It was a difference of opinion that led to horseracing.
- quoted in South Australian Register, 10/15/1895
I think that much the most enjoyable of all races is a steamboat race; but,
next to that, I prefer the gay and joyous mule-rush. Two red--hot steamboats
raging along, neck-and-neck, straining every nerve--that is to say, every rivet
in the boilers--quaking and shaking and groaning from stem to stern, spouting
white steam from the pipes, pouring black smoke from the chimneys, raining down
sparks, parting the river into long breaks of hissing foam--this is sport that
makes a body's very liver curl with enjoyment. A horse-race is pretty tame and
colorless in comparison. Still, a horse-race might be well enough, in its way,
perhaps, if it were not for the tiresome false starts. But then, nobody is ever
killed. At least, nobody was ever killed when I was at a horse-race. They have
been crippled, it is true; but this is little to the purpose.
- Life on the Mississippi
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