Quoting Tenacious:

This is one of my most favorite poems written back in 1930's about the people that we choose to be. There isn't a horseman or woman that couldn't relate to these words, particularly if you own Harness Racing Trotters or Pacers....Enjoy

THE REAL OPTIMIST
By Walter Palmer

"Dad, what is a horseman," a youngster inquired
Of a horse-loving father he greatly admired.

"I read about chauffeurs and cars all the while
But it seems to me horsemen are quite out of style,And teacher remarked that I should not repeat,But that she believed horsemen were quite obsolete,Now just what she meant I can't well make out,So I thought I would ask you what it was about."

The Year Book Dad studied was closed with a slap
As he cuddled the questioner up in his lap;
"My Boy, you may tell her I find it a rule
That most of life's lessons are not learned in school.
The love of a trotter you don't get from books
And you can't pick a pacer because of his looks.
A fellow can't chum with a horse every day
Without being bigger and better some way;
The friends and the horses most trusted and tried
Are the ones that will stand without being tied.

You can tell her for me that a horseman's a chap
Who knows all the principal towns on the map;
He can give you the dates when the races all start,He knows when the trains all arrive and depart;He can give you the name and the breeding offhand Of every sensational steed in the land.

A horseman's a fellow who laughs at defeat
And smilingly comes to the scratch every heat,
And whether it's Winter or Summer or Fall,He's true to his partner that stands in the stall.
Though the rain spoils the races he know in the end
It will nourish the grass for his four-footed friend.

A horseman's a chap who will give his last sou
To a friend in distress if he knows he's true blue; He reads in the coals of the old office stove
The future success of that colt that he drove,
And each fleecy cloud in the blue of the sky
Means a winning for him in the sweet bye-and bye.

A horseman's a man, as I told you before,Who don't get his knowledge from any bookstore;He invoices all of the pleasure he gets
And closes each season without the regrets;
If his trotter don't win quite as much as he should
He knows that NEXT YEAR he is bound to make good.

Just say to your teacher, your Daddy insists,
THAT A HORSEMAN'S THE GREATEST OF ALL OPTIMISTS!"

This is one of my most favorite poems written back in 1930's about the people that we choose to be. There isn't a horseman or woman that couldn't relate to these words, particularly if you own Harness Racing Trotters or Pacers....Enjoy

THE REAL OPTIMIST
By Walter Palmer

"Dad, what is a horseman," a youngster inquired
Of a horse-loving father he greatly admired.

"I read about chauffeurs and cars all the while
But it seems to me horsemen are quite out of style,And teacher remarked that I should not repeat,But that she believed horsemen were quite obsolete,Now just what she meant I can't well make out,So I thought I would ask you what it was about."

The Year Book Dad studied was closed with a slap
As he cuddled the questioner up in his lap;
"My Boy, you may tell her I find it a rule
That most of life's lessons are not learned in school.
The love of a trotter you don't get from books
And you can't pick a pacer because of his looks.
A fellow can't chum with a horse every day
Without being bigger and better some way;
The friends and the horses most trusted and tried
Are the ones that will stand without being tied.

You can tell her for me that a horseman's a chap
Who knows all the principal towns on the map;
He can give you the dates when the races all start,He knows when the trains all arrive and depart;He can give you the name and the breeding offhand Of every sensational steed in the land.

A horseman's a fellow who laughs at defeat
And smilingly comes to the scratch every heat,
And whether it's Winter or Summer or Fall,He's true to his partner that stands in the stall.
Though the rain spoils the races he know in the end
It will nourish the grass for his four-footed friend.

A horseman's a chap who will give his last sou
To a friend in distress if he knows he's true blue; He reads in the coals of the old office stove
The future success of that colt that he drove,
And each fleecy cloud in the blue of the sky
Means a winning for him in the sweet bye-and bye.

A horseman's a man, as I told you before,Who don't get his knowledge from any bookstore;He invoices all of the pleasure he gets
And closes each season without the regrets;
If his trotter don't win quite as much as he should
He knows that NEXT YEAR he is bound to make good.

Just say to your teacher, your Daddy insists,
THAT A HORSEMAN'S THE GREATEST OF ALL OPTIMISTS!"