORK.