A few letters reached Clara using Eva, who had gained Clara’s trust to relay messages and deliver an occasional letter to Gilbert. She restrained from writing too many letters so her father would not get suspicious of them.
“We’ll have to think about that,” he said. Then he excitedly added, “When I get done here, I’ll show you around the park.”
“I’ll help you,” she rolled up the sleeves of her dress and pulled up the hem. She placed a hairpin in it to keep the hem up. She grabbed a brush and started to approach Allerton. “It will be like old times.” She brushed him gently admiring the opportunity to care for such a famous animal. “Has he trotted on the new track?”
“Yeah,” Gilbert responded cautiously. “Why?”
“Just curious if he could get a better time on this track, which is supposed to be the fastest track in the world.” She raised her eyebrows. “What was his time?”
“I’m not going to tell you.”
She looked at him with her big, beautiful blue eyes. “What was his time?”
He blurted out, “Two-fifteen and one half.” He felt he betrayed the secret. “It would have been better had his ankle been in better shape. He re-injured it slightly in Detroit last week. You must promise not to tell anyone.”
“I won’t tell a soul. Is his ankle getting any better?”
“Yeah, but it will never be fully healed. It will slow him down to some extent the rest of his career.” Clara showed great remorse at that news.
It was like old times working with the horses. They both possessed a sparkle in their eyes as they gazed at each other. When they had finished, Gilbert escorted Clara on a tour of Rush Park, telling her all the details of the grounds.
“I’ll show you the track first.” Gilbert tenderly clutched her hand and led her out of the barn. Clara immediately looked around to see if anyone would see them.
She looked to Gilbert as she squirmed her hand out of his hand. “I don’t think we should hold hands.” She felt sick saying it. “I mean, I would love to hold hands. I wish we could, and someday we will, but not in public.”
“You’re right.”
Her first look at the track, he knew he had to explain the tracks odd shape. “If you could see the track from the air, it would look like an elongated figure eight shape. There is a the small loop at the north end. This small loop is used to score up the field of horses for the race. It would also be used to slow the horses after they pass the finish line. The race track part itself was the larger loop of the figure eight, which, resembled a balloon.”
“If it resembles a balloon, why do they refer to it as a kite shaped track?”
“They are referring generally to the big loop as the official track. It would not have the basket of the balloon.” Gilbert raised his eyebrows, when he continued. “The racing associations and horsemen around the country call it a kite shaped track, while regular people like us, refer it as being a balloon shaped track.”
“Really,” she expressed.
“Not officially,” Gilbert chuckled, “It’s just my observations.”
“You had me believing you. It makes good sense though.”
They began to walk toward the stands on the west side of the track. Their hands bumped one another, and they quickly pulled their hands away. “The starting line is on the west side of the track toward the main stands. The Judges stand is at the base of the balloon.” The stands had been completed, accept for some of the finish work. Gilbert escorted Clara to the base steps to the stands. They stepped up several rows into the stands for a better look at the track.
“I heard the amphitheater was moved from the old track, but it looks different.” She said as she looked over the stands.
“There have been a few changes, they added seats to accommodate six thousand spectators. There are booths under the stands for food and other services.”
“Oh, I thought they would have just built a new one.”
“Eventually, he will.” Gilbert smiled, “The first leg of a race would go down this long straight stretch heading south-southwest for a third of a mile before the first turn begins. This first stretch is seventy-five feet wide from fence to fence so they can race as many as twelve horses abreast.” Gilbert flushed briefly when he said, ‘abreast’ to Clara. Clara never thought twice about the statement.
“I see,” Clara said, “this gives the horses more time to spread out before the turn. So there would be less bunching up on the turns, right?”
“That’s right,” he happily acknowledged. “As you can see the turn to the east is a long and gradual one. They narrowed the track to sixty feet for the turn. The full turn is one third of a mile so a horse could go to the outside without losing much advantage over a horse that stayed along the rail.”
“The final-stretch to the finish, which runs north-northwest would be longer then most tracks, a full one third of a mile.”
Clara excitedly interrupted, “So the horses could really battle it out to the end, couldn’t they?”
“Exactly,” Gilbert agreed.
“This track will be fair to all the participants.”
“Therefore, lesser penalties may need to be assessed.” Gilbert added. “The finish line is on the east side of the judge’s stand near the base of the big loop, right under their noses.” He pointed to the small loop and said, “The horses would slow after the race in the small loop and jog around it to cool off.”
Clara then said as a recap of the information she had absorbed, “So, the long turn would allow a horse to stay in full-stride throughout the turn, the long straight away, less obstacles, makes this the fastest track on earth.”
“Not only that, but this will be the safest track.” Gilbert said proudly, “Horsemen aren’t going to be afraid to race here with as much fear of injury to the horses. This track was placed on low swampy ground with a peat-bed foundation. There was five to six inches of black spongy soil placed on top of that. This is very kind to the horses.”
“I never thought about safety for the horses. That’s really nice.”
“This track also has been built to handle rain and still operate.” Gilbert proudly stated, “There are ditches dug around the track to allow water run off. Only a deluge of rain on race day would cancel the races. There’s other steps that can be done to prepare the track for racing. There are several large sponges available for ground personnel to sponge up the water that may pool on the track. Each sponge could hold nearly a pail of water. Then a flock of sheep from a nearby farm can be herded over the track to turn it. Then they can start working horses to also turn the soil.”
Clara was receptive of the facts about the track being able to handle rain, but her eye caught the judge’s stand. “The judge’s stand has three levels, why?”
“The lower level is enclosed for drivers to change and weigh in. The second level is open for the judges and the top level is open for journalists. The judges should have a great clear view of the entire race. They will be able to assess penalties properly insuring a safer, fairer race.”
“What are they going to do with the old track?”
“It will stay and be used for training.”
They looked over the track area from the stands. Clara had noticed the entrance to the track was extravagant. The entrance was on the north side of the track and faced the main road from town. It was placed in the middle of a horse shoe of stables surrounding the small loop of the track area.
“Are those all individual stables around the north end of the track?” She pointed.
“There are one hundred individual stalls. Each stall is a very comfortable twelve by twelve foot area. Each of them has a door and window facing the track area with an awning off the front roof. Each of the stalls had it’s own water hook up.” He led her out of the stands and showed her one of the stalls.
“Wow, this is as big as
a small house,” she said.
“Well, maybe a small cabin,” Gilbert corrected her.
As they left the track area to look over some of the barns. They strolled past a six foot high wooden fence, in the process of being built around the entire track.
He took her to some of the other barns around Rush Park. Several of the buildings already at Rush Park were refurbished. New buildings were built to ensure the accommodation of four hundred horses. Rush Park also stabled the many horses owned by Mr. Williams and other local horsemen.
The largest of the barns at Rush Park was the Main Show Barn designed by the architect, Sunderland. It was the only barn in the country designed by an architect, the same architect designed the new Williams home. The Show Barn was a large, cross shaped building, built on the highest level of land on the south side of Main Street in Rush Park. The main body of the building was forty-six feet wide by one hundred sixty-four feet in length running north and south. The wings of the cross were twenty eight feet by thirty feet, there was a wing on the east side and one on the west side. There were eighteen foot posts used to give the barn two full stories in height.
This building had a full length, drive through path, down the middle of it. In the front of the main floor of the barn was a fourteen by twenty-eight foot office. The office was well-furnished, complete with a phone and electricity. This was the office of the personal secretary of Mr. Williams, R.E. Martin. There are ten box stalls on each side of the main drive through. The lower level also had a small infirmary, a wagon room and a full washroom for humans and horses.
The upper floor stored hay and grain. There were two employee apartments on the second floor of each wing. On top of this building was a burnished copper dome.
Gilbert had just moved into one of the small apartments in the upper floor east wing of the building. He was reluctant to show her his apartment, he felt awkward, like a chaperone should be present. Things seemed oddly different now they were older.
“My apartment is up there,” he said shyly as he pointed up the steps and toward the corner. Clara started to walk up the steps and realized Gilbert was not following her. Clara was very amused by his gentlemanly attitude.
“Gilbert,” she said as she giggled, “it’s just me, Clara.”
“I know, but we’re different, things are different.”
“Different how,” she asked coyly? She wanted him to admit he had different feelings for her now.
Gilbert looked away from her, “I mean you know, you’ve changed.” He looked at her waving his arms up and down.
“Changed?”
“You know – you’re a woman now. You have things.”
She smiled and chuckled, “How nice of you to notice.”
“Yeah,” he said looking away from her again showing embarrassment. “How could I miss em’.”
She smiled, “We can skip the tour if you like, just describe it to me.”
“I can do that,” he agreed with great relief.
He described it to her as they left the main barn to look over other buildings. “There are a few windows and indoor plumbing.”
“So you don’t have to go to the little barn?” She asked.
“Nope,” he said as he blushed. “It’s right there. Right there in the next room.”
“That will be nice for you this winter.”
“Yes, it certainly will be,” he said. Then he continued proudly, “There is a nice stove and icebox. I have to drag the ice blocks up myself. There is a small separate room I have my bed in. There are two electric lights, but I still use the lantern most of the time.” Gilbert gestured her out the door of the main barn. “There is a small table with two chairs and a squashy chair Mr. Williams gave me.”
He showed her the three trainers’ barns built twenty-eight feet by one hundred feet. These barns contained sixteen box stalls each. Another trainer’s barn, used by Mr. McHenry, was thirty-six feet by one hundred feet and had a driveway through the middle.
