Black Beauty ........................................................................................................................................................1

The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some

shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and waterlilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side we

looked into a plowed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master's house, which stood by the

roadside; at the top of the meadow was a grove of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a

While I was young I lived upon my mother's milk, as I could not eat grass. In the daytime I ran by her side,

and at night I lay down close by her. When it was hot we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees,

As soon as I was old enough to eat grass my mother used to go out to work in the daytime, and come back in

There were six young colts in the meadow besides me; they were older than I was; some were nearly as large

as grownup horses. I used to run with them, and had great fun; we used to gallop all together round and

round the field as hard as we could go. Sometimes we had rather rough play, for they would frequently bite

One day, when there was a good deal of kicking, my mother whinnied to me to come to her, and then she

"I wish you to pay attention to what I am going to say to you. The colts who live here are very good colts, but

they are carthorse colts, and of course they have not learned manners. You have been wellbred and

wellborn; your father has a great name in these parts, and your grandfather won the cup two years at the

Newmarket races; your grandmother had the sweetest temper of any horse I ever knew, and I think you have

never seen me kick or bite. I hope you will grow up gentle and good, and never learn bad ways; do your work

with a good will, lift your feet up well when you trot, and never bite or kick even in play."

I have never forgotten my mother's advice; I knew she was a wise old horse, and our master thought a great

Our master was a good, kind man. He gave us good food, good lodging, and kind words; he spoke as kindly

to us as he did to his little children. We were all fond of him, and my mother loved him very much. When she

saw him at the gate she would neigh with joy, and trot up to him. He would pat and stroke her and say, "Well,

old Pet, and how is your little Darkie?" I was a dull black, so he called me Darkie; then he would give me a

piece of bread, which was very good, and sometimes he brought a carrot for my mother. All the horses would

come to him, but I think we were his favorites. My mother always took him to the town on a market day in a

There was a plowboy, Dick, who sometimes came into our field to pluck blackberries from the hedge. When

he had eaten all he wanted he would have what he called fun with the colts, throwing stones and sticks at

them to make them gallop. We did not much mind him, for we could gallop off; but sometimes a stone would

One day he was at this game, and did not know that the master was in the next field; but he was there,

watching what was going on; over the hedge he jumped in a snap, and catching Dick by the arm, he gave him

such a box on the ear as made him roar with the pain and surprise. As soon as we saw the master we trotted

"Bad boy!" he said, "bad boy! to chase the colts. This is not the first time, nor the second, but it shall be the

last. There take your money and go home; I shall not want you on my farm again." So we never saw Dick

any more. Old Daniel, the man who looked after the horses, was just as gentle as our master, so we were well

Before I was two years old a circumstance happened which I have never forgotten. It was early in the spring;

there had been a little frost in the night, and a light mist still hung over the woods and meadows. I and the

other colts were feeding at the lower part of the field when we heard, quite in the distance, what sounded like

the cry of dogs. The oldest of the colts raised his head, pricked his ears, and said, "There are the hounds!" and

immediately cantered off, followed by the rest of us to the upper part of the field, where we could look over

the hedge and see several fields beyond. My mother and an old riding horse of our master's were also

"They have found a hare," said my mother, "and if they come this way we shall see the hunt."

And soon the dogs were all tearing down the field of young wheat next to ours. I never heard such a noise as

they made. They did not bark, nor howl, nor whine, but kept on a "yo! yo, o, o! yo! yo, o, o!" at the top of

their voices. After them came a number of men on horseback, some of them in green coats, all galloping as

fast as they could. The old horse snorted and looked eagerly after them, and we young colts wanted to be

galloping with them, but they were soon away into the fields lower down; here it seemed as if they had come

to a stand; the dogs left off barking, and ran about every way with their noses to the ground.

"They have lost the scent," said the old horse; "perhaps the hare will get off."

"Oh! I don't know what hare; likely enough it may be one of our own hares out of the woods; any hare they

can find will do for the dogs and men to run after;" and before long the dogs began their "yo! yo, o, o!" again,

and back they came altogether at full speed, making straight for our meadow at the part where the high bank

"Now we shall see the hare," said my mother; and just then a hare wild with fright rushed by and made for the

woods. On came the dogs; they burst over the bank, leaped the stream, and came dashing across the field

followed by the huntsmen. Six or eight men leaped their horses clean over, close upon the dogs. The hare

tried to get through the fence; it was too thick, and she turned sharp round to make for the road, but it was too

late; the dogs were upon her with their wild cries; we heard one shriek, and that was the end of her. One of

the huntsmen rode up and whipped off the dogs, who would soon have torn her to pieces. He held her up by

As for me, I was so astonished that I did not at first see what was going on by the brook; but when I did look

there was a sad sight; two fine horses were down, one was struggling in the stream, and the other was

groaning on the grass. One of the riders was getting out of the water covered with mud, the other lay quite

"Well, no," she said, "you must not say that; but though I am an old horse, and have seen and heard a great

deal, I never yet could make out why men are so fond of this sport; they often hurt themselves, often spoil

good horses, and tear up the fields, and all for a hare or a fox, or a stag, that they could get more easily some

While my mother was saying this we stood and looked on. Many of the riders had gone to the young man; but

my master, who had been watching what was going on, was the first to raise him. His head fell back and his

arms hung down, and every one looked very serious. There was no noise now; even the dogs were quiet, and

seemed to know that something was wrong. They carried him to our master's house. I heard afterward that it

was young George Gordon, the squire's only son, a fine, tall young man, and the pride of his family.

There was now riding off in all directions to the doctor's, to the farrier's, and no doubt to Squire Gordon's, to

let him know about his son. When Mr. Bond, the farrier, came to look at the black horse that lay groaning on

the grass, he felt him all over, and shook his head; one of his legs was broken. Then some one ran to our

master's house and came back with a gun; presently there was a loud bang and a dreadful shriek, and then all

My mother seemed much troubled; she said she had known that horse for years, and that his name was "Rob

Roy"; he was a good horse, and there was no vice in him. She never would go to that part of the field

Not many days after we heard the churchbell tolling for a long time, and looking over the gate we saw a

long, strange black coach that was covered with black cloth and was drawn by black horses; after that came

another and another and another, and all were black, while the bell kept tolling, tolling. They were carrying

young Gordon to the churchyard to bury him. He would never ride again. What they did with Rob Roy I

I was now beginning to grow handsome; my coat had grown fine and soft, and was bright black. I had one

white foot and a pretty white star on my forehead. I was thought very handsome; my master would not sell

me till I was four years old; he said lads ought not to work like men, and colts ought not to work like horses

When I was four years old Squire Gordon came to look at me. He examined my eyes, my mouth, and my

legs; he felt them all down; and then I had to walk and trot and gallop before him. He seemed to like me, and

said, "When he has been well broken in he will do very well." My master said he would break me in himself,

as he should not like me to be frightened or hurt, and he lost no time about it, for the next day he began.

Every one may not know what breaking in is, therefore I will describe it. It means to teach a horse to wear a

saddle and bridle, and to carry on his back a man, woman or child; to go just the way they wish, and to go

quietly. Besides this he has to learn to wear a collar, a crupper, and a breeching, and to stand still while they

are put on; then to have a cart or a chaise fixed behind, so that he cannot walk or trot without dragging it after

him; and he must go fast or slow, just as his driver wishes. He must never start at what he sees, nor speak to

other horses, nor bite, nor kick, nor have any will of his own; but always do his master's will, even though he

may be very tired or hungry; but the worst of all is, when his harness is once on, he may neither jump for joy

I had of course long been used to a halter and a headstall, and to be led about in the fields and lanes quietly,

but now I was to have a bit and bridle; my master gave me some oats as usual, and after a good deal of

coaxing he got the bit into my mouth, and the bridle fixed, but it was a nasty thing! Those who have never

had a bit in their mouths cannot think how bad it feels; a great piece of cold hard steel as thick as a man's

finger to be pushed into one's mouth, between one's teeth, and over one's tongue, with the ends coming out at

the corner of your mouth, and held fast there by straps over your head, under your throat, round your nose,

and under your chin; so that no way in the world can you get rid of the nasty hard thing; it is very bad! yes,

very bad! at least I thought so; but I knew my mother always wore one when she went out, and all horses did

when they were grown up; and so, what with the nice oats, and what with my master's pats, kind words, and

Next came the saddle, but that was not half so bad; my master put it on my back very gently, while old Daniel

held my head; he then made the girths fast under my body, patting and talking to me all the time; then I had a

few oats, then a little leading about; and this he did every day till I began to look for the oats and the saddle.

At length, one morning, my master got on my back and rode me round the meadow on the soft grass. It

certainly did feel queer; but I must say I felt rather proud to carry my master, and as he continued to ride me a

The next unpleasant business was putting on the iron shoes; that too was very hard at first. My master went

with me to the smith's forge, to see that I was not hurt or got any fright. The blacksmith took my feet in his

hand, one after the other, and cut away some of the hoof. It did not pain me, so I stood still on three legs till

he had done them all. Then he took a piece of iron the shape of my foot, and clapped it on, and drove some

nails through the shoe quite into my hoof, so that the shoe was firmly on. My feet felt very stiff and heavy,

And now having got so far, my master went on to break me to harness; there were more new things to wear.

First, a stiff heavy collar just on my neck, and a bridle with great sidepieces against my eyes called blinkers,

and blinkers indeed they were, for I could not see on either side, but only straight in front of me; next, there

was a small saddle with a nasty stiff strap that went right under my tail; that was the crupper. I hated the

crupper; to have my long tail doubled up and poked through that strap was almost as bad as the bit. I never

felt more like kicking, but of course I could not kick such a good master, and so in time I got used to

I must not forget to mention one part of my training, which I have always considered a very great advantage.

My master sent me for a fortnight to a neighboring farmer's, who had a meadow which was skirted on one

side by the railway. Here were some sheep and cows, and I was turned in among them.

I shall never forget the first train that ran by. I was feeding quietly near the pales which separated the meadow

from the railway, when I heard a strange sound at a distance, and before I knew whence it came with a

rush and a clatter, and a puffing out of smoke a long black train of something flew by, and was gone

almost before I could draw my breath. I turned and galloped to the further side of the meadow as fast as I

could go, and there I stood snorting with astonishment and fear. In the course of the day many other trains

went by, some more slowly; these drew up at the station close by, and sometimes made an awful shriek and

groan before they stopped. I thought it very dreadful, but the cows went on eating very quietly, and hardly

For the first few days I could not feed in peace; but as I found that this terrible creature never came into the

field, or did me any harm, I began to disregard it, and very soon I cared as little about the passing of a train as

Since then I have seen many horses much alarmed and restive at the sight or sound of a steam engine; but

thanks to my good master's care, I am as fearless at railway stations as in my own stable.

My master often drove me in double harness with my mother, because she was steady and could teach me

how to go better than a strange horse. She told me the better I behaved the better I should be treated, and that

it was wisest always to do my best to please my master; "but," said she, "there are a great many kinds of men;

there are good thoughtful men like our master, that any horse may be proud to serve; and there are bad, cruel

men, who never ought to have a horse or dog to call their own. Besides, there are a great many foolish men,

vain, ignorant, and careless, who never trouble themselves to think; these spoil more horses than all, just for

want of sense; they don't mean it, but they do it for all that. I hope you will fall into good hands; but a horse

never knows who may buy him, or who may drive him; it is all a chance for us; but still I say, do your best

At this time I used to stand in the stable and my coat was brushed every day till it shone like a rook's wing. It

was early in May, when there came a man from Squire Gordon's, who took me away to the hall. My master

said, "Goodby, Darkie; be a good horse, and always do your best." I could not say "goodby", so I put my

nose into his hand; he patted me kindly, and I left my first home. As I lived some years with Squire Gordon, I

Squire Gordon's park skirted the village of Birtwick. It was entered by a large iron gate, at which stood the

first lodge, and then you trotted along on a smooth road between clumps of large old trees; then another lodge

and another gate, which brought you to the house and the gardens. Beyond this lay the home paddock, the old

orchard, and the stables. There was accommodation for many horses and carriages; but I need only describe

the stable into which I was taken; this was very roomy, with four good stalls; a large swinging window

The first stall was a large square one, shut in behind with a wooden gate; the others were common stalls,

good stalls, but not nearly so large; it had a low rack for hay and a low manger for corn; it was called a loose

box, because the horse that was put into it was not tied up, but left loose, to do as he liked. It is a great thing

Into this fine box the groom put me; it was clean, sweet, and airy. I never was in a better box than that, and

the sides were not so high but that I could see all that went on through the iron rails that were at the top.

When I had eaten my corn I looked round. In the stall next to mine stood a little fat gray pony, with a thick

I put my head up to the iron rails at the top of my box, and said, "How do you do? What is your name?"

He turned round as far as his halter would allow, held up his head, and said, "My name is Merrylegs. I am

very handsome; I carry the young ladies on my back, and sometimes I take our mistress out in the low chair.

They think a great deal of me, and so does James. Are you going to live next door to me in the box?"

"Well, then," he said, "I hope you are goodtempered; I do not like any one next door who bites."

Just then a horse's head looked over from the stall beyond; the ears were laid back, and the eye looked rather

illtempered. This was a tall chestnut mare, with a long handsome neck. She looked across to me and said:

"So it is you who have turned me out of my box; it is a very strange thing for a colt like you to come and turn

"I beg your pardon," I said, "I have turned no one out; the man who brought me put me here, and I had

nothing to do with it; and as to my being a colt, I am turned four years old and am a grownup horse. I never

"Well," she said, "we shall see. Of course, I do not want to have words with a young thing like you." I said no

"The thing is this," said Merrylegs. "Ginger has a bad habit of biting and snapping; that is why they call her

Ginger, and when she was in the loose box she used to snap very much. One day she bit James in the arm and

made it bleed, and so Miss Flora and Miss Jessie, who are very fond of me, were afraid to come into the

stable. They used to bring me nice things to eat, an apple or a carrot, or a piece of bread, but after Ginger

stood in that box they dared not come, and I missed them very much. I hope they will now come again, if you

I told him I never bit anything but grass, hay, and corn, and could not think what pleasure Ginger found it.

"Well, I don't think she does find pleasure," says Merrylegs; "it is just a bad habit; she says no one was ever

kind to her, and why should she not bite? Of course, it is a very bad habit; but I am sure, if all she says be

true, she must have been very illused before she came here. John does all he can to please her, and James

does all he can, and our master never uses a whip if a horse acts right; so I think she might be goodtempered

here. You see," he said, with a wise look, "I am twelve years old; I know a great deal, and I can tell you there

is not a better place for a horse all round the country than this. John is the best groom that ever was; he has

been here fourteen years; and you never saw such a kind boy as James is; so that it is all Ginger's own fault

The name of the coachman was John Manly; he had a wife and one little child, and they lived in the

The next morning he took me into the yard and gave me a good grooming, and just as I was going into my

box, with my coat soft and bright, the squire came in to look at me, and seemed pleased. "John," he said, "I

meant to have tried the new horse this morning, but I have other business. You may as well take him around

after breakfast; go by the common and the Highwood, and back by the watermill and the river; that will show

"I will, sir," said John. After breakfast he came and fitted me with a bridle. He was very particular in letting

out and taking in the straps, to fit my head comfortably; then he brought a saddle, but it was not broad enough

for my back; he saw it in a minute and went for another, which fitted nicely. He rode me first slowly, then a

trot, then a canter, and when we were on the common he gave me a light touch with his whip, and we had a

"Ho, ho! my boy," he said, as he pulled me up, "you would like to follow the hounds, I think."

As we came back through the park we met the Squire and Mrs. Gordon walking; they stopped, and John

"Firstrate, sir," answered John; "he is as fleet as a deer, and has a fine spirit too; but the lightest touch of the

rein will guide him. Down at the end of the common we met one of those traveling carts hung all over with

baskets, rugs, and such like; you know, sir, many horses will not pass those carts quietly; he just took a good

look at it, and then went on as quiet and pleasant as could be. They were shooting rabbits near the Highwood,

and a gun went off close by; he pulled up a little and looked, but did not stir a step to right or left. I just held

the rein steady and did not hurry him, and it's my opinion he has not been frightened or illused while he was

The next day I was brought up for my master. I remembered my mother's counsel and my good old master's,

and I tried to do exactly what he wanted me to do. I found he was a very good rider, and thoughtful for his

"He is exactly what John said," he replied; "a pleasanter creature I never wish to mount. What shall we call

"Yes," she said, "he is really quite a beauty, and he has such a sweet, goodtempered face, and such a fine,

"Black Beauty why, yes, I think that is a very good name. If you like it shall be his name;" and so it was.

When John went into the stable he told James that master and mistress had chosen a good, sensible English

name for me, that meant something; not like Marengo, or Pegasus, or Abdallah. They both laughed, and

James said, "If it was not for bringing back the past, I should have named him Rob Roy, for I never saw two

"That's no wonder," said John; "didn't you know that Farmer Grey's old Duchess was the mother of them

I had never heard that before; and so poor Rob Roy who was killed at that hunt was my brother! I did not

wonder that my mother was so troubled. It seems that horses have no relations; at least they never know each

John seemed very proud of me; he used to make my mane and tail almost as smooth as a lady's hair, and he

would talk to me a great deal; of course I did not understand all he said, but I learned more and more to know

what he meant, and what he wanted me to do. I grew very fond of him, he was so gentle and kind; he seemed

to know just how a horse feels, and when he cleaned me he knew the tender places and the ticklish places;

when he brushed my head he went as carefully over my eyes as if they were his own, and never stirred up any

James Howard, the stable boy, was just as gentle and pleasant in his way, so I thought myself well off. There

was another man who helped in the yard, but he had very little to do with Ginger and me.

A few days after this I had to go out with Ginger in the carriage. I wondered how we should get on together;

but except laying her ears back when I was led up to her, she behaved very well. She did her work honestly,

and did her full share, and I never wish to have a better partner in double harness. When we came to a hill,

instead of slackening her pace, she would throw her weight right into the collar, and pull away straight up.

We had both the same sort of courage at our work, and John had oftener to hold us in than to urge us forward;

he never had to use the whip with either of us; then our paces were much the same, and I found it very easy to

keep step with her when trotting, which made it pleasant, and master always liked it when we kept step well,

and so did John. After we had been out two or three times together we grew quite friendly and sociable,

As for Merrylegs, he and I soon became great friends; he was such a cheerful, plucky, goodtempered little

fellow that he was a favorite with every one, and especially with Miss Jessie and Flora, who used to ride him

Our master had two other horses that stood in another stable. One was Justice, a roan cob, used for riding or

for the luggage cart; the other was an old brown hunter, named Sir Oliver; he was past work now, but was a

great favorite with the master, who gave him the run of the park; he sometimes did a little light carting on the

estate, or carried one of the young ladies when they rode out with their father, for he was very gentle and

could be trusted with a child as well as Merrylegs. The cob was a strong, wellmade, goodtempered horse,

and we sometimes had a little chat in the paddock, but of course I could not be so intimate with him as with

I was quite happy in my new place, and if there was one thing that I missed it must not be thought I was

discontented; all who had to do with me were good and I had a light airy stable and the best of food. What

more could I want? Why, liberty! For three years and a half of my life I had had all the liberty I could wish

for; but now, week after week, month after month, and no doubt year after year, I must stand up in a stable

night and day except when I am wanted, and then I must be just as steady and quiet as any old horse who has

worked twenty years. Straps here and straps there, a bit in my mouth, and blinkers over my eyes. Now, I am

not complaining, for I know it must be so. I only mean to say that for a young horse full of strength and

spirits, who has been used to some large field or plain where he can fling up his head and toss up his tail and

gallop away at full speed, then round and back again with a snort to his companions I say it is hard never

to have a bit more liberty to do as you like. Sometimes, when I have had less exercise than usual, I have felt

so full of life and spring that when John has taken me out to exercise I really could not keep quiet; do what I

would, it seemed as if I must jump, or dance, or prance, and many a good shake I know I must have given

"Steady, steady, my boy," he would say; "wait a bit, and we will have a good swing, and soon get the tickle

out of your feet." Then as soon as we were out of the village, he would give me a few miles at a spanking

trot, and then bring me back as fresh as before, only clear of the fidgets, as he called them. Spirited horses,

when not enough exercised, are often called skittish, when it is only play; and some grooms will punish them,

but our John did not; he knew it was only high spirits. Still, he had his own ways of making me understand by

the tone of his voice or the touch of the rein. If he was very serious and quite determined, I always knew it by

his voice, and that had more power with me than anything else, for I was very fond of him.

I ought to say that sometimes we had our liberty for a few hours; this used to be on fine Sundays in the

summertime. The carriage never went out on Sundays, because the church was not far off.

It was a great treat to us to be turned out into the home paddock or the old orchard; the grass was so cool and

soft to our feet, the air so sweet, and the freedom to do as we liked was so pleasant to gallop, to lie down,

and roll over on our backs, or to nibble the sweet grass. Then it was a very good time for talking, as we stood

One day when Ginger and I were standing alone in the shade, we had a great deal of talk; she wanted to know

"Well," said she, "if I had had your bringing up I might have had as good a temper as you, but now I don't

"Because it has been all so different with me," she replied. "I never had any one, horse or man, that was kind

to me, or that I cared to please, for in the first place I was taken from my mother as soon as I was weaned,

and put with a lot of other young colts; none of them cared for me, and I cared for none of them. There was

no kind master like yours to look after me, and talk to me, and bring me nice things to eat. The man that had

the care of us never gave me a kind word in my life. I do not mean that he illused me, but he did not care for

us one bit further than to see that we had plenty to eat, and shelter in the winter. A footpath ran through our

field, and very often the great boys passing through would fling stones to make us gallop. I was never hit, but

one fine young colt was badly cut in the face, and I should think it would be a scar for life. We did not care

for them, but of course it made us more wild, and we settled it in our minds that boys were our enemies. We

had very good fun in the free meadows, galloping up and down and chasing each other round and round the

field; then standing still under the shade of the trees. But when it came to breaking in, that was a bad time for

me; several men came to catch me, and when at last they closed me in at one corner of the field, one caught

me by the forelock, another caught me by the nose and held it so tight I could hardly draw my breath; then

another took my under jaw in his hard hand and wrenched my mouth open, and so by force they got on the

halter and the bar into my mouth; then one dragged me along by the halter, another flogging behind, and this

was the first experience I had of men's kindness; it was all force. They did not give me a chance to know

what they wanted. I was high bred and had a great deal of spirit, and was very wild, no doubt, and gave them,

I dare say, plenty of trouble, but then it was dreadful to be shut up in a stall day after day instead of having

my liberty, and I fretted and pined and wanted to get loose. You know yourself it's bad enough when you

have a kind master and plenty of coaxing, but there was nothing of that sort for me.

