I fully intended to revenge myself by exposing this trail and its terrors, but a companion of my many trips, who lived through this, has frustrated my plans. That nine and three quarters pound rainbow trout I landed (a picture of which you may see in this chapter) covers a multitude of sins. IF CHAPTER XV CHARIOT RACING IN CALIFORNIA one wishes to study some of the phases of Greek or Roman history he could not do better than study the remarkable revival of chariot racing in Southern California. There on the first of January every year thousands gather in a large park and watch a typical chariot race, carried out on the lines of old Rome in every particular and detail. The chariot race has been seen in the circus at Madison Square, where the inside wheel of the vehicle is weighted down and the horses are carefully trained and selected so that the "beautiful lady” will win. Chariots are also cleverly shown in Ben Hur, racing against the moving, endless road, a task so hopeless that it can be compared only to the placid hen who has faith and confidence in the glass egg upon which she is sitting. These fade into insignificance before the contests seen in California, and it is doubtful if even in the old days of the chariot, either in Athens or Rome, one thousand dollars went to the driver of the winning chariot and five hundred to the second man, which sums constitute the prizes in the chariot races in Pasadena, California. The races are held on the first of the year at a large park on the outskirts of Pasadena, about four miles from the Sierra Madre Mountains, which are from six to ten thousand feet high, and often white with snow down to the three thousand feet limit. They overlook the San Gabriel Valley, a garden of blossoms. For days the chariot teams practice. The men who are to appear on the fateful day in full Roman costume now wear a "derby" and look very unlike Romans or Athenians. The chariot is modelled after those which may be seen on the prized vases from the Panathenaic games of Athens, on exhibition in the British Museum, which are quadrigas, or chariots adapted for four horses. In this case there is a pole, and two horses are harnessed to it with one on each side, the four making a spectacular team. All these chariots and those seen on the various monuments were of the most primitive description, resting directly on the axle, with no springs of any kind. The body of the chariot had a floor on which the driver stood, a threefoot guard in front to lean against, and was entirely open in the rear-a provision that has saved the life of many a driver who could easily drop out if the chariot rolled over, or was run down, as was often the case. |