"'As Ah have told you once befoh, young man,' he says, a-lookin' at the tickets. 'Ah can not blame you greatly, because you are paht of yoh times. This is the excuse Ah find foh you in thinking Ah would value money moh than the spohtsmanship of a gentleman. Yoh times are bad, young man!' he says. 'They have succeeded in staining the puhple and white at the vehy end. Ah would neveh have raced afteh to-day. It was a whim of an old man to see his colohs once moh among a field of hawses. Ah knew Ah was not of this day. Ah should have known bettah than to become a paht of it even foh a little time. Ah have learned ma lesson,' he says, lookin' up at me. 'But you have made it vehy bittah.' "He looks down at the tickets again fur a minute. . . Then he tears 'em across three ways 'n' drops 'em on the ground." CLASS "What do you like in the handicap?" I asked, looking up from the form sheet. Blister reached for the paper. "Indigo's the class," he said, after a glance at the entries. "If they run to form, he'll cop." "There you go again--with your _class_!" I exclaimed. "You're always talking about class. What does class mean?" "Long as you've been hangin' 'round the track 'n' not know what class means!" Blister looked at me pityingly. "There's no _class_ to that," he added, with a grin. "Seriously now," I urged. "Explain it to me. Class, as you call it, is beaten right along. Just the other day you said Exponent was the class and should have won, but he didn't." "He has the most left at that," said Blister. "He wins in three more jumps. You can't beat class. It'll come back fur more." "Molly S. beat him," I insisted. "Yep, she beat him that one race," Blister admitted. "But how does she beat him? Do you notice the boy gets her away wingin' 'n' keeps her there all the trip? . . . Why? Because he knows she can't come from behind 'n' win. If the old hoss gets to her any place in the stretch she lays down to him sure. She ain't got the class 'n' he has. She can win a race now 'n' then when things break right fur her, but the Exponent hoss'll win anyway--on three legs if he has to. He's got the class." "How can you get horses with class?" I inquired. "By breeding?" "If you want it you lay down big coin fur it," Blister answered. "It follows blood lines some, but not all the time. I've seed awful dogs bred clear to the clouds. Then again it'll show in a weanlin'. I've seed sucklin' colts with class stickin' out all over 'em. Kids has it, too. It shows real young sometimes." "How can a child show anything like that?" I remonstrated. "He has no opportunity. Class, as I understand it, is deep-seated--part of the very fiber. It takes a big situation to bring it out. Where did you ever see a child display this quality?"