"There was one the old master, Mr. Ryder who, I think, could soon have brought me round, and could

have done anything with me; but he had given up all the hard part of the trade to his son and to another

experienced man, and he only came at times to oversee. His son was a strong, tall, bold man; they called him

Samson, and he used to boast that he had never found a horse that could throw him. There was no gentleness

in him, as there was in his father, but only hardness, a hard voice, a hard eye, a hard hand; and I felt from the

first that what he wanted was to wear all the spirit out of me, and just make me into a quiet, humble, obedient

piece of horseflesh. `Horseflesh'! Yes, that is all that he thought about," and Ginger stamped her foot as if the

"If I did not do exactly what he wanted he would get put out, and make me run round with that long rein in

the training field till he had tired me out. I think he drank a good deal, and I am quite sure that the oftener he

drank the worse it was for me. One day he had worked me hard in every way he could, and when I lay down I

was tired, and miserable, and angry; it all seemed so hard. The next morning he came for me early, and ran

me round again for a long time. I had scarcely had an hour's rest, when he came again for me with a saddle

and bridle and a new kind of bit. I could never quite tell how it came about; he had only just mounted me on

the training ground, when something I did put him out of temper, and he chucked me hard with the rein. The

new bit was very painful, and I reared up suddenly, which angered him still more, and he began to flog me. I

felt my whole spirit set against him, and I began to kick, and plunge, and rear as I had never done before, and

we had a regular fight; for a long time he stuck to the saddle and punished me cruelly with his whip and

spurs, but my blood was thoroughly up, and I cared for nothing he could do if only I could get him off. At last

after a terrible struggle I threw him off backward. I heard him fall heavily on the turf, and without looking

behind me, I galloped off to the other end of the field; there I turned round and saw my persecutor slowly

rising from the ground and going into the stable. I stood under an oak tree and watched, but no one came to

catch me. The time went on, and the sun was very hot; the flies swarmed round me and settled on my

bleeding flanks where the spurs had dug in. I felt hungry, for I had not eaten since the early morning, but

there was not enough grass in that meadow for a goose to live on. I wanted to lie down and rest, but with the

saddle strapped tightly on there was no comfort, and there was not a drop of water to drink. The afternoon

wore on, and the sun got low. I saw the other colts led in, and I knew they were having a good feed.

"At last, just as the sun went down, I saw the old master come out with a sieve in his hand. He was a very fine

old gentleman with quite white hair, but his voice was what I should know him by among a thousand. It was

not high, nor yet low, but full, and clear, and kind, and when he gave orders it was so steady and decided that

every one knew, both horses and men, that he expected to be obeyed. He came quietly along, now and then

shaking the oats about that he had in the sieve, and speaking cheerfully and gently to me: `Come along,

lassie, come along, lassie; come along, come along.' I stood still and let him come up; he held the oats to me,

and I began to eat without fear; his voice took all my fear away. He stood by, patting and stroking me while I

was eating, and seeing the clots of blood on my side he seemed very vexed. `Poor lassie! it was a bad

business, a bad business;' then he quietly took the rein and led me to the stable; just at the door stood Samson.

I laid my ears back and snapped at him. `Stand back,' said the master, `and keep out of her way; you've done

a bad day's work for this filly.' He growled out something about a vicious brute. `Hark ye,' said the father, `a

badtempered man will never make a goodtempered horse. You've not learned your trade yet, Samson.'

Then he led me into my box, took off the saddle and bridle with his own hands, and tied me up; then he

called for a pail of warm water and a sponge, took off his coat, and while the stableman held the pail, he

sponged my sides a good while, so tenderly that I was sure he knew how sore and bruised they were. `Whoa!

my pretty one,' he said, `stand still, stand still.' His very voice did me good, and the bathing was very

comfortable. The skin was so broken at the corners of my mouth that I could not eat the hay, the stalks hurt

me. He looked closely at it, shook his head, and told the man to fetch a good bran mash and put some meal

into it. How good that mash was! and so soft and healing to my mouth. He stood by all the time I was eating,

stroking me and talking to the man. `If a highmettled creature like this,' said he, `can't be broken by fair

"After that he often came to see me, and when my mouth was healed the other breaker, Job, they called him,

went on training me; he was steady and thoughtful, and I soon learned what he wanted."

The next time that Ginger and I were together in the paddock she told me about her first place.

"After my breaking in," she said, "I was bought by a dealer to match another chestnut horse. For some weeks

he drove us together, and then we were sold to a fashionable gentleman, and were sent up to London. I had

been driven with a checkrein by the dealer, and I hated it worse than anything else; but in this place we were

reined far tighter, the coachman and his master thinking we looked more stylish so. We were often driven

about in the park and other fashionable places. You who never had a checkrein on don't know what it is, but

"I like to toss my head about and hold it as high as any horse; but fancy now yourself, if you tossed your head

up high and were obliged to hold it there, and that for hours together, not able to move it at all, except with a

jerk still higher, your neck aching till you did not know how to bear it. Besides that, to have two bits instead

of one and mine was a sharp one, it hurt my tongue and my jaw, and the blood from my tongue colored

the froth that kept flying from my lips as I chafed and fretted at the bits and rein. It was worst when we had to

stand by the hour waiting for our mistress at some grand party or entertainment, and if I fretted or stamped

"No," said she, "he only cared to have a stylish turnout, as they call it; I think he knew very little about

horses; he left that to his coachman, who told him I had an irritable temper! that I had not been well broken to

the checkrein, but I should soon get used to it; but he was not the man to do it, for when I was in the stable,

miserable and angry, instead of being smoothed and quieted by kindness, I got only a surly word or a blow. If

he had been civil I would have tried to bear it. I was willing to work, and ready to work hard too; but to be

tormented for nothing but their fancies angered me. What right had they to make me suffer like that? Besides

the soreness in my mouth, and the pain in my neck, it always made my windpipe feel bad, and if I had

stopped there long I know it would have spoiled my breathing; but I grew more and more restless and

irritable, I could not help it; and I began to snap and kick when any one came to harness me; for this the

groom beat me, and one day, as they had just buckled us into the carriage, and were straining my head up

with that rein, I began to plunge and kick with all my might. I soon broke a lot of harness, and kicked myself

"After this I was sent to Tattersall's to be sold; of course I could not be warranted free from vice, so nothing

was said about that. My handsome appearance and good paces soon brought a gentleman to bid for me, and I

was bought by another dealer; he tried me in all kinds of ways and with different bits, and he soon found out

what I could not bear. At last he drove me quite without a checkrein, and then sold me as a perfectly quiet

horse to a gentleman in the country; he was a good master, and I was getting on very well, but his old groom

left him and a new one came. This man was as hardtempered and hardhanded as Samson; he always spoke

in a rough, impatient voice, and if I did not move in the stall the moment he wanted me, he would hit me

above the hocks with his stable broom or the fork, whichever he might have in his hand. Everything he did

was rough, and I began to hate him; he wanted to make me afraid of him, but I was too highmettled for that,

and one day when he had aggravated me more than usual I bit him, which of course put him in a great rage,

and he began to hit me about the head with a riding whip. After that he never dared to come into my stall

again; either my heels or my teeth were ready for him, and he knew it. I was quite quiet with my master, but

"The same dealer heard of me, and said he thought he knew one place where I should do well. `'Twas a pity,'

he said, `that such a fine horse should go to the bad, for want of a real good chance,' and the end of it was that

I came here not long before you did; but I had then made up my mind that men were my natural enemies and

that I must defend myself. Of course it is very different here, but who knows how long it will last? I wish I

could think about things as you do; but I can't, after all I have gone through."

"Well," I said, "I think it would be a real shame if you were to bite or kick John or James."

"I don't mean to," she said, "while they are good to me. I did bite James once pretty sharp, but John said, `Try

her with kindness,' and instead of punishing me as I expected, James came to me with his arm bound up, and

brought me a bran mash and stroked me; and I have never snapped at him since, and I won't either."

I was sorry for Ginger, but of course I knew very little then, and I thought most likely she made the worst of

it; however, I found that as the weeks went on she grew much more gentle and cheerful, and had lost the

watchful, defiant look that she used to turn on any strange person who came near her; and one day James

said, "I do believe that mare is getting fond of me, she quite whinnied after me this morning when I had been

"Ay, ay, Jim, 'tis `the Birtwick balls'," said John, "she'll be as good as Black Beauty by and by; kindness is all

the physic she wants, poor thing!" Master noticed the change, too, and one day when he got out of the

carriage and came to speak to us, as he often did, he stroked her beautiful neck. "Well, my pretty one, well,

how do things go with you now? You are a good bit happier than when you came to us, I think."

She put her nose up to him in a friendly, trustful way, while he rubbed it gently.

"Yes, sir, she's wonderfully improved; she's not the same creature that she was; it's `the Birtwick balls', sir,"

This was a little joke of John's; he used to say that a regular course of "the Birtwick horseballs" would cure

almost any vicious horse; these balls, he said, were made up of patience and gentleness, firmness and petting,

one pound of each to be mixed up with half a pint of common sense, and given to the horse every day.

Mr. Blomefield, the vicar, had a large family of boys and girls; sometimes they used to come and play with

Miss Jessie and Flora. One of the girls was as old as Miss Jessie; two of the boys were older, and there were

several little ones. When they came there was plenty of work for Merrylegs, for nothing pleased them so

much as getting on him by turns and riding him all about the orchard and the home paddock, and this they

One afternoon he had been out with them a long time, and when James brought him in and put on his halter

"Oh!" said he, tossing his little head, "I have only been giving those young people a lesson; they did not know

when they had had enough, nor when I had had enough, so I just pitched them off backward; that was the

"What!" said I, "you threw the children off? I thought you did know better than that! Did you throw Miss

"Of course not; I would not do such a thing for the best oats that ever came into the stable; why, I am as

careful of our young ladies as the master could be, and as for the little ones it is I who teach them to ride.

When they seem frightened or a little unsteady on my back I go as smooth and as quiet as old pussy when she

is after a bird; and when they are all right I go on again faster, you see, just to use them to it; so don't you

trouble yourself preaching to me; I am the best friend and the best ridingmaster those children have. It is not

them, it is the boys; boys," said he, shaking his mane, "are quite different; they must be broken in as we were

broken in when we were colts, and just be taught what's what. The other children had ridden me about for

nearly two hours, and then the boys thought it was their turn, and so it was, and I was quite agreeable. They

rode me by turns, and I galloped them about, up and down the fields and all about the orchard, for a good

hour. They had each cut a great hazel stick for a ridingwhip, and laid it on a little too hard; but I took it in

good part, till at last I thought we had had enough, so I stopped two or three times by way of a hint. Boys,

you see, think a horse or pony is like a steamengine or a thrashingmachine, and can go on as long and as

fast as they please; they never think that a pony can get tired, or have any feelings; so as the one who was

whipping me could not understand I just rose up on my hind legs and let him slip off behind that was all.

He mounted me again, and I did the same. Then the other boy got up, and as soon as he began to use his stick

I laid him on the grass, and so on, till they were able to understand that was all. They are not bad boys;

they don't wish to be cruel. I like them very well; but you see I had to give them a lesson. When they brought

me to James and told him I think he was very angry to see such big sticks. He said they were only fit for

"If I had been you," said Ginger, "I would have given those boys a good kick, and that would have given

"No doubt you would," said Merrylegs; "but then I am not quite such a fool (begging your pardon) as to

anger our master or make James ashamed of me. Besides, those children are under my charge when they are

riding; I tell you they are intrusted to me. Why, only the other day I heard our master say to Mrs. Blomefield,

`My dear madam, you need not be anxious about the children; my old Merrylegs will take as much care of

them as you or I could; I assure you I would not sell that pony for any money, he is so perfectly

goodtempered and trustworthy;' and do you think I am such an ungrateful brute as to forget all the kind

treatment I have had here for five years, and all the trust they place in me, and turn vicious because a couple

of ignorant boys used me badly? No, no! you never had a good place where they were kind to you, and so

you don't know, and I'm sorry for you; but I can tell you good places make good horses. I wouldn't vex our

people for anything; I love them, I do," said Merrylegs, and he gave a low "ho, ho, ho!" through his nose, as

"Besides," he went on, "if I took to kicking where should I be? Why, sold off in a jiffy, and no character, and

I might find myself slaved about under a butcher's boy, or worked to death at some seaside place where no

one cared for me, except to find out how fast I could go, or be flogged along in some cart with three or four

great men in it going out for a Sunday spree, as I have often seen in the place I lived in before I came here;

Ginger and I were not of the regular tall carriage horse breed, we had more of the racing blood in us. We

stood about fifteen and a half hands high; we were therefore just as good for riding as we were for driving,

and our master used to say that he disliked either horse or man that could do but one thing; and as he did not

want to show off in London parks, he preferred a more active and useful kind of horse. As for us, our greatest

pleasure was when we were saddled for a riding party; the master on Ginger, the mistress on me, and the

young ladies on Sir Oliver and Merrylegs. It was so cheerful to be trotting and cantering all together that it

always put us in high spirits. I had the best of it, for I always carried the mistress; her weight was little, her

voice was sweet, and her hand was so light on the rein that I was guided almost without feeling it.

Oh! if people knew what a comfort to horses a light hand is, and how it keeps a good mouth and a good

temper, they surely would not chuck, and drag, and pull at the rein as they often do. Our mouths are so tender

that where they have not been spoiled or hardened with bad or ignorant treatment, they feel the slightest

movement of the driver's hand, and we know in an instant what is required of us. My mouth has never been

spoiled, and I believe that was why the mistress preferred me to Ginger, although her paces were certainly

quite as good. She used often to envy me, and said it was all the fault of breaking in, and the gag bit in

London, that her mouth was not so perfect as mine; and then old Sir Oliver would say, "There, there! don't

vex yourself; you have the greatest honor; a mare that can carry a tall man of our master's weight, with all

your spring and sprightly action, does not need to hold her head down because she does not carry the lady; we

horses must take things as they come, and always be contented and willing so long as we are kindly used."

I had often wondered how it was that Sir Oliver had such a very short tail; it really was only six or seven

inches long, with a tassel of hair hanging from it; and on one of our holidays in the orchard I ventured to ask

him by what accident it was that he had lost his tail. "Accident!" he snorted with a fierce look, "it was no

accident! it was a cruel, shameful, coldblooded act! When I was young I was taken to a place where these

cruel things were done; I was tied up, and made fast so that I could not stir, and then they came and cut off

my long and beautiful tail, through the flesh and through the bone, and took it away.

"Dreadful, ah! it was dreadful; but it was not only the pain, though that was terrible and lasted a long time; it

was not only the indignity of having my best ornament taken from me, though that was bad; but it was this,

how could I ever brush the flies off my sides and my hind legs any more? You who have tails just whisk the

flies off without thinking about it, and you can't tell what a torment it is to have them settle upon you and

sting and sting, and have nothing in the world to lash them off with. I tell you it is a lifelong wrong, and a

"For fashion!" said the old horse with a stamp of his foot; "for fashion! if you know what that means; there

was not a wellbred young horse in my time that had not his tail docked in that shameful way, just as if the

"I suppose it is fashion that makes them strap our heads up with those horrid bits that I was tortured with in

"Of course it is," said he; "to my mind, fashion is one of the wickedest things in the world. Now look, for

instance, at the way they serve dogs, cutting off their tails to make them look plucky, and shearing up their

pretty little ears to a point to make them both look sharp, forsooth. I had a dear friend once, a brown terrier;

`Skye' they called her. She was so fond of me that she never would sleep out of my stall; she made her bed

under the manger, and there she had a litter of five as pretty little puppies as need be; none were drowned, for

they were a valuable kind, and how pleased she was with them! and when they got their eyes open and

crawled about, it was a real pretty sight; but one day the man came and took them all away; I thought he

might be afraid I should tread upon them. But it was not so; in the evening poor Skye brought them back

again, one by one in her mouth; not the happy little things that they were, but bleeding and crying pitifully;

they had all had a piece of their tails cut off, and the soft flap of their pretty little ears was cut quite off. How

their mother licked them, and how troubled she was, poor thing! I never forgot it. They healed in time, and

they forgot the pain, but the nice soft flap, that of course was intended to protect the delicate part of their ears

from dust and injury, was gone forever. Why don't they cut their own children's ears into points to make them

look sharp? Why don't they cut the end off their noses to make them look plucky? One would be just as

sensible as the other. What right have they to torment and disfigure God's creatures?"

Sir Oliver, though he was so gentle, was a fiery old fellow, and what he said was all so new to me, and so

dreadful, that I found a bitter feeling toward men rise up in my mind that I never had before. Of course

Ginger was very much excited; she flung up her head with flashing eyes and distended nostrils, declaring that

"Who talks about blockheads?" said Merrylegs, who just came up from the old appletree, where he had been

rubbing himself against the low branch. "Who talks about blockheads? I believe that is a bad word."

"Bad words were made for bad things," said Ginger, and she told him what Sir Oliver had said.

"It is all true," said Merrylegs sadly, "and I've seen that about the dogs over and over again where I lived first;

but we won't talk about it here. You know that master, and John and James are always good to us, and talking

against men in such a place as this doesn't seem fair or grateful, and you know there are good masters and

This wise speech of good little Merrylegs, which we knew was quite true, cooled us all down, especially Sir

Oliver, who was dearly fond of his master; and to turn the subject I said, "Can any one tell me the use of

"They are supposed," said Justice, the roan cob, in his calm way, "to prevent horses from shying and starting,

"Then what is the reason they do not put them on riding horses; especially on ladies' horses?" said I.

"There is no reason at all," said he quietly, "except the fashion; they say that a horse would be so frightened

to see the wheels of his own cart or carriage coming behind him that he would be sure to run away, although

of course when he is ridden he sees them all about him if the streets are crowded. I admit they do sometimes

come too close to be pleasant, but we don't run away; we are used to it, and understand it, and if we never had

blinkers put on we should never want them; we should see what was there, and know what was what, and be

much less frightened than by only seeing bits of things that we can't understand. Of course there may be some

nervous horses who have been hurt or frightened when they were young, who may be the better for them; but

"I consider," said Sir Oliver, "that blinkers are dangerous things in the night; we horses can see much better

in the dark than men can, and many an accident would never have happened if horses might have had the full

use of their eyes. Some years ago, I remember, there was a hearse with two horses returning one dark night,

and just by Farmer Sparrow's house, where the pond is close to the road, the wheels went too near the edge,

and the hearse was overturned into the water; both the horses were drowned, and the driver hardly escaped.

Of course after this accident a stout white rail was put up that might be easily seen, but if those horses had not

been partly blinded, they would of themselves have kept further from the edge, and no accident would have

happened. When our master's carriage was overturned, before you came here, it was said that if the lamp on

the left side had not gone out, John would have seen the great hole that the roadmakers had left; and so he

might, but if old Colin had not had blinkers on he would have seen it, lamp or no lamp, for he was far too

knowing an old horse to run into danger. As it was, he was very much hurt, the carriage was broken, and how

"I should say," said Ginger, curling her nostril, "that these men, who are so wise, had better give orders that

in the future all foals should be born with their eyes set just in the middle of their foreheads, instead of on the

side; they always think they can improve upon nature and mend what God has made."

Things were getting rather sore again, when Merrylegs held up his knowing little face and said, "I'll tell you a

secret: I believe John does not approve of blinkers; I heard him talking with master about it one day. The

master said that `if horses had been used to them, it might be dangerous in some cases to leave them off'; and

John said he thought it would be a good thing if all colts were broken in without blinkers, as was the case in

some foreign countries. So let us cheer up, and have a run to the other end of the orchard; I believe the wind

Merrylegs could not be resisted, so we broke off our long conversation, and got up our spirits by munching

The longer I lived at Birtwick the more proud and happy I felt at having such a place. Our master and

mistress were respected and beloved by all who knew them; they were good and kind to everybody and

everything; not only men and women, but horses and donkeys, dogs and cats, cattle and birds; there was no

oppressed or illused creature that had not a friend in them, and their servants took the same tone. If any of

the village children were known to treat any creature cruelly they soon heard about it from the Hall.

The squire and Farmer Grey had worked together, as they said, for more than twenty years to get checkreins

on the carthorses done away with, and in our parts you seldom saw them; and sometimes, if mistress met a

heavily laden horse with his head strained up she would stop the carriage and get out, and reason with the

driver in her sweet serious voice, and try to show him how foolish and cruel it was.

I don't think any man could withstand our mistress. I wish all ladies were like her. Our master, too, used to

come down very heavy sometimes. I remember he was riding me toward home one morning when we saw a

powerful man driving toward us in a light pony chaise, with a beautiful little bay pony, with slender legs and

a highbred sensitive head and face. Just as he came to the park gates the little thing turned toward them; the

man, without word or warning, wrenched the creature's head round with such a force and suddenness that he

nearly threw it on its haunches. Recovering itself it was going on, when he began to lash it furiously. The

pony plunged forward, but the strong, heavy hand held the pretty creature back with force almost enough to

break its jaw, while the whip still cut into him. It was a dreadful sight to me, for I knew what fearful pain it

gave that delicate little mouth; but master gave me the word, and we were up with him in a second.

"Flesh and blood and temper," he said; "he's too fond of his own will, and that won't suit me." He spoke as if

he was in a strong passion. He was a builder who had often been to the park on business.

"And do you think," said master sternly, "that treatment like this will make him fond of your will?"

"He had no business to make that turn; his road was straight on!" said the man roughly.

"You have often driven that pony up to my place," said master; "it only shows the creature's memory and

intelligence; how did he know that you were not going there again? But that has little to do with it. I must

say, Mr. Sawyer, that a more unmanly, brutal treatment of a little pony it was never my painful lot to witness,

and by giving way to such passion you injure your own character as much, nay more, than you injure your

horse; and remember, we shall all have to be judged according to our works, whether they be toward man or

Master rode me home slowly, and I could tell by his voice how the thing had grieved him. He was just as free

to speak to gentlemen of his own rank as to those below him; for another day, when we were out, we met a

Captain Langley, a friend of our master's; he was driving a splendid pair of grays in a kind of break. After a

"What do you think of my new team, Mr. Douglas? You know, you are the judge of horses in these parts, and

The master backed me a little, so as to get a good view of them. "They are an uncommonly handsome pair,"

he said, "and if they are as good as they look I am sure you need not wish for anything better; but I see you

still hold that pet scheme of yours for worrying your horses and lessening their power."

"What do you mean," said the other, "the checkreins? Oh, ah! I know that's a hobby of yours; well, the fact

"So do I," said master, "as well as any man, but I don't like to see them held up; that takes all the shine out of

it. Now, you are a military man, Langley, and no doubt like to see your regiment look well on parade, `heads

up', and all that; but you would not take much credit for your drill if all your men had their heads tied to a

backboard! It might not be much harm on parade, except to worry and fatigue them; but how would it be in a

bayonet charge against the enemy, when they want the free use of every muscle, and all their strength thrown

forward? I would not give much for their chance of victory. And it is just the same with horses: you fret and

worry their tempers, and decrease their power; you will not let them throw their weight against their work,

and so they have to do too much with their joints and muscles, and of course it wears them up faster. You

may depend upon it, horses were intended to have their heads free, as free as men's are; and if we could act a

little more according to common sense, and a good deal less according to fashion, we should find many

things work easier; besides, you know as well as I that if a horse makes a false step, he has much less chance

of recovering himself if his head and neck are fastened back. And now," said the master, laughing, "I have

given my hobby a good trot out, can't you make up your mind to mount him, too, captain? Your example

"I believe you are right in theory," said the other, "and that's rather a hard hit about the soldiers; but well

One day late in the autumn my master had a long journey to go on business. I was put into the dogcart, and

John went with his master. I always liked to go in the dogcart, it was so light and the high wheels ran along

so pleasantly. There had been a great deal of rain, and now the wind was very high and blew the dry leaves

across the road in a shower. We went along merrily till we came to the tollbar and the low wooden bridge.

The river banks were rather high, and the bridge, instead of rising, went across just level, so that in the

middle, if the river was full, the water would be nearly up to the woodwork and planks; but as there were

The man at the gate said the river was rising fast, and he feared it would be a bad night. Many of the

meadows were under water, and in one low part of the road the water was halfway up to my knees; the

When we got to the town of course I had a good bait, but as the master's business engaged him a long time we

did not start for home till rather late in the afternoon. The wind was then much higher, and I heard the master

say to John that he had never been out in such a storm; and so I thought, as we went along the skirts of a

wood, where the great branches were swaying about like twigs, and the rushing sound was terrible.

"Yes, sir," said John, "it would be rather awkward if one of these branches came down upon us."