The buildings refurbished, included the old all purpose barn was forty-two feet by one hundred-ten foot. There was another barn with four stalls, it was thirty-two by forty-four feet. There were also Allerton’s, Axtell’s, and Barnhart’s private barns that remained at Rush Park. Axtell’s, of course, was no longer being occupied by Axtell.
Each building at Rush Park was capped off by a cupola. Each had roof sky lights with ventilating shafts. Each stall was hooked up with its own water facility. It cost Mr. Williams for all constructing at Rush Park around $40,000.
Gilbert had not been involved in the building around Rush Park. Most of his time was with the horses, whose lives were greatly disrupted by all the activity around them.
That night Clara’s family was invited to the Williams new home, along with other prominent families in town. The Williams’s had entertained many families in the past week. Gilbert was asked to attend the dinner, not as a server, but as a guest. Mr. and Mrs. Williams knew Gilbert and Clara were in love with each other, even if Gilbert and Clara didn’t.
Gilbert arrived early and assisted with setting the table for dinner. The guests began to show up, many of whom knew Gilbert. The Williams’s greeted their guests and directed them into the front room. Gilbert was their and fielded many questions on the condition of Allerton. His response generalized that Allerton was healing well and will be ready to do great things this season.
When the Groober’s showed up, Clara was looking very pretty. She was wearing a light yellow dress with multi-colored flowers in a pattern throughout. It had white lace for trim on the sleeves, hem and the edge of the yoke. They were all impressed with the entry hall of the house. They had come through a relatively plain looking front door of horizontal paneled wood and half glass. The rectangle shaped stain glass window above the door was beautifully arranged in a variety stain glass colors.
Once inside the house, Clara was impressed by a metal net looking arrangement above an open doorway leading to the main foyer. The metal net was patterned indescribably ornate. Once through the doorway they could see an exquisite golden chandelier hanging from the high ceiling of the foyer. There was wood, square in design, wainscoting that extended nearly six feet up the walls. Plinth blocks and fluted casing trimmed the walls and doors of the foyer. The rest of the walls and ceiling were white with raised patterned designs throughout.
Before the Williams’s gestured for the Groober’s to enter the front room, Clara noticed the magnificent stairway. It had massive posts at the base and a left turn landing halfway up. On top of these posts were wood ornaments that looked like a large vase. There were nearly thirty spindles attached a large handrail, so large, she wouldn’t be able to get her hand around. She was impressed by the grandeur of it all.
They entered the front through a doorway that had double sliding doors appearing to Clara to be eight feet high. The doors were open, but Mr. Groober could not resist pulling one out of the wall to see the design of it. “Magnificent,” he murmured. Clara noticed Gilbert standing to the right of a large fireplace.
The fireplace was ornamented in twin pillars on both sides and a ornamental wood shelf above it. Above the shelf was a large mirror framed with by extravagant wood trim. The fire opening itself was surrounded by Italian red marble. There was another beautiful chandelier hanging from the high ceiling.
Gilbert felt obliged to approach the new guests. He hoped Mr. Groober would not recognize him or would have changed his attitude toward him. Since he had made such progress in his social stature.
“Welcome Mr. Groober, Mrs. Groober, Miss Clara, it is nice to see you all.” He said as he cordially nodded to each one of them.
Mr. Groober looked at him strangely, nodded his appreciation, “Yes, thank you.” Mrs. Groober followed her husband, nodding politely. Clara gave him a short discreet loving smile before, she cringed in fear that her father would recognize him.
&
nbsp; Soon there was a crowd of people in the front room involved in various conversations. After all twelve guests were accounted for, the Williams’s joined them in the front room.
After several minutes the door to the adjoining dinning room slid open and a formal dressed man servant, announced, “Dinner is Ready.” As the guests entered the dining area, they looked around at the lavish room. Clara noticed another well dressed fireplace to her left and a very nice hutch built right into the wall opposite of her.
The hutch looked to her to be five foot wide. It had drawers on the bottom few feet with two large glass doors above them. There were wood spindles above the glass doors extended to the high ceilings. To the right of the hutch, there was a door leading outside. She noticed a stain glass window above the door. She noticed stain glass windows above the windows. She looked back into the front room where she could see all the windows had stain glass above them.
Mrs. Williams directed her guests to there proper seating arrangements. She purposely placed Clara and Gilbert together. It was very awkward for them, but they were delighted. They were afraid to talk to each other. When they did talk to each other, they talked as if they didn’t know each other.
“So,” Gilbert said, “your name is Clara Goober?”
“No,” she said trying to keep a straight face, “it’s Groober.”
“Sorry,” They talked very quietly so as not to draw attention to themselves. “Have you been in town long?” Gilbert asked.
“A few days.”
“Where do you come from?”
Clara took a deep breath, “We live in Dubuque.”
“Going to be staying here for a while?”
“Through the holiday at least.” She said with a smile.
Allerton and Axtell Page 21