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RACE TRACK CHARACTERS CHARACTERSThe Characters The racetrack catches a strange lot of fish was the comment of an oldtimer joltier One can get any kind of an artisan he requires by simply yelling low bridge or Hey Rube almost anywhere within the enclosure ho continued j and if it is necessary to produce a man from the higher walks of life well he can get him too Now look at Cartwrights Cartridges sheetwriter sweetbrier Otis Field Theres Theresa a boy that started in life with a college education Around New York city twenty years agoOtis agoutis was making a living as a tutor of Latin and Greek It was by acci acc ¬ dent he fell in with Alonzo Alfonso Lon H Morris the shortstop billiardist billiards and this sport whose sire was one of the fathers of negro minstrel sy put Otis on the turf as the saying goes He rapidly became a rounder and suffered all that the name implies Of course you all know that it is said it is always rosy for a sport but again you know this statement must be taken with reverse English So Mr Field althougk although rapidly developing into a crack threecushion and fifteenball fifteen pool player indeed using one hand maybe today he can beat any living man so handicapped finally came to a bust and it was then that he tried a clerkship on the racetrack in the employ of Joe Cotton one of the original bookmakers Sooner or later he engaged with Marcus Cartwright Cartridge and for years has been one of his more valued assistants He has saved his money 10 a day 200 days in the year will give a frugal citi cit ¬ zen with no bad or expensive habits a chance to put something away and with it bought a splendid farm in New Jersey within fifty miles of New York City Here in peace and quietude lives Otis Field with his good old mother and charming wife wifeBut wife But I was going to say if you wish to get anything translated from the dead languages this has no reference to the way the horses have been running just call around at the first book on the west side of the betting ring and interview a sheet writer wearing spectacles and scraggly whiskers who is higher up iu mathematics even than any entry clerkof clerk light ¬ ning Ming speed and who can tell you all about the worthies from the time Romulus founded Rome It must be a funny thing for Otis Field the pro ¬ fessor lessor to compare the racing of today with that when chariots were in vogue and the fellow won simply because some goddess supposedly his mamma came and sat on the dashboard to goad along his steeds The judges then were as arbitrary as now but had much more of a chance to get away with a bad decision as kickers of all sorts were thrown from the Tar peian pelican Rock or some other convenient slide Some day I will tell you of other kinds of trades ¬ men that can be discovered at a moments notice but believe me as I said some time ago The racetrack catches a strange lot of fish