The words were scarcely out of his mouth when there was a groan, and a crack, and a splitting sound, and

tearing, crashing down among the other trees came an oak, torn up by the roots, and it fell right across the

road just before us. I will never say I was not frightened, for I was. I stopped still, and I believe I trembled; of

course I did not turn round or run away; I was not brought up to that. John jumped out and was in a moment

"Well, sir, we can't drive over that tree, nor yet get round it; there will be nothing for it, but to go back to the

four crossways, and that will be a good six miles before we get round to the wooden bridge again; it will

So back we went and round by the crossroads, but by the time we got to the bridge it was very nearly dark;

we could just see that the water was over the middle of it; but as that happened sometimes when the floods

were out, master did not stop. We were going along at a good pace, but the moment my feet touched the first

part of the bridge I felt sure there was something wrong. I dare not go forward, and I made a dead stop. "Go

on, Beauty," said my master, and he gave me a touch with the whip, but I dare not stir; he gave me a sharp

"There's something wrong, sir," said John, and he sprang out of the dogcart and came to my head and

looked all about. He tried to lead me forward. "Come on, Beauty, what's the matter?" Of course I could not

Just then the man at the tollgate on the other side ran out of the house, tossing a torch about like one mad.

"The bridge is broken in the middle, and part of it is carried away; if you come on you'll be into the river."

"Thank God!" said my master. "You Beauty!" said John, and took the bridle and gently turned me round to

the righthand road by the river side. The sun had set some time; the wind seemed to have lulled off after that

furious blast which tore up the tree. It grew darker and darker, stiller and stiller. I trotted quietly along, the

wheels hardly making a sound on the soft road. For a good while neither master nor John spoke, and then

master began in a serious voice. I could not understand much of what they said, but I found they thought, if I

had gone on as the master wanted me, most likely the bridge would have given way under us, and horse,

chaise, master, and man would have fallen into the river; and as the current was flowing very strongly, and

there was no light and no help at hand, it was more than likely we should all have been drowned. Master said,

God had given men reason, by which they could find out things for themselves; but he had given animals

knowledge which did not depend on reason, and which was much more prompt and perfect in its way, and by

which they had often saved the lives of men. John had many stories to tell of dogs and horses, and the

wonderful things they had done; he thought people did not value their animals half enough nor make friends

of them as they ought to do. I am sure he makes friends of them if ever a man did.

At last we came to the park gates and found the gardener looking out for us. He said that mistress had been in

a dreadful way ever since dark, fearing some accident had happened, and that she had sent James off on

We saw a light at the halldoor and at the upper windows, and as we came up mistress ran out, saying, "Are

you really safe, my dear? Oh! I have been so anxious, fancying all sorts of things. Have you had no

"No, my dear; but if your Black Beauty had not been wiser than we were we should all have been carried

down the river at the wooden bridge." I heard no more, as they went into the house, and John took me to the

stable. Oh, what a good supper he gave me that night, a good bran mash and some crushed beans with my

One day when John and I had been out on some business of our master's, and were returning gently on a long,

straight road, at some distance we saw a boy trying to leap a pony over a gate; the pony would not take the

leap, and the boy cut him with the whip, but he only turned off on one side. He whipped him again, but the

pony turned off on the other side. Then the boy got off and gave him a hard thrashing, and knocked him about

the head; then he got up again and tried to make him leap the gate, kicking him all the time shamefully, but

still the pony refused. When we were nearly at the spot the pony put down his head and threw up his heels,

and sent the boy neatly over into a broad quickset hedge, and with the rein dangling from his head he set off

home at a full gallop. John laughed out quite loud. "Served him right," he said.

"Oh, oh, oh!" cried the boy as he struggled about among the thorns; "I say, come and help me out."

"Thank ye," said John, "I think you are quite in the right place, and maybe a little scratching will teach you

not to leap a pony over a gate that is too high for him," and so with that John rode off. "It may be," said he to

himself, "that young fellow is a liar as well as a cruel one; we'll just go home by Farmer Bushby's, Beauty,

and then if anybody wants to know you and I can tell 'em, ye see." So we turned off to the right, and soon

came up to the stackyard, and within sight of the house. The farmer was hurrying out into the road, and his

"Have you seen my boy?" said Mr. Bushby as we came up; "he went out an hour ago on my black pony, and

"I should think, sir," said John, "he had better be without a rider, unless he can be ridden properly."

"Well, sir, I saw your son whipping, and kicking, and knocking that good little pony about shamefully

because he would not leap a gate that was too high for him. The pony behaved well, sir, and showed no vice;

but at last he just threw up his heels and tipped the young gentleman into the thorn hedge. He wanted me to

help him out, but I hope you will excuse me, sir, I did not feel inclined to do so. There's no bones broken, sir;

he'll only get a few scratches. I love horses, and it riles me to see them badly used; it is a bad plan to

aggravate an animal till he uses his heels; the first time is not always the last."

During this time the mother began to cry, "Oh, my poor Bill, I must go and meet him; he must be hurt."

"You had better go into the house, wife," said the farmer; "Bill wants a lesson about this, and I must see that

he gets it; this is not the first time, nor the second, that he has illused that pony, and I shall stop it. I am

So we went on, John chuckling all the way home; then he told James about it, who laughed and said, "Serve

him right. I knew that boy at school; he took great airs on himself because he was a farmer's son; he used to

swagger about and bully the little boys. Of course, we elder ones would not have any of that nonsense, and let

him know that in the school and the playground farmers' sons and laborers' sons were all alike. I well

remember one day, just before afternoon school, I found him at the large window catching flies and pulling

off their wings. He did not see me and I gave him a box on the ears that laid him sprawling on the floor. Well,

angry as I was, I was almost frightened, he roared and bellowed in such a style. The boys rushed in from the

playground, and the master ran in from the road to see who was being murdered. Of course I said fair and

square at once what I had done, and why; then I showed the master the flies, some crushed and some

crawling about helpless, and I showed him the wings on the window sill. I never saw him so angry before;

but as Bill was still howling and whining, like the coward that he was, he did not give him any more

punishment of that kind, but set him up on a stool for the rest of the afternoon, and said that he should not go

out to play for that week. Then he talked to all the boys very seriously about cruelty, and said how

hardhearted and cowardly it was to hurt the weak and the helpless; but what stuck in my mind was this, he

said that cruelty was the devil's own trademark, and if we saw any one who took pleasure in cruelty we

might know who he belonged to, for the devil was a murderer from the beginning, and a tormentor to the end.

On the other hand, where we saw people who loved their neighbors, and were kind to man and beast, we

"Your master never taught you a truer thing," said John; "there is no religion without love, and people may

talk as much as they like about their religion, but if it does not teach them to be good and kind to man and

beast it is all a sham all a sham, James, and it won't stand when things come to be turned inside out."

Early one morning in December John had just led me into my box after my daily exercise, and was strapping

my cloth on and James was coming in from the corn chamber with some oats, when the master came into the

stable. He looked rather serious, and held an open letter in his hand. John fastened the door of my box,

"Goodmorning, John," said the master. "I want to know if you have any complaint to make of James."

"That's well; but I must put another question. Have you no reason to suspect, when he goes out with the

horses to exercise them or to take a message, that he stops about talking to his acquaintances, or goes into

"No, sir, certainly not; and if anybody has been saying that about James, I don't believe it, and I don't mean to

believe it unless I have it fairly proved before witnesses; it's not for me to say who has been trying to take

away James' character, but I will say this, sir, that a steadier, pleasanter, honester, smarter young fellow I

never had in this stable. I can trust his word and I can trust his work; he is gentle and clever with the horses,

and I would rather have them in charge with him than with half the young fellows I know of in laced hats and

liveries; and whoever wants a character of James Howard," said John, with a decided jerk of his head, "let

The master stood all this time grave and attentive, but as John finished his speech a broad smile spread over

his face, and looking kindly across at James, who all this time had stood still at the door, he said, "James, my

lad, set down the oats and come here; I am very glad to find that John's opinion of your character agrees so

exactly with my own. John is a cautious man," he said, with a droll smile, "and it is not always easy to get his

opinion about people, so I thought if I beat the bush on this side the birds would fly out, and I should learn

what I wanted to know quickly; so now we will come to business. I have a letter from my brotherinlaw, Sir

Clifford Williams, of Clifford Hall. He wants me to find him a trustworthy young groom, about twenty or

twentyone, who knows his business. His old coachman, who has lived with him thirty years, is getting

feeble, and he wants a man to work with him and get into his ways, who would be able, when the old man

was pensioned off, to step into his place. He would have eighteen shillings a week at first, a stable suit, a

driving suit, a bedroom over the coachhouse, and a boy under him. Sir Clifford is a good master, and if you

could get the place it would be a good start for you. I don't want to part with you, and if you left us I know

"That I should, sir," said John, "but I would not stand in his light for the world."

"Well, sir, it is young; but he is as steady as a man, and is strong, and well grown, and though he has not had

much experience in driving, he has a light firm hand and a quick eye, and he is very careful, and I am quite

sure no horse of his will be ruined for want of having his feet and shoes looked after."

"Your word will go the furthest, John," said the master, "for Sir Clifford adds in a postscript, `If I could find a

man trained by your John I should like him better than any other;' so, James, lad, think it over, talk to your

In a few days after this conversation it was fully settled that James should go to Clifford Hall, in a month or

six weeks, as it suited his master, and in the meantime he was to get all the practice in driving that could be

given to him. I never knew the carriage to go out so often before; when the mistress did not go out the master

drove himself in the twowheeled chaise; but now, whether it was master or the young ladies, or only an

errand, Ginger and I were put in the carriage and James drove us. At the first John rode with him on the box,

Then it was wonderful what a number of places the master would go to in the city on Saturday, and what

queer streets we were driven through. He was sure to go to the railway station just as the train was coming in,

and cabs and carriages, carts and omnibuses were all trying to get over the bridge together; that bridge wanted

good horses and good drivers when the railway bell was ringing, for it was narrow, and there was a very

sharp turn up to the station, where it would not have been at all difficult for people to run into each other, if

After this it was decided by my master and mistress to pay a visit to some friends who lived about fortysix

miles from our home, and James was to drive them. The first day we traveled thirtytwo miles. There were

some long, heavy hills, but James drove so carefully and thoughtfully that we were not at all harassed. He

never forgot to put on the brake as we went downhill, nor to take it off at the right place. He kept our feet on

the smoothest part of the road, and if the uphill was very long, he set the carriage wheels a little across the

road, so as not to run back, and gave us a breathing. All these little things help a horse very much, particularly

We stopped once or twice on the road, and just as the sun was going down we reached the town where we

were to spend the night. We stopped at the principal hotel, which was in the marketplace; it was a very large

one; we drove under an archway into a long yard, at the further end of which were the stables and

coachhouses. Two hostlers came to take us out. The head hostler was a pleasant, active little man, with a

crooked leg, and a yellow striped waistcoat. I never saw a man unbuckle harness so quickly as he did, and

with a pat and a good word he led me to a long stable, with six or eight stalls in it, and two or three horses.

The other man brought Ginger; James stood by while we were rubbed down and cleaned.

I never was cleaned so lightly and quickly as by that little old man. When he had done James stepped up and

felt me over, as if he thought I could not be thoroughly done, but he found my coat as clean and smooth as

"Well," he said, "I thought I was pretty quick, and our John quicker still, but you do beat all I ever saw for

"Practice makes perfect," said the crooked little hostler, "and 'twould be a pity if it didn't; forty years'

practice, and not perfect! ha, ha! that would be a pity; and as to being quick, why, bless you! that is only a

matter of habit; if you get into the habit of being quick it is just as easy as being slow; easier, I should say; in

fact it don't agree with my health to be hulking about over a job twice as long as it need take. Bless you! I

couldn't whistle if I crawled over my work as some folks do! You see, I have been about horses ever since I

was twelve years old, in hunting stables, and racing stables; and being small, ye see, I was jockey for several

years; but at the Goodwood, ye see, the turf was very slippery and my poor Larkspur got a fall, and I broke

my knee, and so of course I was of no more use there. But I could not live without horses, of course I

couldn't, so I took to the hotels. And I can tell ye it is a downright pleasure to handle an animal like this,

wellbred, wellmannered, wellcaredfor; bless ye! I can tell how a horse is treated. Give me the handling

of a horse for twenty minutes, and I'll tell you what sort of a groom he has had. Look at this one, pleasant,

quiet, turns about just as you want him, holds up his feet to be cleaned out, or anything else you please to

wish; then you'll find another fidgety, fretty, won't move the right way, or starts across the stall, tosses up his

head as soon as you come near him, lays his ears, and seems afraid of you; or else squares about at you with

his heels. Poor things! I know what sort of treatment they have had. If they are timid it makes them start or

shy; if they are highmettled it makes them vicious or dangerous; their tempers are mostly made when they

are young. Bless you! they are like children, train 'em up in the way they should go, as the good book says,

"I like to hear you talk," said James, "that's the way we lay it down at home, at our master's."

"Who is your master, young man? if it be a proper question. I should judge he is a good one, from what I

"He is Squire Gordon, of Birtwick Park, the other side the Beacon Hills," said James.

"Ah! so, so, I have heard tell of him; fine judge of horses, ain't he? the best rider in the county."

"I believe he is," said James, "but he rides very little now, since the poor young master was killed."

"Ah! poor gentleman; I read all about it in the paper at the time. A fine horse killed, too, wasn't there?"

"Yes," said James; "he was a splendid creature, brother to this one, and just like him."

"Pity! pity!" said the old man; "'twas a bad place to leap, if I remember; a thin fence at top, a steep bank down

to the stream, wasn't it? No chance for a horse to see where he is going. Now, I am for bold riding as much as

any man, but still there are some leaps that only a very knowing old huntsman has any right to take. A man's

life and a horse's life are worth more than a fox's tail; at least, I should say they ought to be."

During this time the other man had finished Ginger and had brought our corn, and James and the old man left

Later on in the evening a traveler's horse was brought in by the second hostler, and while he was cleaning

"I say, Towler," said the hostler, "just run up the ladder into the loft and put some hay down into this horse's

"All right," said the other, and went up through the trapdoor; and I heard him step across the floor overhead

and put down the hay. James came in to look at us the last thing, and then the door was locked.

I cannot say how long I had slept, nor what time in the night it was, but I woke up very uncomfortable,

though I hardly knew why. I got up; the air seemed all thick and choking. I heard Ginger coughing and one of

the other horses seemed very restless; it was quite dark, and I could see nothing, but the stable seemed full of

The trapdoor had been left open, and I thought that was the place it came through. I listened, and heard a soft

rushing sort of noise and a low crackling and snapping. I did not know what it was, but there was something

in the sound so strange that it made me tremble all over. The other horses were all awake; some were pulling

At last I heard steps outside, and the hostler who had put up the traveler's horse burst into the stable with a

lantern, and began to untie the horses, and try to lead them out; but he seemed in such a hurry and so

frightened himself that he frightened me still more. The first horse would not go with him; he tried the second

and third, and they too would not stir. He came to me next and tried to drag me out of the stall by force; of

No doubt we were very foolish, but danger seemed to be all round, and there was nobody we knew to trust in,

and all was strange and uncertain. The fresh air that had come in through the open door made it easier to

breathe, but the rushing sound overhead grew louder, and as I looked upward through the bars of my empty

rack I saw a red light flickering on the wall. Then I heard a cry of "Fire!" outside, and the old hostler quietly

and quickly came in; he got one horse out, and went to another, but the flames were playing round the

"Come, my beauties, it is time for us to be off, so wake up and come along." I stood nearest the door, so he

"Come, Beauty, on with your bridle, my boy, we'll soon be out of this smother." It was on in no time; then he

took the scarf off his neck, and tied it lightly over my eyes, and patting and coaxing he led me out of the

stable. Safe in the yard, he slipped the scarf off my eyes, and shouted, "Here somebody! take this horse while

A tall, broad man stepped forward and took me, and James darted back into the stable. I set up a shrill whinny

as I saw him go. Ginger told me afterward that whinny was the best thing I could have done for her, for had

There was much confusion in the yard; the horses being got out of other stables, and the carriages and gigs

being pulled out of houses and sheds, lest the flames should spread further. On the other side the yard

windows were thrown up, and people were shouting all sorts of things; but I kept my eye fixed on the stable

door, where the smoke poured out thicker than ever, and I could see flashes of red light; presently I heard

"James Howard! James Howard! Are you there?" There was no answer, but I heard a crash of something

falling in the stable, and the next moment I gave a loud, joyful neigh, for I saw James coming through the

smoke leading Ginger with him; she was coughing violently, and he was not able to speak.

"And now," said master, "when you have got your breath, James, we'll get out of this place as quickly as we

can," and we were moving toward the entry, when from the marketplace there came a sound of galloping

"'Tis the fireengine! the fireengine!" shouted two or three voices, "stand back, make way!" and clattering

and thundering over the stones two horses dashed into the yard with a heavy engine behind them. The

firemen leaped to the ground; there was no need to ask where the fire was it was rolling up in a great blaze

We got out as fast as we could into the broad quiet marketplace; the stars were shining, and except the noise

behind us, all was still. Master led the way to a large hotel on the other side, and as soon as the hostler came,

he said, "James, I must now hasten to your mistress; I trust the horses entirely to you, order whatever you

think is needed," and with that he was gone. The master did not run, but I never saw mortal man walk so fast

There was a dreadful sound before we got into our stalls the shrieks of those poor horses that were left

burning to death in the stable it was very terrible! and made both Ginger and me feel very bad. We,

The next morning the master came to see how we were and to speak to James. I did not hear much, for the

hostler was rubbing me down, but I could see that James looked very happy, and I thought the master was

proud of him. Our mistress had been so much alarmed in the night that the journey was put off till the

afternoon, so James had the morning on hand, and went first to the inn to see about our harness and the

carriage, and then to hear more about the fire. When he came back we heard him tell the hostler about it. At

first no one could guess how the fire had been caused, but at last a man said he saw Dick Towler go into the

stable with a pipe in his mouth, and when he came out he had not one, and went to the tap for another. Then

the under hostler said he had asked Dick to go up the ladder to put down some hay, but told him to lay down

his pipe first. Dick denied taking the pipe with him, but no one believed him. I remember our John Manly's

rule, never to allow a pipe in the stable, and thought it ought to be the rule everywhere.

James said the roof and floor had all fallen in, and that only the black walls were standing; the two poor

The rest of our journey was very easy, and a little after sunset we reached the house of my master's friend.

We were taken into a clean, snug stable; there was a kind coachman, who made us very comfortable, and who

"There is one thing quite clear, young man," he said, "your horses know who they can trust; it is one of the

hardest things in the world to get horses out of a stable when there is either fire or flood. I don't know why

We stopped two or three days at this place and then returned home. All went well on the journey; we were

Before he and James left us for the night James said, "I wonder who is coming in my place."

"Yes, he is small, but he is quick and willing, and kindhearted, too, and then he wishes very much to come,

and his father would like it; and I know the master would like to give him the chance. He said if I thought he

would not do he would look out for a bigger boy; but I said I was quite agreeable to try him for six weeks."

"Six weeks!" said James; "why, it will be six months before he can be of much use! It will make you a deal of

"Well," said John with a laugh, "work and I are very good friends; I never was afraid of work yet."

"I don't often speak of myself," said John, "but as you are going away from us out into the world to shift for

yourself I'll just tell you how I look on these things. I was just as old as Joseph when my father and mother

died of the fever within ten days of each other, and left me and my cripple sister Nelly alone in the world,

without a relation that we could look to for help. I was a farmer's boy, not earning enough to keep myself,

much less both of us, and she must have gone to the workhouse but for our mistress (Nelly calls her her

angel, and she has good right to do so). She went and hired a room for her with old Widow Mallet, and she

gave her knitting and needlework when she was able to do it; and when she was ill she sent her dinners and

many nice, comfortable things, and was like a mother to her. Then the master he took me into the stable under

old Norman, the coachman that was then. I had my food at the house and my bed in the loft, and a suit of

clothes, and three shillings a week, so that I could help Nelly. Then there was Norman; he might have turned

round and said at his age he could not be troubled with a raw boy from the plowtail, but he was like a father

to me, and took no end of pains with me. When the old man died some years after I stepped into his place,

and now of course I have top wages, and can lay by for a rainy day or a sunny day, as it may happen, and

Nelly is as happy as a bird. So you see, James, I am not the man that should turn up his nose at a little boy

and vex a good, kind master. No, no! I shall miss you very much, James, but we shall pull through, and

there's nothing like doing a kindness when 'tis put in your way, and I am glad I can do it."

"Then," said James, "you don't hold with that saying, `Everybody look after himself, and take care of number

"No, indeed," said John, "where should I and Nelly have been if master and mistress and old Norman had

only taken care of number one? Why, she in the workhouse and I hoeing turnips! Where would Black Beauty

and Ginger have been if you had only thought of number one? why, roasted to death! No, Jim, no! that is a

selfish, heathenish saying, whoever uses it; and any man who thinks he has nothing to do but take care of

number one, why, it's a pity but what he had been drowned like a puppy or a kitten, before he got his eyes

James laughed at this; but there was a thickness in his voice when he said, "You have been my best friend

"No, lad, no!" said John, "and if ever I can do you a good turn I hope you won't forget me."

The next day Joe came to the stables to learn all he could before James left. He learned to sweep the stable, to

bring in the straw and hay; he began to clean the harness, and helped to wash the carriage. As he was quite

too short to do anything in the way of grooming Ginger and me, James taught him upon Merrylegs, for he

was to have full charge of him, under John. He was a nice little bright fellow, and always came whistling to

Merrylegs was a good deal put out at being "mauled about," as he said, "by a boy who knew nothing;" but

toward the end of the second week he told me confidentially that he thought the boy would turn out well.

At last the day came when James had to leave us; cheerful as he always was, he looked quite downhearted

"You see," he said to John, "I am leaving a great deal behind; my mother and Betsy, and you, and a good

master and mistress, and then the horses, and my old Merrylegs. At the new place there will not be a soul that

I shall know. If it were not that I shall get a higher place, and be able to help my mother better, I don't think I

"Ay, James, lad, so it is; but I should not think much of you if you could leave your home for the first time

and not feel it. Cheer up, you'll make friends there; and if you get on well, as I am sure you will, it will be a

fine thing for your mother, and she will be proud enough that you have got into such a good place as that."

So John cheered him up, but every one was sorry to lose James; as for Merrylegs, he pined after him for

several days, and went quite off his appetite. So John took him out several mornings with a leading rein,

when he exercised me, and, trotting and galloping by my side, got up the little fellow's spirits again, and he

Joe's father would often come in and give a little help, as he understood the work; and Joe took a great deal of

One night, a few days after James had left, I had eaten my hay and was lying down in my straw fast asleep,

when I was suddenly roused by the stable bell ringing very loud. I heard the door of John's house open, and

his feet running up to the hall. He was back again in no time; he unlocked the stable door, and came in,

calling out, "Wake up, Beauty! You must go well now, if ever you did;" and almost before I could think he

had got the saddle on my back and the bridle on my head. He just ran round for his coat, and then took me at

a quick trot up to the hall door. The squire stood there, with a lamp in his hand.

"Now, John," he said, "ride for your life that is, for your mistress' life; there is not a moment to lose. Give

this note to Dr. White; give your horse a rest at the inn, and be back as soon as you can."

John said, "Yes, sir," and was on my back in a minute. The gardener who lived at the lodge had heard the bell

ring, and was ready with the gate open, and away we went through the park, and through the village, and

down the hill till we came to the tollgate. John called very loud and thumped upon the door; the man was

"Now," said John, "do you keep the gate open for the doctor; here's the money," and off he went again.

There was before us a long piece of level road by the river side; John said to me, "Now, Beauty, do your

best," and so I did; I wanted no whip nor spur, and for two miles I galloped as fast as I could lay my feet to

the ground; I don't believe that my old grandfather, who won the race at Newmarket, could have gone faster.

