RBH
Bartender
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While rereading 'Seabiscuit' by Laura Hillenbrand, I thought I would add this tib-bit about trainer Tom Smith, from chapter 3.
...He began showing up at the barn in neat gray suits, dark vest, whipcord trousers, wing tips, and on race days a restrained Republican tie. He had even purchased a camel-hair coat. Topping off the ensemble was, of course, the utterly unremarkable gray felt fedora. Head and hat were inseparable. Given that Smith was not a man of particularly noteworthy appearance, it was probably the hat, not his face, that people recognized. A couple of years later, during a stable trip to New York, Smith decided that he had just about worn the hat to death and left the barn in search of a replacement. He stomped back in, brushing past Howard, four hours later. On his head was an exact replica of the old hat. Obviously in sour spirits, he muttered that he had spent the entire morning scouring the town trying to find a hat for $2.50.
“Couldn’t find one," he grumbled. "Had to get this one."
Howard asked him how much the new hat had set him back.
''Three dollars''
It seemed Tom Smith was just like most of us are now [especially when we are on E-Bay]. On the lookout for a 2 dollar and 50 cent fedora.
This is a great book; if you have not read it give it a shot.
...He began showing up at the barn in neat gray suits, dark vest, whipcord trousers, wing tips, and on race days a restrained Republican tie. He had even purchased a camel-hair coat. Topping off the ensemble was, of course, the utterly unremarkable gray felt fedora. Head and hat were inseparable. Given that Smith was not a man of particularly noteworthy appearance, it was probably the hat, not his face, that people recognized. A couple of years later, during a stable trip to New York, Smith decided that he had just about worn the hat to death and left the barn in search of a replacement. He stomped back in, brushing past Howard, four hours later. On his head was an exact replica of the old hat. Obviously in sour spirits, he muttered that he had spent the entire morning scouring the town trying to find a hat for $2.50.
“Couldn’t find one," he grumbled. "Had to get this one."
Howard asked him how much the new hat had set him back.
''Three dollars''
It seemed Tom Smith was just like most of us are now [especially when we are on E-Bay]. On the lookout for a 2 dollar and 50 cent fedora.
This is a great book; if you have not read it give it a shot.
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