When we came to the bridge John pulled me up a little and patted my neck. "Well done, Beauty! good old

fellow," he said. He would have let me go slower, but my spirit was up, and I was off again as fast as before.

The air was frosty, the moon was bright; it was very pleasant. We came through a village, then through a dark

wood, then uphill, then downhill, till after eight miles' run we came to the town, through the streets and into

the marketplace. It was all quite still except the clatter of my feet on the stones everybody was asleep.

The church clock struck three as we drew up at Dr. White's door. John rang the bell twice, and then knocked

at the door like thunder. A window was thrown up, and Dr. White, in his nightcap, put his head out and said,

"Mrs. Gordon is very ill, sir; master wants you to go at once; he thinks she will die if you cannot get there.

"The worst of it is," he said, "that my horse has been out all day and is quite done up; my son has just been

sent for, and he has taken the other. What is to be done? Can I have your horse?"

"He has come at a gallop nearly all the way, sir, and I was to give him a rest here; but I think my master

John stood by me and stroked my neck; I was very hot. The doctor came out with his ridingwhip.

"You need not take that, sir," said John; "Black Beauty will go till he drops. Take care of him, sir, if you can;

"No, no, John," said the doctor, "I hope not," and in a minute we had left John far behind.

I will not tell about our way back. The doctor was a heavier man than John, and not so good a rider; however,

I did my very best. The man at the tollgate had it open. When we came to the hill the doctor drew me up.

"Now, my good fellow," he said, "take some breath." I was glad he did, for I was nearly spent, but that

breathing helped me on, and soon we were in the park. Joe was at the lodge gate; my master was at the hall

door, for he had heard us coming. He spoke not a word; the doctor went into the house with him, and Joe led

me to the stable. I was glad to get home; my legs shook under me, and I could only stand and pant. I had not a

dry hair on my body, the water ran down my legs, and I steamed all over, Joe used to say, like a pot on the

fire. Poor Joe! he was young and small, and as yet he knew very little, and his father, who would have helped

him, had been sent to the next village; but I am sure he did the very best he knew. He rubbed my legs and my

chest, but he did not put my warm cloth on me; he thought I was so hot I should not like it. Then he gave me

a pailful of water to drink; it was cold and very good, and I drank it all; then he gave me some hay and some

corn, and thinking he had done right, he went away. Soon I began to shake and tremble, and turned deadly

cold; my legs ached, my loins ached, and my chest ached, and I felt sore all over. Oh! how I wished for my

warm, thick cloth, as I stood and trembled. I wished for John, but he had eight miles to walk, so I lay down in

my straw and tried to go to sleep. After a long while I heard John at the door; I gave a low moan, for I was in

great pain. He was at my side in a moment, stooping down by me. I could not tell him how I felt, but he

seemed to know it all; he covered me up with two or three warm cloths, and then ran to the house for some

hot water; he made me some warm gruel, which I drank, and then I think I went to sleep.

John seemed to be very much put out. I heard him say to himself over and over again, "Stupid boy! stupid

boy! no cloth put on, and I dare say the water was cold, too; boys are no good;" but Joe was a good boy, after

I was now very ill; a strong inflammation had attacked my lungs, and I could not draw my breath without

pain. John nursed me night and day; he would get up two or three times in the night to come to me. My

master, too, often came to see me. "My poor Beauty," he said one day, "my good horse, you saved your

mistress' life, Beauty; yes, you saved her life." I was very glad to hear that, for it seems the doctor had said if

we had been a little longer it would have been too late. John told my master he never saw a horse go so fast in

his life. It seemed as if the horse knew what was the matter. Of course I did, though John thought not; at least

I knew as much as this that John and I must go at the top of our speed, and that it was for the sake of the

I do not know how long I was ill. Mr. Bond, the horsedoctor, came every day. One day he bled me; John

held a pail for the blood. I felt very faint after it and thought I should die, and I believe they all thought so

Ginger and Merrylegs had been moved into the other stable, so that I might be quiet, for the fever made me

very quick of hearing; any little noise seemed quite loud, and I could tell every one's footstep going to and

from the house. I knew all that was going on. One night John had to give me a draught; Thomas Green came

in to help him. After I had taken it and John had made me as comfortable as he could, he said he should stay

half an hour to see how the medicine settled. Thomas said he would stay with him, so they went and sat down

on a bench that had been brought into Merrylegs' stall, and put down the lantern at their feet, that I might not

"I wish, John, you'd say a bit of a kind word to Joe. The boy is quite brokenhearted; he can't eat his meals,

and he can't smile. He says he knows it was all his fault, though he is sure he did the best he knew, and he

says if Beauty dies no one will ever speak to him again. It goes to my heart to hear him. I think you might

After a short pause John said slowly, "You must not be too hard upon me, Tom. I know he meant no harm, I

never said he did; I know he is not a bad boy. But you see, I am sore myself; that horse is the pride of my

heart, to say nothing of his being such a favorite with the master and mistress; and to think that his life may

be flung away in this manner is more than I can bear. But if you think I am hard on the boy I will try to give

"Well, John, thank you. I knew you did not wish to be too hard, and I am glad you see it was only ignorance."

"Only ignorance! only ignorance! how can you talk about only ignorance? Don't you know that it is the worst

thing in the world, next to wickedness? and which does the most mischief heaven only knows. If people

can say, `Oh! I did not know, I did not mean any harm,' they think it is all right. I suppose Martha Mulwash

did not mean to kill that baby when she dosed it with Dalby and soothing syrups; but she did kill it, and was

"And serve her right, too," said Tom. "A woman should not undertake to nurse a tender little child without

"Bill Starkey," continued John, "did not mean to frighten his brother into fits when he dressed up like a ghost

and ran after him in the moonlight; but he did; and that bright, handsome little fellow, that might have been

the pride of any mother's heart is just no better than an idiot, and never will be, if he lives to be eighty years

old. You were a good deal cut up yourself, Tom, two weeks ago, when those young ladies left your hothouse

door open, with a frosty east wind blowing right in; you said it killed a good many of your plants."

"A good many!" said Tom; "there was not one of the tender cuttings that was not nipped off. I shall have to

strike all over again, and the worst of it is that I don't know where to go to get fresh ones. I was nearly mad

"And yet," said John, "I am sure the young ladies did not mean it; it was only ignorance."

I heard no more of this conversation, for the medicine did well and sent me to sleep, and in the morning I felt

much better; but I often thought of John's words when I came to know more of the world.

Joe Green went on very well; he learned quickly, and was so attentive and careful that John began to trust

him in many things; but as I have said, he was small of his age, and it was seldom that he was allowed to

exercise either Ginger or me; but it so happened one morning that John was out with Justice in the luggage

cart, and the master wanted a note to be taken immediately to a gentleman's house, about three miles distant,

and sent his orders for Joe to saddle me and take it, adding the caution that he was to ride steadily.

The note was delivered, and we were quietly returning when we came to the brickfield. Here we saw a cart

heavily laden with bricks; the wheels had stuck fast in the stiff mud of some deep ruts, and the carter was

shouting and flogging the two horses unmercifully. Joe pulled up. It was a sad sight. There were the two

horses straining and struggling with all their might to drag the cart out, but they could not move it; the sweat

streamed from their legs and flanks, their sides heaved, and every muscle was strained, while the man,

"Hold hard," said Joe; "don't go on flogging the horses like that; the wheels are so stuck that they cannot

"Stop! pray stop!" said Joe. "I'll help you to lighten the cart; they can't move it now."

"Mind your own business, you impudent young rascal, and I'll mind mine!" The man was in a towering

passion and the worse for drink, and laid on the whip again. Joe turned my head, and the next moment we

were going at a round gallop toward the house of the master brickmaker. I cannot say if John would have

approved of our pace, but Joe and I were both of one mind, and so angry that we could not have gone slower.

The house stood close by the roadside. Joe knocked at the door, and shouted, "Halloo! Is Mr. Clay at home?"

"Halloo, young man! You seem in a hurry; any orders from the squire this morning?"

"No, Mr. Clay, but there's a fellow in your brickyard flogging two horses to death. I told him to stop, and he

wouldn't; I said I'd help him to lighten the cart, and he wouldn't; so I have come to tell you. Pray, sir, go."

"Thank ye, my lad," said the man, running in for his hat; then pausing for a moment, "Will you give evidence

"That I will," said Joe, "and glad too." The man was gone, and we were on our way home at a smart trot.

"Why, what's the matter with you, Joe? You look angry all over," said John, as the boy flung himself from the

"I am angry all over, I can tell you," said the boy, and then in hurried, excited words he told all that had

happened. Joe was usually such a quiet, gentle little fellow that it was wonderful to see him so roused.

"Right, Joe! you did right, my boy, whether the fellow gets a summons or not. Many folks would have ridden

by and said it was not their business to interfere. Now I say that with cruelty and oppression it is everybody's

Joe was quite calm by this time, and proud that John approved of him, and cleaned out my feet and rubbed

They were just going home to dinner when the footman came down to the stable to say that Joe was wanted

directly in master's private room; there was a man brought up for illusing horses, and Joe's evidence was

wanted. The boy flushed up to his forehead, and his eyes sparkled. "They shall have it," said he.

"Put yourself a bit straight," said John. Joe gave a pull at his necktie and a twitch at his jacket, and was off in

a moment. Our master being one of the county magistrates, cases were often brought to him to settle, or say

what should be done. In the stable we heard no more for some time, as it was the men's dinner hour, but when

Joe came next into the stable I saw he was in high spirits; he gave me a goodnatured slap, and said, "We

won't see such things done, will we, old fellow?" We heard afterward that he had given his evidence so

clearly, and the horses were in such an exhausted state, bearing marks of such brutal usage, that the carter

was committed to take his trial, and might possibly be sentenced to two or three months in prison.

It was wonderful what a change had come over Joe. John laughed, and said he had grown an inch taller in that

week, and I believe he had. He was just as kind and gentle as before, but there was more purpose and

determination in all that he did as if he had jumped at once from a boy into a man.

Now I had lived in this happy place three years, but sad changes were about to come over us. We heard from

time to time that our mistress was ill. The doctor was often at the house, and the master looked grave and

anxious. Then we heard that she must leave her home at once, and go to a warm country for two or three

years. The news fell upon the household like the tolling of a deathbell. Everybody was sorry; but the master

began directly to make arrangements for breaking up his establishment and leaving England. We used to hear

John went about his work silent and sad, and Joe scarcely whistled. There was a great deal of coming and

The first of the party who went were Miss Jessie and Flora, with their governess. They came to bid us

goodby. They hugged poor Merrylegs like an old friend, and so indeed he was. Then we heard what had

been arranged for us. Master had sold Ginger and me to his old friend, the Earl of W, for he thought we

should have a good place there. Merrylegs he had given to the vicar, who was wanting a pony for Mrs.

Blomefield, but it was on the condition that he should never be sold, and that when he was past work he

Joe was engaged to take care of him and to help in the house, so I thought that Merrylegs was well off. John

had the offer of several good places, but he said he should wait a little and look round.

The evening before they left the master came into the stable to give some directions, and to give his horses

the last pat. He seemed very lowspirited; I knew that by his voice. I believe we horses can tell more by the

"Have you decided what to do, John?" he said. "I find you have not accepted either of those offers."

"No, sir; I have made up my mind that if I could get a situation with some firstrate coltbreaker and

horsetrainer, it would be the right thing for me. Many young animals are frightened and spoiled by wrong

treatment, which need not be if the right man took them in hand. I always get on well with horses, and if I

could help some of them to a fair start I should feel as if I was doing some good. What do you think of it,

"I don't know a man anywhere," said master, "that I should think so suitable for it as yourself. You

understand horses, and somehow they understand you, and in time you might set up for yourself; I think you

could not do better. If in any way I can help you, write to me. I shall speak to my agent in London, and leave

Master gave John the name and address, and then he thanked him for his long and faithful service; but that

was too much for John. "Pray, don't, sir, I can't bear it; you and my dear mistress have done so much for me

that I could never repay it. But we shall never forget you, sir, and please God, we may some day see mistress

back again like herself; we must keep up hope, sir." Master gave John his hand, but he did not speak, and

The last sad day had come; the footman and the heavy luggage had gone off the day before, and there were

only master and mistress and her maid. Ginger and I brought the carriage up to the hall door for the last time.

The servants brought out cushions and rugs and many other things; and when all were arranged master came

down the steps carrying the mistress in his arms (I was on the side next to the house, and could see all that

went on); he placed her carefully in the carriage, while the house servants stood round crying.

"Goodby, again," he said; "we shall not forget any of you," and he got in. "Drive on, John."

Joe jumped up, and we trotted slowly through the park and through the village, where the people were

When we reached the railway station I think mistress walked from the carriage to the waitingroom. I heard

her say in her own sweet voice, "Goodby, John. God bless you." I felt the rein twitch, but John made no

answer; perhaps he could not speak. As soon as Joe had taken the things out of the carriage John called him

to stand by the horses, while he went on the platform. Poor Joe! he stood close up to our heads to hide his

tears. Very soon the train came puffing up into the station; then two or three minutes, and the doors were

slammed to, the guard whistled, and the train glided away, leaving behind it only clouds of white smoke and

"We shall never see her again," he said "never." He took the reins, mounted the box, and with Joe drove

The next morning after breakfast Joe put Merrylegs into the mistress' low chaise to take him to the vicarage;

he came first and said goodby to us, and Merrylegs neighed to us from the yard. Then John put the saddle

on Ginger and the leading rein on me, and rode us across the country about fifteen miles to Earlshall Park,

where the Earl of W lived. There was a very fine house and a great deal of stabling. We went into the

yard through a stone gateway, and John asked for Mr. York. It was some time before he came. He was a

finelooking, middleaged man, and his voice said at once that he expected to be obeyed. He was very

friendly and polite to John, and after giving us a slight look he called a groom to take us to our boxes, and

We were taken to a light, airy stable, and placed in boxes adjoining each other, where we were rubbed down

and fed. In about half an hour John and Mr. York, who was to be our new coachman, came in to see us.

"Now, Mr. Manly," he said, after carefully looking at us both, "I can see no fault in these horses; but we all

know that horses have their peculiarities as well as men, and that sometimes they need different treatment. I

should like to know if there is anything particular in either of these that you would like to mention."

"Well," said John, "I don't believe there is a better pair of horses in the country, and right grieved I am to part

with them, but they are not alike. The black one is the most perfect temper I ever knew; I suppose he has

never known a hard word or a blow since he was foaled, and all his pleasure seems to be to do what you

wish; but the chestnut, I fancy, must have had bad treatment; we heard as much from the dealer. She came to

us snappish and suspicious, but when she found what sort of place ours was, it all went off by degrees; for

three years I have never seen the smallest sign of temper, and if she is well treated there is not a better, more

willing animal than she is. But she is naturally a more irritable constitution than the black horse; flies tease

her more; anything wrong in the harness frets her more; and if she were illused or unfairly treated she would

not be unlikely to give tit for tat. You know that many highmettled horses will do so."

"Of course," said York, "I quite understand; but you know it is not easy in stables like these to have all the

grooms just what they should be. I do my best, and there I must leave it. I'll remember what you have said

They were going out of the stable, when John stopped and said, "I had better mention that we have never used

the checkrein with either of them; the black horse never had one on, and the dealer said it was the gagbit

"Well," said York, "if they come here they must wear the checkrein. I prefer a loose rein myself, and his

lordship is always very reasonable about horses; but my lady that's another thing; she will have style, and

if her carriage horses are not reined up tight she wouldn't look at them. I always stand out against the gagbit,

"I am sorry for it, very sorry," said John; "but I must go now, or I shall lose the train."

He came round to each of us to pat and speak to us for the last time; his voice sounded very sad.

I held my face close to him; that was all I could do to say goodby; and then he was gone, and I have never

"I have great confidence in these horses," he said, "from the character my friend Mr. Gordon has given me of

them. Of course they are not a match in color, but my idea is that they will do very well for the carriage while

we are in the country. Before we go to London I must try to match Baron; the black horse, I believe, is perfect

"Well," said he, "you must keep an eye to the mare, and put the checkrein easy; I dare say they will do very

In the afternoon we were harnessed and put in the carriage, and as the stable clock struck three we were led

round to the front of the house. It was all very grand, and three or four times as large as the old house at

Birtwick, but not half so pleasant, if a horse may have an opinion. Two footmen were standing ready, dressed

in drab livery, with scarlet breeches and white stockings. Presently we heard the rustling sound of silk as my

lady came down the flight of stone steps. She stepped round to look at us; she was a tall, proudlooking

woman, and did not seem pleased about something, but she said nothing, and got into the carriage. This was

the first time of wearing a checkrein, and I must say, though it certainly was a nuisance not to be able to get

my head down now and then, it did not pull my head higher than I was accustomed to carry it. I felt anxious

The next day at three o'clock we were again at the door, and the footmen as before; we heard the silk dress

rustle and the lady came down the steps, and in an imperious voice she said, "York, you must put those

York got down, and said very respectfully, "I beg your pardon, my lady, but these horses have not been

reined up for three years, and my lord said it would be safer to bring them to it by degrees; but if your

York came round to our heads and shortened the rein himself one hole, I think; every little makes a

difference, be it for better or worse, and that day we had a steep hill to go up. Then I began to understand

what I had heard of. Of course, I wanted to put my head forward and take the carriage up with a will, as we

had been used to do; but no, I had to pull with my head up now, and that took all the spirit out of me, and the

strain came on my back and legs. When we came in Ginger said, "Now you see what it is like; but this is not

bad, and if it does not get much worse than this I shall say nothing about it, for we are very well treated here;

but if they strain me up tight, why, let 'em look out! I can't bear it, and I won't."

Day by day, hole by hole, our bearing reins were shortened, and instead of looking forward with pleasure to

having my harness put on, as I used to do, I began to dread it. Ginger, too, seemed restless, though she said

very little. At last I thought the worst was over; for several days there was no more shortening, and I

determined to make the best of it and do my duty, though it was now a constant harass instead of a pleasure;

One day my lady came down later than usual, and the silk rustled more than ever.

"Drive to the Duchess of B's," she said, and then after a pause, "Are you never going to get those horses'

heads up, York? Raise them at once and let us have no more of this humoring and nonsense."

York came to me first, while the groom stood at Ginger's head. He drew my head back and fixed the rein so

tight that it was almost intolerable; then he went to Ginger, who was impatiently jerking her head up and

down against the bit, as was her way now. She had a good idea of what was coming, and the moment York

took the rein off the terret in order to shorten it she took her opportunity and reared up so suddenly that York

had his nose roughly hit and his hat knocked off; the groom was nearly thrown off his legs. At once they both

flew to her head; but she was a match for them, and went on plunging, rearing, and kicking in a most

desperate manner. At last she kicked right over the carriage pole and fell down, after giving me a severe blow

on my near quarter. There is no knowing what further mischief she might have done had not York promptly

sat himself down flat on her head to prevent her struggling, at the same time calling out, "Unbuckle the black

horse! Run for the winch and unscrew the carriage pole! Cut the trace here, somebody, if you can't unhitch

it!" One of the footmen ran for the winch, and another brought a knife from the house. The groom soon set

me free from Ginger and the carriage, and led me to my box. He just turned me in as I was and ran back to

York. I was much excited by what had happened, and if I had ever been used to kick or rear I am sure I

should have done it then; but I never had, and there I stood, angry, sore in my leg, my head still strained up to

the terret on the saddle, and no power to get it down. I was very miserable and felt much inclined to kick the

Before long, however, Ginger was led in by two grooms, a good deal knocked about and bruised. York came

with her and gave his orders, and then came to look at me. In a moment he let down my head.

"Confound these checkreins!" he said to himself; "I thought we should have some mischief soon. Master

will be sorely vexed. But there, if a woman's husband can't rule her of course a servant can't; so I wash my

hands of it, and if she can't get to the duchess' garden party I can't help it."

York did not say this before the men; he always spoke respectfully when they were by. Now he felt me all

over, and soon found the place above my hock where I had been kicked. It was swelled and painful; he

Lord W was much put out when he learned what had happened; he blamed York for giving way to his

mistress, to which he replied that in future he would much prefer to receive his orders only from his lordship;

but I think nothing came of it, for things went on the same as before. I thought York might have stood up

Ginger was never put into the carriage again, but when she was well of her bruises one of the Lord W's

younger sons said he should like to have her; he was sure she would make a good hunter. As for me, I was

obliged still to go in the carriage, and had a fresh partner called Max; he had always been used to the tight

"Well," he said, "I bear it because I must; but it is shortening my life, and it will shorten yours too if you have

"I can't say," he replied, "but the dealers and the horsedoctors know it very well. I was at a dealer's once,

who was training me and another horse to go as a pair; he was getting our heads up, as he said, a little higher

and a little higher every day. A gentleman who was there asked him why he did so. `Because,' said he,

`people won't buy them unless we do. The London people always want their horses to carry their heads high

and to step high. Of course it is very bad for the horses, but then it is good for trade. The horses soon wear up,

or get diseased, and they come for another pair.' That," said Max, "is what he said in my hearing, and you can

What I suffered with that rein for four long months in my lady's carriage it would be hard to describe; but I

am quite sure that, had it lasted much longer, either my health or my temper would have given way. Before

that, I never knew what it was to foam at the mouth, but now the action of the sharp bit on my tongue and

jaw, and the constrained position of my head and throat, always caused me to froth at the mouth more or less.

Some people think it very fine to see this, and say, "What fine spirited creatures!" But it is just as unnatural

for horses as for men to foam at the mouth; it is a sure sign of some discomfort, and should be attended to.

Besides this, there was a pressure on my windpipe, which often made my breathing very uncomfortable;

when I returned from my work my neck and chest were strained and painful, my mouth and tongue tender,

In my old home I always knew that John and my master were my friends; but here, although in many ways I

was well treated, I had no friend. York might have known, and very likely did know, how that rein harassed

me; but I suppose he took it as a matter of course that it could not be helped; at any rate, nothing was done to

Early in the spring, Lord W and part of his family went up to London, and took York with them. I and

Ginger and some other horses were left at home for use, and the head groom was left in charge.

The Lady Harriet, who remained at the hall, was a great invalid, and never went out in the carriage, and the

Lady Anne preferred riding on horseback with her brother or cousins. She was a perfect horsewoman, and as

gay and gentle as she was beautiful. She chose me for her horse, and named me "Black Auster". I enjoyed

these rides very much in the clear cold air, sometimes with Ginger, sometimes with Lizzie. This Lizzie was a

bright bay mare, almost thoroughbred, and a great favorite with the gentlemen, on account of her fine action

and lively spirit; but Ginger, who knew more of her than I did, told me she was rather nervous.

There was a gentleman of the name of Blantyre staying at the hall; he always rode Lizzie, and praised her so

much that one day Lady Anne ordered the sidesaddle to be put on her, and the other saddle on me. When we

"Oh, no, not at all," she replied, "but I am amiable enough to let you ride him for once, and I will try your

charming Lizzie. You must confess that in size and appearance she is far more like a lady's horse than my

"Do let me advise you not to mount her," he said; "she is a charming creature, but she is too nervous for a

lady. I assure you, she is not perfectly safe; let me beg you to have the saddles changed."

"My dear cousin," said Lady Anne, laughing, "pray do not trouble your good careful head about me. I have

been a horsewoman ever since I was a baby, and I have followed the hounds a great many times, though I

know you do not approve of ladies hunting; but still that is the fact, and I intend to try this Lizzie that you

gentlemen are all so fond of; so please help me to mount, like a good friend as you are."

There was no more to be said; he placed her carefully on the saddle, looked to the bit and curb, gave the reins

gently into her hand, and then mounted me. Just as we were moving off a footman came out with a slip of

paper and message from the Lady Harriet. "Would they ask this question for her at Dr. Ashley's, and bring

The village was about a mile off, and the doctor's house was the last in it. We went along gayly enough till

we came to his gate. There was a short drive up to the house between tall evergreens.

Blantyre alighted at the gate, and was going to open it for Lady Anne, but she said, "I will wait for you here,

He hung my rein on one of the iron spikes, and was soon hidden among the trees. Lizzie was standing quietly

by the side of the road a few paces off, with her back to me. My young mistress was sitting easily with a

loose rein, humming a little song. I listened to my rider's footsteps until they reached the house, and heard

him knock at the door. There was a meadow on the opposite side of the road, the gate of which stood open;

just then some cart horses and several young colts came trotting out in a very disorderly manner, while a boy

behind was cracking a great whip. The colts were wild and frolicsome, and one of them bolted across the road

and blundered up against Lizzie's hind legs, and whether it was the stupid colt, or the loud cracking of the

whip, or both together, I cannot say, but she gave a violent kick, and dashed off into a headlong gallop. It was

so sudden that Lady Anne was nearly unseated, but she soon recovered herself. I gave a loud, shrill neigh for

help; again and again I neighed, pawing the ground impatiently, and tossing my head to get the rein loose. I

had not long to wait. Blantyre came running to the gate; he looked anxiously about, and just caught sight of

the flying figure, now far away on the road. In an instant he sprang to the saddle. I needed no whip, no spur,

for I was as eager as my rider; he saw it, and giving me a free rein, and leaning a little forward, we dashed

For about a mile and a half the road ran straight, and then bent to the right, after which it divided into two

roads. Long before we came to the bend she was out of sight. Which way had she turned? A woman was

standing at her garden gate, shading her eyes with her hand, and looking eagerly up the road. Scarcely

drawing the rein, Blantyre shouted, "Which way?" "To the right!" cried the woman, pointing with her hand,

and away we went up the righthand road; then for a moment we caught sight of her; another bend and she

was hidden again. Several times we caught glimpses, and then lost them. We scarcely seemed to gain ground

upon them at all. An old roadmender was standing near a heap of stones, his shovel dropped and his hands

raised. As we came near he made a sign to speak. Blantyre drew the rein a little. "To the common, to the

common, sir; she has turned off there." I knew this common very well; it was for the most part very uneven

ground, covered with heather and darkgreen furze bushes, with here and there a scrubby old thorntree;

there were also open spaces of fine short grass, with anthills and moleturns everywhere; the worst place I

We had hardly turned on the common, when we caught sight again of the green habit flying on before us. My

lady's hat was gone, and her long brown hair was streaming behind her. Her head and body were thrown

back, as if she were pulling with all her remaining strength, and as if that strength were nearly exhausted. It

was clear that the roughness of the ground had very much lessened Lizzie's speed, and there seemed a chance

While we were on the highroad, Blantyre had given me my head; but now, with a light hand and a practiced

eye, he guided me over the ground in such a masterly manner that my pace was scarcely slackened, and we

About halfway across the heath there had been a wide dike recently cut, and the earth from the cutting was

cast up roughly on the other side. Surely this would stop them! But no; with scarcely a pause Lizzie took the

leap, stumbled among the rough clods and fell. Blantyre groaned, "Now, Auster, do your best!" He gave me a

steady rein. I gathered myself well together and with one determined leap cleared both dike and bank.

Motionless among the heather, with her face to the earth, lay my poor young mistress. Blantyre kneeled down

and called her name: there was no sound. Gently he turned her face upward: it was ghastly white and the eyes

were closed. "Annie, dear Annie, do speak!" But there was no answer. He unbuttoned her habit, loosened her

collar, felt her hands and wrist, then started up and looked wildly round him for help.

At no great distance there were two men cutting turf, who, seeing Lizzie running wild without a rider, had left

Blantyre's halloo soon brought them to the spot. The foremost man seemed much troubled at the sight, and

"Well, sir, I bean't much of a horseman, but I'd risk my neck for the Lady Anne; she was uncommon good to

"Then mount this horse, my friend your neck will be quite safe and ride to the doctor's and ask him to

come instantly; then on to the hall; tell them all that you know, and bid them send me the carriage, with Lady

"All right, sir, I'll do my best, and I pray God the dear young lady may open her eyes soon." Then, seeing the

other man, he called out, "Here, Joe, run for some water, and tell my missis to come as quick as she can to the

He then somehow scrambled into the saddle, and with a "Gee up" and a clap on my sides with both his legs,

he started on his journey, making a little circuit to avoid the dike. He had no whip, which seemed to trouble

him; but my pace soon cured that difficulty, and he found the best thing he could do was to stick to the saddle

and hold me in, which he did manfully. I shook him as little as I could help, but once or twice on the rough

ground he called out, "Steady! Woah! Steady!" On the highroad we were all right; and at the doctor's and the

hall he did his errand like a good man and true. They asked him in to take a drop of something. "No, no," he

said; "I'll be back to 'em again by a short cut through the fields, and be there afore the carriage."

There was a great deal of hurry and excitement after the news became known. I was just turned into my box;

Ginger was saddled and sent off in great haste for Lord George, and I soon heard the carriage roll out of the

It seemed a long time before Ginger came back, and before we were left alone; and then she told me all that

"I can't tell much," she said. "We went a gallop nearly all the way, and got there just as the doctor rode up.

There was a woman sitting on the ground with the lady's head in her lap. The doctor poured something into

her mouth, but all that I heard was, `She is not dead.' Then I was led off by a man to a little distance. After

awhile she was taken to the carriage, and we came home together. I heard my master say to a gentleman who

stopped him to inquire, that he hoped no bones were broken, but that she had not spoken yet."

When Lord George took Ginger for hunting, York shook his head; he said it ought to be a steady hand to train

Ginger used to like it very much, but sometimes when she came back I could see that she had been very much

strained, and now and then she gave a short cough. She had too much spirit to complain, but I could not help

Two days after the accident Blantyre paid me a visit; he patted me and praised me very much; he told Lord

George that he was sure the horse knew of Annie's danger as well as he did. "I could not have held him in if I

would," said he, "she ought never to ride any other horse." I found by their conversation that my young

mistress was now out of danger, and would soon be able to ride again. This was good news to me and I

Now I must say a little about Reuben Smith, who was left in charge of the stables when York went to

London. No one more thoroughly understood his business than he did, and when he was all right there could

not be a more faithful or valuable man. He was gentle and very clever in his management of horses, and

could doctor them almost as well as a farrier, for he had lived two years with a veterinary surgeon. He was a

firstrate driver; he could take a fourinhand or a tandem as easily as a pair. He was a handsome man, a

good scholar, and had very pleasant manners. I believe everybody liked him; certainly the horses did. The

only wonder was that he should be in an under situation and not in the place of a head coachman like York;

but he had one great fault and that was the love of drink. He was not like some men, always at it; he used to

keep steady for weeks or months together, and then he would break out and have a "bout" of it, as York

called it, and be a disgrace to himself, a terror to his wife, and a nuisance to all that had to do with him. He

was, however, so useful that two or three times York had hushed the matter up and kept it from the earl's

knowledge; but one night, when Reuben had to drive a party home from a ball he was so drunk that he could

not hold the reins, and a gentleman of the party had to mount the box and drive the ladies home. Of course,

this could not be hidden, and Reuben was at once dismissed; his poor wife and little children had to turn out

of the pretty cottage by the park gate and go where they could. Old Max told me all this, for it happened a

good while ago; but shortly before Ginger and I came Smith had been taken back again. York had interceded

for him with the earl, who is very kindhearted, and the man had promised faithfully that he would never

taste another drop as long as he lived there. He had kept his promise so well that York thought he might be

safely trusted to fill his place while he was away, and he was so clever and honest that no one else seemed so

It was now early in April, and the family was expected home some time in May. The light brougham was to

be fresh done up, and as Colonel Blantyre was obliged to return to his regiment it was arranged that Smith

should drive him to the town in it, and ride back; for this purpose he took the saddle with him, and I was

chosen for the journey. At the station the colonel put some money into Smith's hand and bid him goodby,

saying, "Take care of your young mistress, Reuben, and don't let Black Auster be hacked about by any

We left the carriage at the maker's, and Smith rode me to the White Lion, and ordered the hostler to feed me

well, and have me ready for him at four o'clock. A nail in one of my front shoes had started as I came along,

but the hostler did not notice it till just about four o'clock. Smith did not come into the yard till five, and then

he said he should not leave till six, as he had met with some old friends. The man then told him of the nail,

He spoke in a very loud, offhand way, and I thought it very unlike him not to see about the shoe, as he was

generally wonderfully particular about loose nails in our shoes. He did not come at six nor seven, nor eight,

and it was nearly nine o'clock before he called for me, and then it was with a loud, rough voice. He seemed in

The landlord stood at the door and said, "Have a care, Mr. Smith!" but he answered angrily with an oath; and

almost before he was out of the town he began to gallop, frequently giving me a sharp cut with his whip,

though I was going at full speed. The moon had not yet risen, and it was very dark. The roads were stony,

having been recently mended; going over them at this pace, my shoe became looser, and as we neared the

If Smith had been in his right senses he would have been sensible of something wrong in my pace, but he was

Beyond the turnpike was a long piece of road, upon which fresh stones had just been laid large sharp

stones, over which no horse could be driven quickly without risk of danger. Over this road, with one shoe

gone, I was forced to gallop at my utmost speed, my rider meanwhile cutting into me with his whip, and with

wild curses urging me to go still faster. Of course my shoeless foot suffered dreadfully; the hoof was broken

and split down to the very quick, and the inside was terribly cut by the sharpness of the stones.

This could not go on; no horse could keep his footing under such circumstances; the pain was too great. I

stumbled, and fell with violence on both my knees. Smith was flung off by my fall, and, owing to the speed I

was going at, he must have fallen with great force. I soon recovered my feet and limped to the side of the

road, where it was free from stones. The moon had just risen above the hedge, and by its light I could see

Smith lying a few yards beyond me. He did not rise; he made one slight effort to do so, and then there was a

heavy groan. I could have groaned, too, for I was suffering intense pain both from my foot and knees; but

horses are used to bear their pain in silence. I uttered no sound, but I stood there and listened. One more

heavy groan from Smith; but though he now lay in the full moonlight I could see no motion. I could do

nothing for him nor myself, but, oh! how I listened for the sound of horse, or wheels, or footsteps! The road

was not much frequented, and at this time of the night we might stay for hours before help came to us. I stood

watching and listening. It was a calm, sweet April night; there were no sounds but a few low notes of a

nightingale, and nothing moved but the white clouds near the moon and a brown owl that flitted over the

hedge. It made me think of the summer nights long ago, when I used to lie beside my mother in the green

It must have been nearly midnight when I heard at a great distance the sound of a horse's feet. Sometimes the

sound died away, then it grew clearer again and nearer. The road to Earlshall led through woods that

belonged to the earl; the sound came in that direction, and I hoped it might be some one coming in search of

us. As the sound came nearer and nearer I was almost sure I could distinguish Ginger's step; a little nearer

still, and I could tell she was in the dogcart. I neighed loudly, and was overjoyed to hear an answering neigh

from Ginger, and men's voices. They came slowly over the stones, and stopped at the dark figure that lay

One of the men jumped out, and stooped down over it. "It is Reuben," he said, "and he does not stir!"

The other man followed, and bent over him. "He's dead," he said; "feel how cold his hands are."

They raised him up, but there was no life, and his hair was soaked with blood. They laid him down again, and

"Why, the horse has been down and thrown him! Who would have thought the black horse would have done

that? Nobody thought he could fall. Reuben must have been lying here for hours! Odd, too, that the horse has

"Halloo! he's bad in his foot as well as his knees. Look here his hoof is cut all to pieces; he might well

come down, poor fellow! I tell you what, Ned, I'm afraid it hasn't been all right with Reuben. Just think of his

riding a horse over these stones without a shoe! Why, if he had been in his right senses he would just as soon

have tried to ride him over the moon. I'm afraid it has been the old thing over again. Poor Susan! she looked

awfully pale when she came to my house to ask if he had not come home. She made believe she was not a bit

anxious, and talked of a lot of things that might have kept him. But for all that she begged me to go and meet

him. But what must we do? There's the horse to get home as well as the body, and that will be no easy

Then followed a conversation between them, till it was agreed that Robert, as the groom, should lead me, and

that Ned must take the body. It was a hard job to get it into the dogcart, for there was no one to hold Ginger;

but she knew as well as I did what was going on, and stood as still as a stone. I noticed that, because, if she

Ned started off very slowly with his sad load, and Robert came and looked at my foot again; then he took his

handkerchief and bound it closely round, and so he led me home. I shall never forget that night walk; it was

more than three miles. Robert led me on very slowly, and I limped and hobbled on as well as I could with

great pain. I am sure he was sorry for me, for he often patted and encouraged me, talking to me in a pleasant

At last I reached my own box, and had some corn; and after Robert had wrapped up my knees in wet cloths,

he tied up my foot in a bran poultice, to draw out the heat and cleanse it before the horsedoctor saw it in the

morning, and I managed to get myself down on the straw, and slept in spite of the pain.

The next day after the farrier had examined my wounds, he said he hoped the joint was not injured; and if so,

I should not be spoiled for work, but I should never lose the blemish. I believe they did the best to make a

good cure, but it was a long and painful one. Proud flesh, as they called it, came up in my knees, and was

burned out with caustic; and when at last it was healed, they put a blistering fluid over the front of both knees

to bring all the hair off; they had some reason for this, and I suppose it was all right.

As Smith's death had been so sudden, and no one was there to see it, there was an inquest held. The landlord

and hostler at the White Lion, with several other people, gave evidence that he was intoxicated when he

started from the inn. The keeper of the tollgate said he rode at a hard gallop through the gate; and my shoe

was picked up among the stones, so that the case was quite plain to them, and I was cleared of all blame.

Everybody pitied Susan. She was nearly out of her mind; she kept saying over and over again, "Oh! he was so

good so good! It was all that cursed drink; why will they sell that cursed drink? Oh Reuben, Reuben!" So

she went on till after he was buried; and then, as she had no home or relations, she, with her six little children,

was obliged once more to leave the pleasant home by the tall oaktrees, and go into that great gloomy Union

As soon as my knees were sufficiently healed I was turned into a small meadow for a month or two; no other

creature was there; and though I enjoyed the liberty and the sweet grass, yet I had been so long used to

society that I felt very lonely. Ginger and I had become fast friends, and now I missed her company

extremely. I often neighed when I heard horses' feet passing in the road, but I seldom got an answer; till one

morning the gate was opened, and who should come in but dear old Ginger. The man slipped off her halter,

and left her there. With a joyful whinny I trotted up to her; we were both glad to meet, but I soon found that it

was not for our pleasure that she was brought to be with me. Her story would be too long to tell, but the end

of it was that she had been ruined by hard riding, and was now turned off to see what rest would do.

Lord George was young and would take no warning; he was a hard rider, and would hunt whenever he could

get the chance, quite careless of his horse. Soon after I left the stable there was a steeplechase, and he

determined to ride. Though the groom told him she was a little strained, and was not fit for the race, he did

not believe it, and on the day of the race urged Ginger to keep up with the foremost riders. With her high

spirit, she strained herself to the utmost; she came in with the first three horses, but her wind was touched,

besides which he was too heavy for her, and her back was strained. "And so," she said, "here we are, ruined

in the prime of our youth and strength, you by a drunkard, and I by a fool; it is very hard." We both felt in

ourselves that we were not what we had been. However, that did not spoil the pleasure we had in each other's

company; we did not gallop about as we once did, but we used to feed, and lie down together, and stand for

hours under one of the shady limetrees with our heads close to each other; and so we passed our time till the

One day we saw the earl come into the meadow, and York was with him. Seeing who it was, we stood still

under our limetree, and let them come up to us. They examined us carefully. The earl seemed much

"There is three hundred pounds flung away for no earthly use," said he; "but what I care most for is that these

horses of my old friend, who thought they would find a good home with me, are ruined. The mare shall have

a twelvemonth's run, and we shall see what that will do for her; but the black one, he must be sold; 'tis a

"No, my lord, of course not," said York; "but he might get a place where appearance is not of much

consequence, and still be well treated. I know a man in Bath, the master of some livery stables, who often

wants a good horse at a low figure; I know he looks well after his horses. The inquest cleared the horse's

character, and your lordship's recommendation, or mine, would be sufficient warrant for him."

"You had better write to him, York. I should be more particular about the place than the money he would

"They'll soon take you away," said Ginger, "and I shall lose the only friend I have, and most likely we shall

About a week after this Robert came into the field with a halter, which he slipped over my head, and led me

away. There was no leavetaking of Ginger; we neighed to each other as I was led off, and she trotted

anxiously along by the hedge, calling to me as long as she could hear the sound of my feet.

Through the recommendation of York, I was bought by the master of the livery stables. I had to go by train,

which was new to me, and required a good deal of courage the first time; but as I found the puffing, rushing,

whistling, and, more than all, the trembling of the horsebox in which I stood did me no real harm, I soon

When I reached the end of my journey I found myself in a tolerably comfortable stable, and well attended to.

These stables were not so airy and pleasant as those I had been used to. The stalls were laid on a slope instead

of being level, and as my head was kept tied to the manger, I was obliged always to stand on the slope, which

was very fatiguing. Men do not seem to know yet that horses can do more work if they can stand comfortably

and can turn about; however, I was well fed and well cleaned, and, on the whole, I think our master took as

much care of us as he could. He kept a good many horses and carriages of different kinds for hire. Sometimes

his own men drove them; at others, the horse and chaise were let to gentlemen or ladies who drove

Hitherto I had always been driven by people who at least knew how to drive; but in this place I was to get my

experience of all the different kinds of bad and ignorant driving to which we horses are subjected; for I was a

"job horse", and was let out to all sorts of people who wished to hire me; and as I was goodtempered and

gentle, I think I was oftener let out to the ignorant drivers than some of the other horses, because I could be

depended upon. It would take a long time to tell of all the different styles in which I was driven, but I will

First, there were the tightrein drivers men who seemed to think that all depended on holding the reins as

hard as they could, never relaxing the pull on the horse's mouth, or giving him the least liberty of movement.

They are always talking about "keeping the horse well in hand", and "holding a horse up", just as if a horse

Some poor, brokendown horses, whose mouths have been made hard and insensible by just such drivers as

these, may, perhaps, find some support in it; but for a horse who can depend upon his own legs, and who has

a tender mouth and is easily guided, it is not only tormenting, but it is stupid.

Then there are the looserein drivers, who let the reins lie easily on our backs, and their own hand rest lazily

on their knees. Of course, such gentlemen have no control over a horse, if anything happens suddenly. If a

horse shies, or starts, or stumbles, they are nowhere, and cannot help the horse or themselves till the mischief

is done. Of course, for myself I had no objection to it, as I was not in the habit either of starting or stumbling,

and had only been used to depend on my driver for guidance and encouragement. Still, one likes to feel the

rein a little in going downhill, and likes to know that one's driver is not gone to sleep.

Besides, a slovenly way of driving gets a horse into bad and often lazy habits, and when he changes hands he

has to be whipped out of them with more or less pain and trouble. Squire Gordon always kept us to our best

paces and our best manners. He said that spoiling a horse and letting him get into bad habits was just as cruel

Besides, these drivers are often careless altogether, and will attend to anything else more than their horses. I

went out in the phaeton one day with one of them; he had a lady and two children behind. He flopped the

reins about as we started, and of course gave me several unmeaning cuts with the whip, though I was fairly

off. There had been a good deal of roadmending going on, and even where the stones were not freshly laid

down there were a great many loose ones about. My driver was laughing and joking with the lady and the

children, and talking about the country to the right and the left; but he never thought it worth while to keep an

eye on his horse or to drive on the smoothest parts of the road; and so it easily happened that I got a stone in

Now, if Mr. Gordon or John, or in fact any good driver, had been there, he would have seen that something

was wrong before I had gone three paces. Or even if it had been dark a practiced hand would have felt by the

rein that there was something wrong in the step, and they would have got down and picked out the stone. But

this man went on laughing and talking, while at every step the stone became more firmly wedged between my

shoe and the frog of my foot. The stone was sharp on the inside and round on the outside, which, as every one

knows, is the most dangerous kind that a horse can pick up, at the same time cutting his foot and making him

Whether the man was partly blind or only very careless I can't say, but he drove me with that stone in my foot

for a good halfmile before he saw anything. By that time I was going so lame with the pain that at last he

saw it, and called out, "Well, here's a go! Why, they have sent us out with a lame horse! What a shame!"

He then chucked the reins and flipped about with the whip, saying, "Now, then, it's no use playing the old

soldier with me; there's the journey to go, and it's no use turning lame and lazy."

Just at this time a farmer came riding up on a brown cob. He lifted his hat and pulled up.

"I beg your pardon, sir," he said, "but I think there is something the matter with your horse; he goes very

much as if he had a stone in his shoe. If you will allow me I will look at his feet; these loose scattered stones

"He's a hired horse," said my driver. "I don't know what's the matter with him, but it is a great shame to send

The farmer dismounted, and slipping his rein over his arm at once took up my near foot.

At first he tried to dislodge it with his hand, but as it was now very tightly wedged he drew a stonepick out

of his pocket, and very carefully and with some trouble got it out. Then holding it up he said, "There, that's

the stone your horse had picked up. It is a wonder he did not fall down and break his knees into the bargain!"

"Well, to be sure!" said my driver; "that is a queer thing! I never knew that horses picked up stones before."

"Didn't you?" said the farmer rather contemptuously; "but they do, though, and the best of them will do it,

and can't help it sometimes on such roads as these. And if you don't want to lame your horse you must look

sharp and get them out quickly. This foot is very much bruised," he said, setting it gently down and patting

me. "If I might advise, sir, you had better drive him gently for awhile; the foot is a good deal hurt, and the

When he was gone my driver began to flop the reins about and whip the harness, by which I understood that I

was to go on, which of course I did, glad that the stone was gone, but still in a good deal of pain.

Then there is the steamengine style of driving; these drivers were mostly people from towns, who never had

They always seemed to think that a horse was something like a steamengine, only smaller. At any rate, they

think that if only they pay for it a horse is bound to go just as far and just as fast and with just as heavy a load

as they please. And be the roads heavy and muddy, or dry and good; be they stony or smooth, uphill or

downhill, it is all the same on, on, on, one must go, at the same pace, with no relief and no consideration.

These people never think of getting out to walk up a steep hill. Oh, no, they have paid to ride, and ride they

will! The horse? Oh, he's used to it! What were horses made for, if not to drag people uphill? Walk! A good

joke indeed! And so the whip is plied and the rein is chucked and often a rough, scolding voice cries out, "Go

along, you lazy beast!" And then another slash of the whip, when all the time we are doing our very best to

get along, uncomplaining and obedient, though often sorely harassed and downhearted.

This steamengine style of driving wears us up faster than any other kind. I would far rather go twenty miles

with a good considerate driver than I would go ten with some of these; it would take less out of me.

Another thing, they scarcely ever put on the brake, however steep the downhill may be, and thus bad

accidents sometimes happen; or if they do put it on, they often forget to take it off at the bottom of the hill,

and more than once I have had to pull halfway up the next hill, with one of the wheels held by the brake,

before my driver chose to think about it; and that is a terrible strain on a horse.

Then these cockneys, instead of starting at an easy pace, as a gentleman would do, generally set off at full

speed from the very stableyard; and when they want to stop, they first whip us, and then pull up so suddenly

that we are nearly thrown on our haunches, and our mouths jagged with the bit they call that pulling up

with a dash; and when they turn a corner they do it as sharply as if there were no right side or wrong side of

I well remember one spring evening I and Rory had been out for the day. (Rory was the horse that mostly

went with me when a pair was ordered, and a good honest fellow he was.) We had our own driver, and as he

was always considerate and gentle with us, we had a very pleasant day. We were coming home at a good

smart pace, about twilight. Our road turned sharp to the left; but as we were close to the hedge on our own

side, and there was plenty of room to pass, our driver did not pull us in. As we neared the corner I heard a

horse and two wheels coming rapidly down the hill toward us. The hedge was high, and I could see nothing,

but the next moment we were upon each other. Happily for me, I was on the side next the hedge. Rory was on

the left side of the pole, and had not even a shaft to protect him. The man who was driving was making

straight for the corner, and when he came in sight of us he had no time to pull over to his own side. The

whole shock came upon Rory. The gig shaft ran right into the chest, making him stagger back with a cry that

I shall never forget. The other horse was thrown upon his haunches and one shaft broken. It turned out that it

was a horse from our own stables, with the highwheeled gig that the young men were so fond of.

The driver was one of those random, ignorant fellows, who don't even know which is their own side of the

road, or, if they know, don't care. And there was poor Rory with his flesh torn open and bleeding, and the

blood streaming down. They said if it had been a little more to one side it would have killed him; and a good

As it was, it was a long time before the wound healed, and then he was sold for coalcarting; and what that

is, up and down those steep hills, only horses know. Some of the sights I saw there, where a horse had to

come downhill with a heavily loaded twowheel cart behind him, on which no brake could be placed, make

After Rory was disabled I often went in the carriage with a mare named Peggy, who stood in the next stall to

mine. She was a strong, wellmade animal, of a bright dun color, beautifully dappled, and with a darkbrown

mane and tail. There was no high breeding about her, but she was very pretty and remarkably

sweettempered and willing. Still, there was an anxious look about her eye, by which I knew that she had

some trouble. The first time we went out together I thought she had a very odd pace; she seemed to go partly

It was very unpleasant for any horse who pulled with her, and made me quite fidgety. When we got home I

"Ah," she said in a troubled manner, "I know my paces are very bad, but what can I do? It really is not my

fault; it is just because my legs are so short. I stand nearly as high as you, but your legs are a good three

inches longer above your knee than mine, and of course you can take a much longer step and go much faster.

You see I did not make myself. I wish I could have done so; I would have had long legs then. All my troubles

"Why, you see," said she, "men will go so fast, and if one can't keep up to other horses it is nothing but whip,

whip, whip, all the time. And so I have had to keep up as I could, and have got into this ugly shuffling pace.

It was not always so; when I lived with my first master I always went a good regular trot, but then he was not

in such a hurry. He was a young clergyman in the country, and a good, kind master he was. He had two

churches a good way apart, and a great deal of work, but he never scolded or whipped me for not going

faster. He was very fond of me. I only wish I was with him now; but he had to leave and go to a large town,

"Some farmers, you know, are capital masters; but I think this one was a low sort of man. He cared nothing

about good horses or good driving; he only cared for going fast. I went as fast as I could, but that would not

do, and he was always whipping; so I got into this way of making a spring forward to keep up. On market

"One dark night he was galloping home as usual, when all of a sudden the wheel came against some great

heavy thing in the road, and turned the gig over in a minute. He was thrown out and his arm broken, and

some of his ribs, I think. At any rate, it was the end of my living with him, and I was not sorry. But you see it

will be the same everywhere for me, if men must go so fast. I wish my legs were longer!"

Poor Peggy! I was very sorry for her, and I could not comfort her, for I knew how hard it was upon

slowpaced horses to be put with fast ones; all the whipping comes to their share, and they can't help it.

She was often used in the phaeton, and was very much liked by some of the ladies, because she was so gentle;

and some time after this she was sold to two ladies who drove themselves, and wanted a safe, good horse.

I met her several times out in the country, going a good steady pace, and looking as gay and contented as a

After she left us another horse came in her stead. He was young, and had a bad name for shying and starting,

"Well, I hardly know," he said. "I was timid when I was young, and was a good deal frightened several times,

and if I saw anything strange I used to turn and look at it you see, with our blinkers one can't see or

understand what a thing is unless one looks round and then my master always gave me a whipping, which

of course made me start on, and did not make me less afraid. I think if he would have let me just look at

things quietly, and see that there was nothing to hurt me, it would have been all right, and I should have got

used to them. One day an old gentleman was riding with him, and a large piece of white paper or rag blew

across just on one side of me. I shied and started forward. My master as usual whipped me smartly, but the

old man cried out, `You're wrong! you're wrong! You should never whip a horse for shying; he shies because

he is frightened, and you only frighten him more and make the habit worse.' So I suppose all men don't do so.

I am sure I don't want to shy for the sake of it; but how should one know what is dangerous and what is not, if

one is never allowed to get used to anything? I am never afraid of what I know. Now I was brought up in a

park where there were deer; of course I knew them as well as I did a sheep or a cow, but they are not

common, and I know many sensible horses who are frightened at them, and who kick up quite a shindy

I knew what my companion said was true, and I wished that every young horse had as good masters as

Of course we sometimes came in for good driving here. I remember one morning I was put into the light gig,

and taken to a house in Pulteney Street. Two gentlemen came out; the taller of them came round to my head;

he looked at the bit and bridle, and just shifted the collar with his hand, to see if it fitted comfortably.

"Well," said the man, "I should say he would go just as well without; he has an uncommon good mouth, and

though he has a fine spirit he has no vice; but we generally find people like the curb."

"I don't like it," said the gentleman; "be so good as to take it off, and put the rein in at the cheek. An easy

mouth is a great thing on a long journey, is it not, old fellow?" he said, patting my neck.

Then he took the reins, and they both got up. I can remember now how quietly he turned me round, and then

with a light feel of the rein, and drawing the whip gently across my back, we were off.

I arched my neck and set off at my best pace. I found I had some one behind me who knew how a good horse

This gentleman took a great liking to me, and after trying me several times with the saddle he prevailed upon

my master to sell me to a friend of his, who wanted a safe, pleasant horse for riding. And so it came to pass

My new master was an unmarried man. He lived at Bath, and was much engaged in business. His doctor

advised him to take horse exercise, and for this purpose he bought me. He hired a stable a short distance from

his lodgings, and engaged a man named Filcher as groom. My master knew very little about horses, but he

treated me well, and I should have had a good and easy place but for circumstances of which he was ignorant.

He ordered the best hay with plenty of oats, crushed beans, and bran, with vetches, or rye grass, as the man

might think needful. I heard the master give the order, so I knew there was plenty of good food, and I thought

For a few days all went on well. I found that my groom understood his business. He kept the stable clean and

airy, and he groomed me thoroughly; and was never otherwise than gentle. He had been an hostler in one of

the great hotels in Bath. He had given that up, and now cultivated fruit and vegetables for the market, and his

wife bred and fattened poultry and rabbits for sale. After awhile it seemed to me that my oats came very

short; I had the beans, but bran was mixed with them instead of oats, of which there were very few; certainly

not more than a quarter of what there should have been. In two or three weeks this began to tell upon my

strength and spirits. The grass food, though very good, was not the thing to keep up my condition without

corn. However, I could not complain, nor make known my wants. So it went on for about two months; and I

wondered that my master did not see that something was the matter. However, one afternoon he rode out into

the country to see a friend of his, a gentleman farmer, who lived on the road to Wells.

This gentleman had a very quick eye for horses; and after he had welcomed his friend he said, casting his eye

"It seems to me, Barry, that your horse does not look so well as he did when you first had him; has he been

"Yes, I believe so," said my master; "but he is not nearly so lively as he was; my groom tells me that horses

"Autumn, fiddlesticks!" said the farmer. "Why, this is only August; and with your light work and good food

"I can't say who eats your corn, my dear fellow, but I am much mistaken if your horse gets it. Have you

"Then just put your hand here," said he, passing his hand over my neck and shoulder; "he is as warm and

damp as a horse just come up from grass. I advise you to look into your stable a little more. I hate to be

suspicious, and, thank heaven, I have no cause to be, for I can trust my men, present or absent; but there are

mean scoundrels, wicked enough to rob a dumb beast of his food. You must look into it." And turning to his

man, who had come to take me, "Give this horse a right good feed of bruised oats, and don't stint him."

"Dumb beasts!" Yes, we are; but if I could have spoken I could have told my master where his oats went to.

My groom used to come every morning about six o'clock, and with him a little boy, who always had a

covered basket with him. He used to go with his father into the harnessroom, where the corn was kept, and I

could see them, when the door stood ajar, fill a little bag with oats out of the bin, and then he used to be off.

Five or six mornings after this, just as the boy had left the stable, the door was pushed open, and a policeman

walked in, holding the child tight by the arm; another policeman followed, and locked the door on the inside,

The boy looked very frightened and began to cry; but there was no escape, and he led the way to the

cornbin. Here the policeman found another empty bag like that which was found full of oats in the boy's

Filcher was cleaning my feet at the time, but they soon saw him, and though he blustered a good deal they

walked him off to the "lockup", and his boy with him. I heard afterward that the boy was not held to be

My master was not immediately suited, but in a few days my new groom came. He was a tall, goodlooking

fellow enough; but if ever there was a humbug in the shape of a groom Alfred Smirk was the man. He was

very civil to me, and never used me ill; in fact, he did a great deal of stroking and patting when his master

was there to see it. He always brushed my mane and tail with water and my hoofs with oil before he brought

me to the door, to make me look smart; but as to cleaning my feet or looking to my shoes, or grooming me

thoroughly, he thought no more of that than if I had been a cow. He left my bit rusty, my saddle damp, and

Alfred Smirk considered himself very handsome; he spent a great deal of time about his hair, whiskers and

necktie, before a little lookingglass in the harnessroom. When his master was speaking to him it was

always, "Yes, sir; yes, sir" touching his hat at every word; and every one thought he was a very nice

young man and that Mr. Barry was very fortunate to meet with him. I should say he was the laziest, most

conceited fellow I ever came near. Of course, it was a great thing not to be illused, but then a horse wants

more than that. I had a loose box, and might have been very comfortable if he had not been too indolent to

clean it out. He never took all the straw away, and the smell from what lay underneath was very bad; while

the strong vapors that rose made my eyes smart and inflame, and I did not feel the same appetite for my food.

One day his master came in and said, "Alfred, the stable smells rather strong; should not you give that stall a

"Well, sir," he said, touching his cap, "I'll do so if you please, sir; but it is rather dangerous, sir, throwing

down water in a horse's box; they are very apt to take cold, sir. I should not like to do him an injury, but I'll

"Well," said his master, "I should not like him to take cold; but I don't like the smell of this stable. Do you

"Well, sir, now you mention it, I think the drain does sometimes send back a smell; there may be something

The bricklayer came and pulled up a great many bricks, but found nothing amiss; so he put down some lime

and charged the master five shillings, and the smell in my box was as bad as ever. But that was not all:

standing as I did on a quantity of moist straw my feet grew unhealthy and tender, and the master used to say:

"I don't know what is the matter with this horse; he goes very fumblefooted. I am sometimes afraid he will

"Yes, sir," said Alfred, "I have noticed the same myself, when I have exercised him."

Now the fact was that he hardly ever did exercise me, and when the master was busy I often stood for days

together without stretching my legs at all, and yet being fed just as high as if I were at hard work. This often

disordered my health, and made me sometimes heavy and dull, but more often restless and feverish. He never

even gave me a meal of green food or a bran mash, which would have cooled me, for he was altogether as

ignorant as he was conceited; and then, instead of exercise or change of food, I had to take horse balls and

draughts; which, beside the nuisance of having them poured down my throat, used to make me feel ill and

One day my feet were so tender that, trotting over some fresh stones with my master on my back, I made two

such serious stumbles that, as he came down Lansdown into the city, he stopped at the farrier's, and asked

him to see what was the matter with me. The man took up my feet one by one and examined them; then

"Your horse has got the `thrush', and badly, too; his feet are very tender; it is fortunate that he has not been

down. I wonder your groom has not seen to it before. This is the sort of thing we find in foul stables, where

the litter is never properly cleaned out. If you will send him here tomorrow I will attend to the hoof, and I

The next day I had my feet thoroughly cleansed and stuffed with tow soaked in some strong lotion; and an

The farrier ordered all the litter to be taken out of my box day by day, and the floor kept very clean. Then I

was to have bran mashes, a little green food, and not so much corn, till my feet were well again. With this

treatment I soon regained my spirits; but Mr. Barry was so much disgusted at being twice deceived by his

grooms that he determined to give up keeping a horse, and to hire when he wanted one. I was therefore kept

No doubt a horse fair is a very amusing place to those who have nothing to lose; at any rate, there is plenty to

Long strings of young horses out of the country, fresh from the marshes; and droves of shaggy little Welsh

ponies, no higher than Merrylegs; and hundreds of cart horses of all sorts, some of them with their long tails

braided up and tied with scarlet cord; and a good many like myself, handsome and highbred, but fallen into

the middle class, through some accident or blemish, unsoundness of wind, or some other complaint. There

were some splendid animals quite in their prime, and fit for anything; they were throwing out their legs and

showing off their paces in high style, as they were trotted out with a leading rein, the groom running by the

side. But round in the background there were a number of poor things, sadly broken down with hard work,

with their knees knuckling over and their hind legs swinging out at every step, and there were some very

dejectedlooking old horses, with the under lip hanging down and the ears lying back heavily, as if there

were no more pleasure in life, and no more hope; there were some so thin you might see all their ribs, and

some with old sores on their backs and hips. These were sad sights for a horse to look upon, who knows not

There was a great deal of bargaining, of running up and beating down; and if a horse may speak his mind so

far as he understands, I should say there were more lies told and more trickery at that horse fair than a clever

man could give an account of. I was put with two or three other strong, usefullooking horses, and a good

many people came to look at us. The gentlemen always turned from me when they saw my broken knees;

The first thing was to pull my mouth open, then to look at my eyes, then feel all the way down my legs, and

give me a hard feel of the skin and flesh, and then try my paces. It was wonderful what a difference there was

in the way these things were done. Some did it in a rough, offhand way, as if one was only a piece of wood;

while others would take their hands gently over one's body, with a pat now and then, as much as to say, "By

your leave." Of course I judged a good deal of the buyers by their manners to myself.

There was one man, I thought, if he would buy me, I should be happy. He was not a gentleman, nor yet one

of the loud, flashy sort that call themselves so. He was rather a small man, but well made, and quick in all his

motions. I knew in a moment by the way he handled me, that he was used to horses; he spoke gently, and his

gray eye had a kindly, cheery look in it. It may seem strange to say but it is true all the same that the

clean, fresh smell there was about him made me take to him; no smell of old beer and tobacco, which I hated,

but a fresh smell as if he had come out of a hayloft. He offered twentythree pounds for me, but that was

refused, and he walked away. I looked after him, but he was gone, and a very hardlooking, loudvoiced

man came. I was dreadfully afraid he would have me; but he walked off. One or two more came who did not

mean business. Then the hardfaced man came back again and offered twentythree pounds. A very close

bargain was being driven, for my salesman began to think he should not get all he asked, and must come

down; but just then the grayeyed man came back again. I could not help reaching out my head toward him.

"Well, old chap," he said, "I think we should suit each other. I'll give twentyfour for him."

"Twentyfour ten," said my friend, in a very decided tone, "and not another sixpence yes or no?"

"Done," said the salesman; "and you may depend upon it there's a monstrous deal of quality in that horse, and

The money was paid on the spot, and my new master took my halter, and led me out of the fair to an inn,

where he had a saddle and bridle ready. He gave me a good feed of oats and stood by while I ate it, talking to

himself and talking to me. Half an hour after we were on our way to London, through pleasant lanes and

country roads, until we came into the great London thoroughfare, on which we traveled steadily, till in the

twilight we reached the great city. The gas lamps were already lighted; there were streets to the right, and

streets to the left, and streets crossing each other, for mile upon mile. I thought we should never come to the

end of them. At last, in passing through one, we came to a long cab stand, when my rider called out in a

"Thank you, governor," and he rode on. We soon turned up one of the side streets, and about halfway up that

we turned into a very narrow street, with rather poorlooking houses on one side, and what seemed to be

My owner pulled up at one of the houses and whistled. The door flew open, and a young woman, followed by

a little girl and boy, ran out. There was a very lively greeting as my rider dismounted.

"Now, then, Harry, my boy, open the gates, and mother will bring us the lantern."

At once the little hand was patting about all over my shoulder without fear. How good it felt!

"Do, Polly, it's just what he wants; and I know you've got a beautiful mash ready for me."

"Sausage dumpling and apple turnover!" shouted the boy, which set them all laughing. I was led into a

comfortable, cleansmelling stall, with plenty of dry straw, and after a capital supper I lay down, thinking I

Jeremiah Barker was my new master's name, but as every one called him Jerry, I shall do the same. Polly, his

wife, was just as good a match as a man could have. She was a plump, trim, tidy little woman, with smooth,

dark hair, dark eyes, and a merry little mouth. The boy was twelve years old, a tall, frank, goodtempered

lad; and little Dorothy (Dolly they called her) was her mother over again, at eight years old. They were all

wonderfully fond of each other; I never knew such a happy, merry family before or since. Jerry had a cab of

his own, and two horses, which he drove and attended to himself. His other horse was a tall, white, rather

largeboned animal called "Captain". He was old now, but when he was young he must have been splendid;

he had still a proud way of holding his head and arching his neck; in fact, he was a highbred,

finemannered, noble old horse, every inch of him. He told me that in his early youth he went to the Crimean

War; he belonged to an officer in the cavalry, and used to lead the regiment. I will tell more of that hereafter.

The next morning, when I was wellgroomed, Polly and Dolly came into the yard to see me and make

friends. Harry had been helping his father since the early morning, and had stated his opinion that I should

turn out a "regular brick". Polly brought me a slice of apple, and Dolly a piece of bread, and made as much of

me as if I had been the "Black Beauty" of olden time. It was a great treat to be petted again and talked to in a

gentle voice, and I let them see as well as I could that I wished to be friendly. Polly thought I was very

handsome, and a great deal too good for a cab, if it was not for the broken knees.

"Of course there's no one to tell us whose fault that was," said Jerry, "and as long as I don't know I shall give

him the benefit of the doubt; for a firmer, neater stepper I never rode. We'll call him `Jack', after the old one

Captain went out in the cab all the morning. Harry came in after school to feed me and give me water. In the

afternoon I was put into the cab. Jerry took as much pains to see if the collar and bridle fitted comfortably as

if he had been John Manly over again. When the crupper was let out a hole or two it all fitted well. There was

no checkrein, no curb, nothing but a plain ring snaffle. What a blessing that was!

After driving through the side street we came to the large cab stand where Jerry had said "Goodnight". On

one side of this wide street were high houses with wonderful shop fronts, and on the other was an old church

and churchyard, surrounded by iron palisades. Alongside these iron rails a number of cabs were drawn up,

waiting for passengers; bits of hay were lying about on the ground; some of the men were standing together

talking; some were sitting on their boxes reading the newspaper; and one or two were feeding their horses

with bits of hay, and giving them a drink of water. We pulled up in the rank at the back of the last cab. Two

"Too smartlooking," said another, shaking his head in a very wise way; "you'll find out something wrong

"Well," said Jerry pleasantly, "I suppose I need not find it out till it finds me out, eh? And if so, I'll keep up

Then there came up a broadfaced man, dressed in a great gray coat with great gray cape and great white

buttons, a gray hat, and a blue comforter loosely tied round his neck; his hair was gray, too; but he was a

jollylooking fellow, and the other men made way for him. He looked me all over, as if he had been going to

buy me; and then straightening himself up with a grunt, he said, "He's the right sort for you, Jerry; I don't care

what you gave for him, he'll be worth it." Thus my character was established on the stand.

This man's name was Grant, but he was called "Gray Grant", or "Governor Grant". He had been the longest

on that stand of any of the men, and he took it upon himself to settle matters and stop disputes. He was

generally a goodhumored, sensible man; but if his temper was a little out, as it was sometimes when he had

drunk too much, nobody liked to come too near his fist, for he could deal a very heavy blow.

The first week of my life as a cab horse was very trying. I had never been used to London, and the noise, the

hurry, the crowds of horses, carts, and carriages that I had to make my way through made me feel anxious

and harassed; but I soon found that I could perfectly trust my driver, and then I made myself easy and got

Jerry was as good a driver as I had ever known, and what was better, he took as much thought for his horses

as he did for himself. He soon found out that I was willing to work and do my best, and he never laid the

whip on me unless it was gently drawing the end of it over my back when I was to go on; but generally I

knew this quite well by the way in which he took up the reins, and I believe his whip was more frequently

In a short time I and my master understood each other as well as horse and man can do. In the stable, too, he

did all that he could for our comfort. The stalls were the oldfashioned style, too much on the slope; but he

had two movable bars fixed across the back of our stalls, so that at night, and when we were resting, he just

took off our halters and put up the bars, and thus we could turn about and stand whichever way we pleased,

Jerry kept us very clean, and gave us as much change of food as he could, and always plenty of it; and not

only that, but he always gave us plenty of clean fresh water, which he allowed to stand by us both night and

day, except of course when we came in warm. Some people say that a horse ought not to drink all he likes;

but I know if we are allowed to drink when we want it we drink only a little at a time, and it does us a great

deal more good than swallowing down half a bucketful at a time, because we have been left without till we

are thirsty and miserable. Some grooms will go home to their beer and leave us for hours with our dry hay

and oats and nothing to moisten them; then of course we gulp down too much at once, which helps to spoil

our breathing and sometimes chills our stomachs. But the best thing we had here was our Sundays for rest;

we worked so hard in the week that I do not think we could have kept up to it but for that day; besides, we

had then time to enjoy each other's company. It was on these days that I learned my companion's history.

Captain had been broken in and trained for an army horse; his first owner was an officer of cavalry going out

to the Crimean war. He said he quite enjoyed the training with all the other horses, trotting together, turning

together, to the right hand or the left, halting at the word of command, or dashing forward at full speed at the

sound of the trumpet or signal of the officer. He was, when young, a dark, dappled irongray, and considered

very handsome. His master, a young, highspirited gentleman, was very fond of him, and treated him from

the first with the greatest care and kindness. He told me he thought the life of an army horse was very

pleasant; but when it came to being sent abroad over the sea in a great ship, he almost changed his mind.

"That part of it," said he, "was dreadful! Of course we could not walk off the land into the ship; so they were

obliged to put strong straps under our bodies, and then we were lifted off our legs in spite of our struggles,

and were swung through the air over the water, to the deck of the great vessel. There we were placed in small

close stalls, and never for a long time saw the sky, or were able to stretch our legs. The ship sometimes rolled

"However, at last it came to an end, and we were hauled up, and swung over again to the land; we were very

glad, and snorted and neighed for joy, when we once more felt firm ground under our feet.

"We soon found that the country we had come to was very different from our own and that we had many

hardships to endure besides the fighting; but many of the men were so fond of their horses that they did

everything they could to make them comfortable in spite of snow, wet, and all things out of order."

"Well," said he, "I hardly know; we always liked to hear the trumpet sound, and to be called out, and were

impatient to start off, though sometimes we had to stand for hours, waiting for the word of command; and

when the word was given we used to spring forward as gayly and eagerly as if there were no cannon balls,

bayonets, or bullets. I believe so long as we felt our rider firm in the saddle, and his hand steady on the bridle,

not one of us gave way to fear, not even when the terrible bombshells whirled through the air and burst into

"I, with my noble master, went into many actions together without a wound; and though I saw horses shot

down with bullets, pierced through with lances, and gashed with fearful sabercuts; though we left them dead

on the field, or dying in the agony of their wounds, I don't think I feared for myself. My master's cheery

voice, as he encouraged his men, made me feel as if he and I could not be killed. I had such perfect trust in

him that while he was guiding me I was ready to charge up to the very cannon's mouth. I saw many brave

men cut down, many fall mortally wounded from their saddles. I had heard the cries and groans of the dying,

I had cantered over ground slippery with blood, and frequently had to turn aside to avoid trampling on

wounded man or horse, but, until one dreadful day, I had never felt terror; that day I shall never forget."

Here old Captain paused for awhile and drew a long breath; I waited, and he went on.

"It was one autumn morning, and as usual, an hour before daybreak our cavalry had turned out, ready

caparisoned for the day's work, whether it might be fighting or waiting. The men stood by their horses

waiting, ready for orders. As the light increased there seemed to be some excitement among the officers; and

"Then one of the officers rode up and gave the word for the men to mount, and in a second every man was in

his saddle, and every horse stood expecting the touch of the rein, or the pressure of his rider's heels, all

animated, all eager; but still we had been trained so well that, except by the champing of our bits, and the

restive tossing of our heads from time to time, it could not be said that we stirred.

"My dear master and I were at the head of the line, and as all sat motionless and watchful, he took a little

stray lock of my mane which had turned over on the wrong side, laid it over on the right, and smoothed it

down with his hand; then patting my neck, he said, `We shall have a day of it today, Bayard, my beauty; but

we'll do our duty as we have done.' He stroked my neck that morning more, I think, than he had ever done

before; quietly on and on, as if he were thinking of something else. I loved to feel his hand on my neck, and

arched my crest proudly and happily; but I stood very still, for I knew all his moods, and when he liked me to

"I cannot tell all that happened on that day, but I will tell of the last charge that we made together; it was

across a valley right in front of the enemy's cannon. By this time we were well used to the roar of heavy guns,

the rattle of musket fire, and the flying of shot near us; but never had I been under such a fire as we rode

through on that day. From the right, from the left, and from the front, shot and shell poured in upon us. Many

a brave man went down, many a horse fell, flinging his rider to the earth; many a horse without a rider ran

wildly out of the ranks; then terrified at being alone, with no hand to guide him, came pressing in among his

"Fearful as it was, no one stopped, no one turned back. Every moment the ranks were thinned, but as our

comrades fell, we closed in to keep them together; and instead of being shaken or staggered in our pace our

"My master, my dear master was cheering on his comrades with his right arm raised on high, when one of the

balls whizzing close to my head struck him. I felt him stagger with the shock, though he uttered no cry; I tried

to check my speed, but the sword dropped from his right hand, the rein fell loose from the left, and sinking

backward from the saddle he fell to the earth; the other riders swept past us, and by the force of their charge I

"I wanted to keep my place by his side and not leave him under that rush of horses' feet, but it was in vain;

and now without a master or a friend I was alone on that great slaughter ground; then fear took hold on me,

and I trembled as I had never trembled before; and I too, as I had seen other horses do, tried to join in the

ranks and gallop with them; but I was beaten off by the swords of the soldiers. Just then a soldier whose horse

had been killed under him caught at my bridle and mounted me, and with this new master I was again going

forward; but our gallant company was cruelly overpowered, and those who remained alive after the fierce

fight for the guns came galloping back over the same ground. Some of the horses had been so badly wounded

that they could scarcely move from the loss of blood; other noble creatures were trying on three legs to drag

themselves along, and others were struggling to rise on their fore feet, when their hind legs had been

shattered by shot. After the battle the wounded men were brought in and the dead were buried."

"No, the army farriers went over the field with their pistols and shot all that were ruined; some that had only

slight wounds were brought back and attended to, but the greater part of the noble, willing creatures that went

out that morning never came back! In our stables there was only about one in four that returned.

"I never saw my dear master again. I believe he fell dead from the saddle. I never loved any other master so

well. I went into many other engagements, but was only once wounded, and then not seriously; and when the

war was over I came back again to England, as sound and strong as when I went out."

"Ah!" said he, "I should think they never saw it. No doubt it is very fine when there is no enemy, when it is

just exercise and parade and sham fight. Yes, it is very fine then; but when thousands of good brave men and

"No," he said, "that is more than a horse can understand, but the enemy must have been awfully wicked

people, if it was right to go all that way over the sea on purpose to kill them."

I never knew a better man than my new master. He was kind and good, and as strong for the right as John

Manly; and so goodtempered and merry that very few people could pick a quarrel with him. He was very

fond of making little songs, and singing them to himself. One he was very fond of was this:

And so they did; Harry was as clever at stablework as a much older boy, and always wanted to do what he

could. Then Polly and Dolly used to come in the morning to help with the cab to brush and beat the

cushions, and rub the glass, while Jerry was giving us a cleaning in the yard, and Harry was rubbing the

harness. There used to be a great deal of laughing and fun between them, and it put Captain and me in much

better spirits than if we had heard scolding and hard words. They were always early in the morning, for Jerry

He could not bear any careless loitering and waste of time; and nothing was so near making him angry as to

find people, who were always late, wanting a cab horse to be driven hard, to make up for their idleness.

One day two wildlooking young men came out of a tavern close by the stand, and called Jerry.

"Here, cabby! look sharp, we are rather late; put on the steam, will you, and take us to the Victoria in time for

"I will take you at the regular pace, gentlemen; shillings don't pay for putting on the steam like that."

Larry's cab was standing next to ours; he flung open the door, and said, "I'm your man, gentlemen! take my

cab, my horse will get you there all right;" and as he shut them in, with a wink toward Jerry, said, "It's against

his conscience to go beyond a jogtrot." Then slashing his jaded horse, he set off as hard as he could. Jerry

patted me on the neck: "No, Jack, a shilling would not pay for that sort of thing, would it, old boy?"

Although Jerry was determinedly set against hard driving, to please careless people, he always went a good

fair pace, and was not against putting on the steam, as he said, if only he knew why.

I well remember one morning, as we were on the stand waiting for a fare, that a young man, carrying a heavy

portmanteau, trod on a piece of orange peel which lay on the pavement, and fell down with great force.

Jerry was the first to run and lift him up. He seemed much stunned, and as they led him into a shop he walked

as if he were in great pain. Jerry of course came back to the stand, but in about ten minutes one of the

"Can you take me to the SouthEastern Railway?" said the young man; "this unlucky fall has made me late, I

fear; but it is of great importance that I should not lose the twelve o'clock train. I should be most thankful if

"I'll do my very best," said Jerry heartily, "if you think you are well enough, sir," for he looked dreadfully

"I must go," he said earnestly, "please to open the door, and let us lose no time."

The next minute Jerry was on the box; with a cheery chirrup to me, and a twitch of the rein that I well

"Now then, Jack, my boy," said he, "spin along, we'll show them how we can get over the ground, if we only

It is always difficult to drive fast in the city in the middle of the day, when the streets are full of traffic, but

we did what could be done; and when a good driver and a good horse, who understand each other, are of one

mind, it is wonderful what they can do. I had a very good mouth that is I could be guided by the slightest

touch of the rein; and that is a great thing in London, among carriages, omnibuses, carts, vans, trucks, cabs,

and great wagons creeping along at a walking pace; some going one way, some another, some going slowly,

others wanting to pass them; omnibuses stopping short every few minutes to take up a passenger, obliging the

horse that is coming behind to pull up too, or to pass, and get before them; perhaps you try to pass, but just

then something else comes dashing in through the narrow opening, and you have to keep in behind the

omnibus again; presently you think you see a chance, and manage to get to the front, going so near the wheels

on each side that half an inch nearer and they would scrape. Well, you get along for a bit, but soon find

yourself in a long train of carts and carriages all obliged to go at a walk; perhaps you come to a regular

blockup, and have to stand still for minutes together, till something clears out into a side street, or the

policeman interferes; you have to be ready for any chance to dash forward if there be an opening, and be

quick as a ratdog to see if there be room and if there be time, lest you get your own wheels locked or

smashed, or the shaft of some other vehicle run into your chest or shoulder. All this is what you have to be

ready for. If you want to get through London fast in the middle of the day it wants a deal of practice.

Jerry and I were used to it, and no one could beat us at getting through when we were set upon it. I was quick

and bold and could always trust my driver; Jerry was quick and patient at the same time, and could trust his

horse, which was a great thing too. He very seldom used the whip; I knew by his voice, and his click, click,

when he wanted to get on fast, and by the rein where I was to go; so there was no need for whipping; but I

The streets were very full that day, but we got on pretty well as far as the bottom of Cheapside, where there

was a block for three or four minutes. The young man put his head out and said anxiously, "I think I had

"I'll do all that can be done, sir," said Jerry; "I think we shall be in time. This blockup cannot last much

Just then the cart in front of us began to move on, and then we had a good turn. In and out, in and out we

went, as fast as horseflesh could do it, and for a wonder had a good clear time on London Bridge, for there

was a whole train of cabs and carriages all going our way at a quick trot, perhaps wanting to catch that very

train. At any rate, we whirled into the station with many more, just as the great clock pointed to eight minutes

"Thank God! we are in time," said the young man, "and thank you, too, my friend, and your good horse. You

"No, sir, no, thank you all the same; so glad we hit the time, sir; but don't stay now, sir, the bell is ringing.

Here, porter! take this gentleman's luggage Dover line twelve o'clock train that's it," and without

waiting for another word Jerry wheeled me round to make room for other cabs that were dashing up at the

"`So glad!' he said, `so glad!' Poor young fellow! I wonder what it was that made him so anxious!"

Jerry often talked to himself quite loud enough for me to hear when we were not moving.

On Jerry's return to the rank there was a good deal of laughing and chaffing at him for driving hard to the

train for an extra fare, as they said, all against his principles, and they wanted to know how much he had

"A good deal more than I generally get," said he, nodding slyly; "what he gave me will keep me in little

"He's a humbug," said another; "preaching to us and then doing the same himself."

"Look here, mates," said Jerry; "the gentleman offered me half a crown extra, but I didn't take it; 'twas quite

pay enough for me to see how glad he was to catch that train; and if Jack and I choose to have a quick run

"Most likely not," said Jerry; "but I don't know that I shall be the less happy for that. I have heard the

commandments read a great many times and I never noticed that any of them said, `Thou shalt be rich'; and

there are a good many curious things said in the New Testament about rich men that I think would make me

"If you ever do get rich," said Governor Gray, looking over his shoulder across the top of his cab, "you'll

deserve it, Jerry, and you won't find a curse come with your wealth. As for you, Larry, you'll die poor; you

"You never take the trouble to see if he will go without it; your whip is always going as if you had the St.

Vitus' dance in your arm, and if it does not wear you out it wears your horse out; you know you are always

changing your horses; and why? Because you never give them any peace or encouragement."

"And you never will," said the governor. "Good Luck is rather particular who she rides with, and mostly

prefers those who have got common sense and a good heart; at least that is my experience."

Governor Gray turned round again to his newspaper, and the other men went to their cabs.

One morning, as Jerry had just put me into the shafts and was fastening the traces, a gentleman walked into

"Goodmorning, Mr. Barker," said the gentleman. "I should be glad to make some arrangements with you for

taking Mrs. Briggs regularly to church on Sunday mornings. We go to the New Church now, and that is

"Thank you, sir," said Jerry, "but I have only taken out a sixdays' license,* and therefore I could not take a

* A few years since the annual charge for a cab license was very much reduced, and the difference

"Oh!" said the other, "I did not know yours was a sixdays' cab; but of course it would be very easy to alter

your license. I would see that you did not lose by it; the fact is, Mrs. Briggs very much prefers you to drive

"I should be glad to oblige the lady, sir, but I had a sevendays' license once, and the work was too hard for

me, and too hard for my horses. Year in and year out, not a day's rest, and never a Sunday with my wife and

children; and never able to go to a place of worship, which I had always been used to do before I took to the

driving box. So for the last five years I have only taken a sixdays' license, and I find it better all the way

"Well, of course," replied Mr. Briggs, "it is very proper that every person should have rest, and be able to go

to church on Sundays, but I should have thought you would not have minded such a short distance for the

horse, and only once a day; you would have all the afternoon and evening for yourself, and we are very good

"Yes, sir, that is true, and I am grateful for all favors, I am sure; and anything that I could do to oblige you, or

the lady, I should be proud and happy to do; but I can't give up my Sundays, sir, indeed I can't. I read that

God made man, and he made horses and all the other beasts, and as soon as He had made them He made a

day of rest, and bade that all should rest one day in seven; and I think, sir, He must have known what was

good for them, and I am sure it is good for me; I am stronger and healthier altogether, now that I have a day

of rest; the horses are fresh too, and do not wear up nearly so fast. The sixday drivers all tell me the same,

and I have laid by more money in the savings bank than ever I did before; and as for the wife and children,

sir, why, heart alive! they would not go back to the seven days for all they could see."

"Oh, very well," said the gentleman. "Don't trouble yourself, Mr. Barker, any further. I will inquire

"Well," says Jerry to me, "we can't help it, Jack, old boy; we must have our Sundays."

"Why, my dear, Mr. Briggs wants me to take Mrs. Briggs to church every Sunday morning. I say I have only

a sixdays' license. He says, `Get a sevendays' license, and I'll make it worth your while;' and you know,

Polly, they are very good customers to us. Mrs. Briggs often goes out shopping for hours, or making calls,

and then she pays down fair and honorable like a lady; there's no beating down or making three hours into

two hours and a half, as some folks do; and it is easy work for the horses; not like tearing along to catch trains

for people that are always a quarter of an hour too late; and if I don't oblige her in this matter it is very likely

"I say, Jerry," says she, speaking very slowly, "I say, if Mrs. Briggs would give you a sovereign every

Sunday morning, I would not have you a sevendays' cabman again. We have known what it was to have no

Sundays, and now we know what it is to call them our own. Thank God, you earn enough to keep us, though

it is sometimes close work to pay for all the oats and hay, the license, and the rent besides; but Harry will

soon be earning something, and I would rather struggle on harder than we do than go back to those horrid

times when you hardly had a minute to look at your own children, and we never could go to a place of

worship together, or have a happy, quiet day. God forbid that we should ever turn back to those times; that's

"And that is just what I told Mr. Briggs, my dear," said Jerry, "and what I mean to stick to. So don't go and

fret yourself, Polly" (for she had begun to cry); "I would not go back to the old times if I earned twice as

much, so that is settled, little woman. Now, cheer up, and I'll be off to the stand."

Three weeks had passed away after this conversation, and no order had come from Mrs. Briggs; so there was

nothing but taking jobs from the stand. Jerry took it to heart a good deal, for of course the work was harder

for horse and man. But Polly would always cheer him up, and say, "Never mind, father, never, mind.

It soon became known that Jerry had lost his best customer, and for what reason. Most of the men said he was

"If workingmen don't stick to their Sunday," said Truman, "they'll soon have none left; it is every man's right

and every beast's right. By God's law we have a day of rest, and by the law of England we have a day of rest;

and I say we ought to hold to the rights these laws give us and keep them for our children."

"All very well for you religious chaps to talk so," said Larry; "but I'll turn a shilling when I can. I don't

believe in religion, for I don't see that your religious people are any better than the rest."

"If they are not better," put in Jerry, "it is because they are not religious. You might as well say that our

country's laws are not good because some people break them. If a man gives way to his temper, and speaks

evil of his neighbor, and does not pay his debts, he is not religious, I don't care how much he goes to church.

If some men are shams and humbugs, that does not make religion untrue. Real religion is the best and truest

thing in the world, and the only thing that can make a man really happy or make the world we live in any

"If religion was good for anything," said Jones, "it would prevent your religious people from making us work

on Sundays, as you know many of them do, and that's why I say religion is nothing but a sham; why, if it was

not for the church and chapelgoers it would be hardly worth while our coming out on a Sunday. But they

have their privileges, as they call them, and I go without. I shall expect them to answer for my soul, if I can't

"That may sound well enough, but it won't do; every man must look after his own soul; you can't lay it down

at another man's door like a foundling and expect him to take care of it; and don't you see, if you are always

sitting on your box waiting for a fare, they will say, `If we don't take him some one else will, and he does not

look for any Sunday.' Of course, they don't go to the bottom of it, or they would see if they never came for a

cab it would be no use your standing there; but people don't always like to go to the bottom of things; it may

not be convenient to do it; but if you Sunday drivers would all strike for a day of rest the thing would be

"And what would all the good people do if they could not get to their favorite preachers?" said Larry.

"'Tis not for me to lay down plans for other people," said Jerry, "but if they can't walk so far they can go to

what is nearer; and if it should rain they can put on their mackintoshes as they do on a weekday. If a thing is

right it can be done, and if it is wrong it can be done without; and a good man will find a way. And that is as

Two or three weeks after this, as we came into the yard rather late in the evening, Polly came running across

the road with the lantern (she always brought it to him if it was not very wet).

"It has all come right, Jerry; Mrs. Briggs sent her servant this afternoon to ask you to take her out tomorrow

at eleven o'clock. I said, `Yes, I thought so, but we supposed she employed some one else now.'"

"`Well,' said he, `the real fact is, master was put out because Mr. Barker refused to come on Sundays, and he

has been trying other cabs, but there's something wrong with them all; some drive too fast, and some too

slow, and the mistress says there is not one of them so nice and clean as yours, and nothing will suit her but

"`'Twill all come right some day or night': you were right, my dear; you generally are. Run in and get the

supper, and I'll have Jack's harness off and make him snug and happy in no time."

After this Mrs. Briggs wanted Jerry's cab quite as often as before, never, however, on a Sunday; but there

came a day when we had Sunday work, and this was how it happened. We had all come home on the

Saturday night very tired, and very glad to think that the next day would be all rest, but so it was not to be.

On Sunday morning Jerry was cleaning me in the yard, when Polly stepped up to him, looking very full of

"Well, my dear," she said, "poor Dinah Brown has just had a letter brought to say that her mother is

dangerously ill, and that she must go directly if she wishes to see her alive. The place is more than ten miles

away from here, out in the country, and she says if she takes the train she should still have four miles to walk;

and so weak as she is, and the baby only four weeks old, of course that would be impossible; and she wants to

know if you would take her in your cab, and she promises to pay you faithfully, as she can get the money."

"Tut, tut! we'll see about that. It was not the money I was thinking about, but of losing our Sunday; the horses

"It pinches all round, for that matter," said Polly, "for it's only half Sunday without you, but you know we

should do to other people as we should like they should do to us; and I know very well what I should like if

my mother was dying; and Jerry, dear, I am sure it won't break the Sabbath; for if pulling a poor beast or

donkey out of a pit would not spoil it, I am quite sure taking poor Dinah would not do it."

"Why, Polly, you are as good as the minister, and so, as I've had my Sundaymorning sermon early today,

you may go and tell Dinah that I'll be ready for her as the clock strikes ten; but stop just step round to

butcher Braydon's with my compliments, and ask him if he would lend me his light trap; I know he never

Away she went, and soon returned, saying that he could have the trap and welcome.

"All right," said he; "now put me up a bit of bread and cheese, and I'll be back in the afternoon as soon as I

"And I'll have the meat pie ready for an early tea instead of for dinner," said Polly; and away she went, while

he made his preparations to the tune of "Polly's the woman and no mistake", of which tune he was very fond.

I was selected for the journey, and at ten o'clock we started, in a light, highwheeled gig, which ran so easily

It was a fine May day, and as soon as we were out of the town, the sweet air, the smell of the fresh grass, and

the soft country roads were as pleasant as they used to be in the old times, and I soon began to feel quite

Dinah's family lived in a small farmhouse, up a green lane, close by a meadow with some fine shady trees;

there were two cows feeding in it. A young man asked Jerry to bring his trap into the meadow, and he would

"If your cows would not be offended," said Jerry, "there is nothing my horse would like so well as to have an

hour or two in your beautiful meadow; he's quiet, and it would be a rare treat for him."

"Do, and welcome," said the young man; "the best we have is at your service for your kindness to my sister;

we shall be having some dinner in an hour, and I hope you'll come in, though with mother so ill we are all out

Jerry thanked him kindly, but said as he had some dinner with him there was nothing he should like so well

When my harness was taken off I did not know what I should do first whether to eat the grass, or roll over

on my back, or lie down and rest, or have a gallop across the meadow out of sheer spirits at being free; and I

did all by turns. Jerry seemed to be quite as happy as I was; he sat down by a bank under a shady tree, and

listened to the birds, then he sang himself, and read out of the little brown book he is so fond of, then

wandered round the meadow, and down by a little brook, where he picked the flowers and the hawthorn, and

tied them up with long sprays of ivy; then he gave me a good feed of the oats which he had brought with him;

but the time seemed all too short I had not been in a field since I left poor Ginger at Earlshall.

We came home gently, and Jerry's first words were, as we came into the yard, "Well, Polly, I have not lost

my Sunday after all, for the birds were singing hymns in every bush, and I joined in the service; and as for

Winter came in early, with a great deal of cold and wet. There was snow, or sleet, or rain almost every day

for weeks, changing only for keen driving winds or sharp frosts. The horses all felt it very much. When it is a

dry cold a couple of good thick rugs will keep the warmth in us; but when it is soaking rain they soon get wet

through and are no good. Some of the drivers had a waterproof cover to throw over, which was a fine thing;

but some of the men were so poor that they could not protect either themselves or their horses, and many of

them suffered very much that winter. When we horses had worked half the day we went to our dry stables,

and could rest, while they had to sit on their boxes, sometimes staying out as late as one or two o'clock in the

When the streets were slippery with frost or snow that was the worst of all for us horses. One mile of such

traveling, with a weight to draw and no firm footing, would take more out of us than four on a good road;

every nerve and muscle of our bodies is on the strain to keep our balance; and, added to this, the fear of

falling is more exhausting than anything else. If the roads are very bad indeed our shoes are roughed, but that

When the weather was very bad many of the men would go and sit in the tavern close by, and get some one to

watch for them; but they often lost a fare in that way, and could not, as Jerry said, be there without spending

money. He never went to the Rising Sun; there was a coffeeshop near, where he now and then went, or he

bought of an old man, who came to our rank with tins of hot coffee and pies. It was his opinion that spirits

and beer made a man colder afterward, and that dry clothes, good food, cheerfulness, and a comfortable wife

at home, were the best things to keep a cabman warm. Polly always supplied him with something to eat when

he could not get home, and sometimes he would see little Dolly peeping from the corner of the street, to make

sure if "father" was on the stand. If she saw him she would run off at full speed and soon come back with

something in a tin or basket, some hot soup or pudding Polly had ready. It was wonderful how such a little

thing could get safely across the street, often thronged with horses and carriages; but she was a brave little

maid, and felt it quite an honor to bring "father's first course", as he used to call it. She was a general favorite

on the stand, and there was not a man who would not have seen her safely across the street, if Jerry had not

One cold windy day Dolly had brought Jerry a basin of something hot, and was standing by him while he ate

it. He had scarcely begun when a gentleman, walking toward us very fast, held up his umbrella. Jerry touched

his hat in return, gave the basin to Dolly, and was taking off my cloth, when the gentleman, hastening up,

cried out, "No, no, finish your soup, my friend; I have not much time to spare, but I can wait till you have

done, and set your little girl safe on the pavement." So saying, he seated himself in the cab. Jerry thanked him

"There, Dolly, that's a gentleman; that's a real gentleman, Dolly; he has got time and thought for the comfort

Jerry finished his soup, set the child across, and then took his orders to drive to Clapham Rise. Several times

after that the same gentleman took our cab. I think he was very fond of dogs and horses, for whenever we

took him to his own door two or three dogs would come bounding out to meet him. Sometimes he came

round and patted me, saying in his quiet, pleasant way, "This horse has got a good master, and he deserves

it." It was a very rare thing for any one to notice the horse that had been working for him. I have known

ladies to do it now and then, and this gentleman, and one or two others have given me a pat and a kind word;

but ninetynine persons out of a hundred would as soon think of patting the steam engine that drew the train.

The gentleman was not young, and there was a forward stoop in his shoulders as if he was always going at

something. His lips were thin and close shut, though they had a very pleasant smile; his eye was keen, and

there was something in his jaw and the motion of his head that made one think he was very determined in

anything he set about. His voice was pleasant and kind; any horse would trust that voice, though it was just as

One day he and another gentleman took our cab; they stopped at a shop in R Street, and while his friend

went in he stood at the door. A little ahead of us on the other side of the street a cart with two very fine horses

was standing before some wine vaults; the carter was not with them, and I cannot tell how long they had been

standing, but they seemed to think they had waited long enough, and began to move off. Before they had

gone many paces the carter came running out and caught them. He seemed furious at their having moved, and

with whip and rein punished them brutally, even beating them about the head. Our gentleman saw it all, and

"If you don't stop that directly, I'll have you arrested for leaving your horses, and for brutal conduct."

The man, who had clearly been drinking, poured forth some abusive language, but he left off knocking the

horses about, and taking the reins, got into his cart; meantime our friend had quietly taken a notebook from

his pocket, and looking at the name and address painted on the cart, he wrote something down.

"What do you want with that?" growled the carter, as he cracked his whip and was moving on. A nod and a

On returning to the cab our friend was joined by his companion, who said laughingly, "I should have thought,

Wright, you had enough business of your own to look after, without troubling yourself about other people's

Our friend stood still for a moment, and throwing his head a little back, "Do you know why this world is as

"Then I'll tell you. It is because people think only about their own business, and won't trouble themselves to

stand up for the oppressed, nor bring the wrongdoer to light. I never see a wicked thing like this without

doing what I can, and many a master has thanked me for letting him know how his horses have been used."

"I wish there were more gentlemen like you, sir," said Jerry, "for they are wanted badly enough in this city."

After this we continued our journey, and as they got out of the cab our friend was saying, "My doctrine is

this, that if we see cruelty or wrong that we have the power to stop, and do nothing, we make ourselves

I should say that for a cabhorse I was very well off indeed; my driver was my owner, and it was his interest

to treat me well and not overwork me, even had he not been so good a man as he was; but there were a great

many horses which belonged to the large cabowners, who let them out to their drivers for so much money a

day. As the horses did not belong to these men the only thing they thought of was how to get their money out

of them, first, to pay the master, and then to provide for their own living; and a dreadful time some of these

horses had of it. Of course, I understood but little, but it was often talked over on the stand, and the governor,

who was a kindhearted man and fond of horses, would sometimes speak up if one came in very much jaded

One day a shabby, miserablelooking driver, who went by the name of "Seedy Sam", brought in his horse

The man flung his tattered rug over the horse, turned full round upon the Governor and said in a voice that

"If the police have any business with the matter it ought to be with the masters who charge us so much, or

with the fares that are fixed so low. If a man has to pay eighteen shillings a day for the use of a cab and two

horses, as many of us have to do in the season, and must make that up before we earn a penny for ourselves I

say 'tis more than hard work; nine shillings a day to get out of each horse before you begin to get your own

living. You know that's true, and if the horses don't work we must starve, and I and my children have known

what that is before now. I've six of 'em, and only one earns anything; I am on the stand fourteen or sixteen

hours a day, and I haven't had a Sunday these ten or twelve weeks; you know Skinner never gives a day if he

can help it, and if I don't work hard, tell me who does! I want a warm coat and a mackintosh, but with so

many to feed how can a man get it? I had to pledge my clock a week ago to pay Skinner, and I shall never see

Some of the other drivers stood round nodding their heads and saying he was right. The man went on:

"You that have your own horses and cabs, or drive for good masters, have a chance of getting on and a

chance of doing right; I haven't. We can't charge more than sixpence a mile after the first, within the

fourmile radius. This very morning I had to go a clear six miles and only took three shillings. I could not get

a return fare, and had to come all the way back; there's twelve miles for the horse and three shillings for me.

After that I had a threemile fare, and there were bags and boxes enough to have brought in a good many

twopences if they had been put outside; but you know how people do; all that could be piled up inside on the

front seat were put in and three heavy boxes went on the top. That was sixpence, and the fare one and

sixpence; then I got a return for a shilling. Now that makes eighteen miles for the horse and six shillings for

me; there's three shillings still for that horse to earn and nine shillings for the afternoon horse before I touch a

penny. Of course, it is not always so bad as that, but you know it often is, and I say 'tis a mockery to tell a

man that he must not overwork his horse, for when a beast is downright tired there's nothing but the whip that

will keep his legs agoing; you can't help yourself you must put your wife and children before the horse;

the masters must look to that, we can't. I don't illuse my horse for the sake of it; none of you can say I do.

There's wrong lays somewhere never a day's rest, never a quiet hour with the wife and children. I often

feel like an old man, though I'm only fortyfive. You know how quick some of the gentry are to suspect us of

cheating and overcharging; why, they stand with their purses in their hands counting it over to a penny and

looking at us as if we were pickpockets. I wish some of 'em had got to sit on my box sixteen hours a day and

get a living out of it and eighteen shillings beside, and that in all weathers; they would not be so uncommon

particular never to give us a sixpence over or to cram all the luggage inside. Of course, some of 'em tip us

pretty handsome now and then, or else we could not live; but you can't depend upon that."

The men who stood round much approved this speech, and one of them said, "It is desperate hard, and if a

man sometimes does what is wrong it is no wonder, and if he gets a dram too much who's to blow him up?"

Jerry had taken no part in this conversation, but I never saw his face look so sad before. The governor had

stood with both his hands in his pockets; now he took his handkerchief out of his hat and wiped his forehead.

"You've beaten me, Sam," he said, "for it's all true, and I won't cast it up to you any more about the police; it

was the look in that horse's eye that came over me. It is hard lines for man and it is hard lines for beast, and

who's to mend it I don't know: but anyway you might tell the poor beast that you were sorry to take it out of

him in that way. Sometimes a kind word is all we can give 'em, poor brutes, and 'tis wonderful what they do

"He's ill in bed," said the man; "he was taken last night in the yard, and could scarcely crawl home. His wife

sent a boy this morning to say his father was in a high fever and could not get out, so I'm here instead."

"Just snuffed out," said the other; "he died at four o'clock this morning; all yesterday he was raving raving

about Skinner, and having no Sundays. `I never had a Sunday's rest,' these were his last words."

No one spoke for a while, and then the governor said, "I'll tell you what, mates, this is a warning for us."

One day, while our cab and many others were waiting outside one of the parks where music was playing, a

shabby old cab drove up beside ours. The horse was an old wornout chestnut, with an illkept coat, and

bones that showed plainly through it, the knees knuckled over, and the forelegs were very unsteady. I had

been eating some hay, and the wind rolled a little lock of it that way, and the poor creature put out her long

thin neck and picked it up, and then turned and looked about for more. There was a hopeless look in the dull

eye that I could not help noticing, and then, as I was thinking where I had seen that horse before, she looked

It was Ginger! but how changed! The beautifully arched and glossy neck was now straight, and lank, and

fallen in; the clean straight legs and delicate fetlocks were swelled; the joints were grown out of shape with

hard work; the face, that was once so full of spirit and life, was now full of suffering, and I could tell by the

Our drivers were standing together a little way off, so I sidled up to her a step or two, that we might have a

After a twelvemonth's run off at Earlshall, she was considered to be fit for work again, and was sold to a

gentleman. For a little while she got on very well, but after a longer gallop than usual the old strain returned,

and after being rested and doctored she was again sold. In this way she changed hands several times, but

"And so at last," said she, "I was bought by a man who keeps a number of cabs and horses, and lets them out.

You look well off, and I am glad of it, but I could not tell you what my life has been. When they found out

my weakness they said I was not worth what they gave for me, and that I must go into one of the low cabs,

and just be used up; that is what they are doing, whipping and working with never one thought of what I

suffer they paid for me, and must get it out of me, they say. The man who hires me now pays a deal of

money to the owner every day, and so he has to get it out of me too; and so it's all the week round and round,

"Ah!" she said, "I did once, but it's no use; men are strongest, and if they are cruel and have no feeling, there

is nothing that we can do, but just bear it bear it on and on to the end. I wish the end was come, I wish I

was dead. I have seen dead horses, and I am sure they do not suffer pain; I wish I may drop down dead at my

I was very much troubled, and I put my nose up to hers, but I could say nothing to comfort her. I think she

Just then her driver came up, and with a tug at her mouth backed her out of the line and drove off, leaving me

A short time after this a cart with a dead horse in it passed our cabstand. The head hung out of the carttail,

the lifeless tongue was slowly dropping with blood; and the sunken eyes! but I can't speak of them, the sight

was too dreadful. It was a chestnut horse with a long, thin neck. I saw a white streak down the forehead. I

believe it was Ginger; I hoped it was, for then her troubles would be over. Oh! if men were more merciful

I saw a great deal of trouble among the horses in London, and much of it might have been prevented by a

little common sense. We horses do not mind hard work if we are treated reasonably, and I am sure there are

many driven by quite poor men who have a happier life than I had when I used to go in the Countess of

It often went to my heart to see how the little ponies were used, straining along with heavy loads or

staggering under heavy blows from some low, cruel boy. Once I saw a little gray pony with a thick mane and

a pretty head, and so much like Merrylegs that if I had not been in harness I should have neighed to him. He

was doing his best to pull a heavy cart, while a strong rough boy was cutting him under the belly with his

whip and chucking cruelly at his little mouth. Could it be Merrylegs? It was just like him; but then Mr.

Blomefield was never to sell him, and I think he would not do it; but this might have been quite as good a

I often noticed the great speed at which butchers' horses were made to go, though I did not know why it was

so till one day when we had to wait some time in St. John's Wood. There was a butcher's shop next door, and

as we were standing a butcher's cart came dashing up at a great pace. The horse was hot and much exhausted;

he hung his head down, while his heaving sides and trembling legs showed how hard he had been driven. The

lad jumped out of the cart and was getting the basket when the master came out of the shop much displeased.

"How many times shall I tell you not to drive in this way? You ruined the last horse and broke his wind, and

you are going to ruin this in the same way. If you were not my own son I would dismiss you on the spot; it is

a disgrace to have a horse brought to the shop in a condition like that; you are liable to be taken up by the

police for such driving, and if you are you need not look to me for bail, for I have spoken to you till I'm tired;

During this speech the boy had stood by, sullen and dogged, but when his father ceased he broke out angrily.

It wasn't his fault, and he wouldn't take the blame; he was only going by orders all the time.

"You always say, `Now be quick; now look sharp!' and when I go to the houses one wants a leg of mutton for

an early dinner and I must be back with it in a quarter of an hour; another cook has forgotten to order the

beef; I must go and fetch it and be back in no time, or the mistress will scold; and the housekeeper says they

have company coming unexpectedly and must have some chops sent up directly; and the lady at No. 4, in the

Crescent, never orders her dinner till the meat comes in for lunch, and it's nothing but hurry, hurry, all the

time. If the gentry would think of what they want, and order their meat the day before, there need not be this

"I wish to goodness they would," said the butcher; "'twould save me a wonderful deal of harass, and I could

suit my customers much better if I knew beforehand But there! what's the use of talking who ever

thinks of a butcher's convenience or a butcher's horse! Now, then, take him in and look to him well; mind, he

does not go out again today, and if anything else is wanted you must carry it yourself in the basket." With

But all boys are not cruel. I have seen some as fond of their pony or donkey as if it had been a favorite dog,

and the little creatures have worked away as cheerfully and willingly for their young drivers as I work for

Jerry. It may be hard work sometimes, but a friend's hand and voice make it easy.

There was a young costerboy who came up our street with greens and potatoes; he had an old pony, not very

handsome, but the cheerfullest and pluckiest little thing I ever saw, and to see how fond those two were of

each other was a treat. The pony followed his master like a dog, and when he got into his cart would trot off

without a whip or a word, and rattle down the street as merrily as if he had come out of the queen's stables.

Jerry liked the boy, and called him "Prince Charlie", for he said he would make a king of drivers some day.

There was an old man, too, who used to come up our street with a little coal cart; he wore a coalheaver's hat,

and looked rough and black. He and his old horse used to plod together along the street, like two good

partners who understood each other; the horse would stop of his own accord at the doors where they took coal

of him; he used to keep one ear bent toward his master. The old man's cry could be heard up the street long

before he came near. I never knew what he said, but the children called him "Old Baaar Hoo", for it

sounded like that. Polly took her coal of him, and was very friendly, and Jerry said it was a comfort to think

As we came into the yard one afternoon Polly came out. "Jerry! I've had Mr. B here asking about your

vote, and he wants to hire your cab for the election; he will call for an answer."

"Well, Polly, you may say that my cab will be otherwise engaged. I should not like to have it pasted over with

their great bills, and as to making Jack and Captain race about to the publichouses to bring up halfdrunken

"So he is in some things, but I shall not vote for him, Polly; you know what his trade is?"

"Well, a man who gets rich by that trade may be all very well in some ways, but he is blind as to what

workingmen want; I could not in my conscience send him up to make the laws. I dare say they'll be angry,

On the morning before the election, Jerry was putting me into the shafts, when Dolly came into the yard

sobbing and crying, with her little blue frock and white pinafore spattered all over with mud.

"Those naughty boys," she sobbed, "have thrown the dirt all over me, and called me a little raga raga"

"They called her a little `blue' ragamuffin, father," said Harry, who ran in looking very angry; "but I have

given it to them; they won't insult my sister again. I have given them a thrashing they will remember; a set of

Jerry kissed the child and said, "Run in to mother, my pet, and tell her I think you had better stay at home

"My boy, I hope you will always defend your sister, and give anybody who insults her a good thrashing

that is as it should be; but mind, I won't have any election blackguarding on my premises. There are as many

`blue' blackguards as there are `orange', and as many white as there are purple, or any other color, and I won't

have any of my family mixed up with it. Even women and children are ready to quarrel for the sake of a

"My boy, Liberty does not come from colors, they only show party, and all the liberty you can get out of

them is, liberty to get drunk at other people's expense, liberty to ride to the poll in a dirty old cab, liberty to

abuse any one that does not wear your color, and to shout yourself hoarse at what you only halfunderstand

"No, Harry, I am serious, and I am ashamed to see how men go on who ought to know better. An election is a

very serious thing; at least it ought to be, and every man ought to vote according to his conscience, and let his

The election day came at last; there was no lack of work for Jerry and me. First came a stout puffy gentleman

with a carpet bag; he wanted to go to the Bishopsgate station; then we were called by a party who wished to

be taken to the Regent's Park; and next we were wanted in a side street where a timid, anxious old lady was

waiting to be taken to the bank; there we had to stop to take her back again, and just as we had set her down a

redfaced gentleman, with a handful of papers, came running up out of breath, and before Jerry could get

down he had opened the door, popped himself in, and called out, "Bow Street Police Station, quick!" so off

we went with him, and when after another turn or two we came back, there was no other cab on the stand.

Jerry put on my nosebag, for as he said, "We must eat when we can on such days as these; so munch away,

I found I had a good feed of crushed oats wetted up with a little bran; this would be a treat any day, but very

refreshing then. Jerry was so thoughtful and kind what horse would not do his best for such a master?

Then he took out one of Polly's meat pies, and standing near me, he began to eat it. The streets were very full,

and the cabs, with the candidates' colors on them, were dashing about through the crowd as if life and limb

were of no consequence; we saw two people knocked down that day, and one was a woman. The horses were

having a bad time of it, poor things! but the voters inside thought nothing of that; many of them were

halfdrunk, hurrahing out of the cab windows if their own party came by. It was the first election I had seen,

Jerry and I had not eaten many mouthfuls before a poor young woman, carrying a heavy child, came along

the street. She was looking this way and that way, and seemed quite bewildered. Presently she made her way

up to Jerry and asked if he could tell her the way to St. Thomas' Hospital, and how far it was to get there. She

had come from the country that morning, she said, in a market cart; she did not know about the election, and

was quite a stranger in London. She had got an order for the hospital for her little boy. The child was crying

"Poor little fellow!" she said, "he suffers a deal of pain; he is four years old and can't walk any more than a

baby; but the doctor said if I could get him into the hospital he might get well; pray, sir, how far is it; and

"Why, missis," said Jerry, "you can't get there walking through crowds like this! why, it is three miles away,

"Yes, bless him, he is; but I am strong, thank God, and if I knew the way I think I should get on somehow;

"You can't do it," said Jerry, "you might be knocked down and the child be run over. Now look here, just get

into this cab, and I'll drive you safe to the hospital. Don't you see the rain is coming on?"

"No, sir, no; I can't do that, thank you, I have only just money enough to get back with. Please tell me the

"Look you here, missis," said Jerry, "I've got a wife and dear children at home, and I know a father's feelings;

now get you into that cab, and I'll take you there for nothing. I'd be ashamed of myself to let a woman and a

"There, there, cheer up, my dear, I'll soon take you there; come, let me put you inside."

As Jerry went to open the door two men, with colors in their hats and buttonholes, ran up calling out, "Cab!"

"Engaged," cried Jerry; but one of the men, pushing past the woman, sprang into the cab, followed by the

other. Jerry looked as stern as a policeman. "This cab is already engaged, gentlemen, by that lady."

"Lady!" said one of them; "oh! she can wait; our business is very important, besides we were in first, it is our

A droll smile came over Jerry's face as he shut the door upon them. "All right, gentlemen, pray stay in as long

as it suits you; I can wait while you rest yourselves." And turning his back upon them he walked up to the

young woman, who was standing near me. "They'll soon be gone," he said, laughing; "don't trouble yourself,

And they soon were gone, for when they understood Jerry's dodge they got out, calling him all sorts of bad

names and blustering about his number and getting a summons. After this little stoppage we were soon on our

way to the hospital, going as much as possible through bystreets. Jerry rung the great bell and helped the

He watched her go in at the door, and gently he said to himself, "Inasmuch as ye have done it to one of the

least of these." Then he patted my neck, which was always his way when anything pleased him.

The rain was now coming down fast, and just as we were leaving the hospital the door opened again, and the

porter called out, "Cab!" We stopped, and a lady came down the steps. Jerry seemed to know her at once; she

put back her veil and said, "Barker! Jeremiah Barker, is it you? I am very glad to find you here; you are just

the friend I want, for it is very difficult to get a cab in this part of London today."

"I shall be proud to serve you, ma'am; I am right glad I happened to be here. Where may I take you to,

"To the Paddington Station, and then if we are in good time, as I think we shall be, you shall tell me all about

We got to the station in good time, and being under shelter the lady stood a good while talking to Jerry. I

found she had been Polly's mistress, and after many inquiries about her she said:

"How do you find the cab work suit you in winter? I know Mary was rather anxious about you last year."

"Yes, ma'am, she was; I had a bad cough that followed me up quite into the warm weather, and when I am

kept out late she does worry herself a good deal. You see, ma'am, it is all hours and all weathers, and that

does try a man's constitution; but I am getting on pretty well, and I should feel quite lost if I had not horses to

look after. I was brought up to it, and I am afraid I should not do so well at anything else."

"Well, Barker," she said, "it would be a great pity that you should seriously risk your health in this work, not

only for your own but for Mary's and the children's sake; there are many places where good drivers or good

grooms are wanted, and if ever you think you ought to give up this cab work let me know."

Then sending some kind messages to Mary she put something into his hand, saying, "There is five shillings

Jerry thanked her and seemed much pleased, and turning out of the station we at last reached home, and I, at

Captain and I were great friends. He was a noble old fellow, and he was very good company. I never thought

that he would have to leave his home and go down the hill; but his turn came, and this was how it happened. I

He and Jerry had taken a party to the great railway station over London Bridge, and were coming back,

somewhere between the bridge and the monument, when Jerry saw a brewer's empty dray coming along,

drawn by two powerful horses. The drayman was lashing his horses with his heavy whip; the dray was light,

and they started off at a furious rate; the man had no control over them, and the street was full of traffic.

One young girl was knocked down and run over, and the next moment they dashed up against our cab; both

the wheels were torn off and the cab was thrown over. Captain was dragged down, the shafts splintered, and

one of them ran into his side. Jerry, too, was thrown, but was only bruised; nobody could tell how he escaped;

he always said 'twas a miracle. When poor Captain was got up he was found to be very much cut and

knocked about. Jerry led him home gently, and a sad sight it was to see the blood soaking into his white coat

and dropping from his side and shoulder. The drayman was proved to be very drunk, and was fined, and the

brewer had to pay damages to our master; but there was no one to pay damages to poor Captain.

The farrier and Jerry did the best they could to ease his pain and make him comfortable. The fly had to be

mended, and for several days I did not go out, and Jerry earned nothing. The first time we went to the stand

"He'll never get over it," said Jerry, "at least not for my work, so the farrier said this morning. He says he may

do for carting, and that sort of work. It has put me out very much. Carting, indeed! I've seen what horses

come to at that work round London. I only wish all the drunkards could be put in a lunatic asylum instead of

being allowed to run foul of sober people. If they would break their own bones, and smash their own carts,

and lame their own horses, that would be their own affair, and we might let them alone, but it seems to me

that the innocent always suffer; and then they talk about compensation! You can't make compensation; there's

all the trouble, and vexation, and loss of time, besides losing a good horse that's like an old friend it's

nonsense talking of compensation! If there's one devil that I should like to see in the bottomless pit more than

"I say, Jerry," said the governor, "you are treading pretty hard on my toes, you know; I'm not so good as you

"Well," said Jerry, "why don't you cut with it, governor? You are too good a man to be the slave of such a

"I'm a great fool, Jerry, but I tried once for two days, and I thought I should have died; how did you do?"

"I had hard work at it for several weeks; you see I never did get drunk, but I found that I was not my own

master, and that when the craving came on it was hard work to say `no'. I saw that one of us must knock

under, the drink devil or Jerry Barker, and I said that it should not be Jerry Barker, God helping me; but it

was a struggle, and I wanted all the help I could get, for till I tried to break the habit I did not know how

strong it was; but then Polly took such pains that I should have good food, and when the craving came on I

used to get a cup of coffee, or some peppermint, or read a bit in my book, and that was a help to me;

sometimes I had to say over and over to myself, `Give up the drink or lose your soul! Give up the drink or

break Polly's heart!' But thanks be to God, and my dear wife, my chains were broken, and now for ten years I

"I've a great mind to try at it," said Grant, "for 'tis a poor thing not to be one's own master."

"Do, governor, do, you'll never repent it, and what a help it would be to some of the poor fellows in our rank

if they saw you do without it. I know there's two or three would like to keep out of that tavern if they could."

At first Captain seemed to do well, but he was a very old horse, and it was only his wonderful constitution,

and Jerry's care, that had kept him up at the cab work so long; now he broke down very much. The farrier

said he might mend up enough to sell for a few pounds, but Jerry said, no! a few pounds got by selling a good

old servant into hard work and misery would canker all the rest of his money, and he thought the kindest

thing he could do for the fine old fellow would be to put a sure bullet through his head, and then he would

never suffer more; for he did not know where to find a kind master for the rest of his days.

The day after this was decided Harry took me to the forge for some new shoes; when I returned Captain was

Jerry had now to look out for another horse, and he soon heard of one through an acquaintance who was

undergroom in a nobleman's stables. He was a valuable young horse, but he had run away, smashed into

another carriage, flung his lordship out, and so cut and blemished himself that he was no longer fit for a

gentleman's stables, and the coachman had orders to look round, and sell him as well as he could.

"I can do with high spirits," said Jerry, "if a horse is not vicious or hardmouthed."

"There is not a bit of vice in him," said the man; "his mouth is very tender, and I think myself that was the

cause of the accident; you see he had just been clipped, and the weather was bad, and he had not had exercise

enough, and when he did go out he was as full of spring as a balloon. Our governor (the coachman, I mean)

had him harnessed in as tight and strong as he could, with the martingale, and the checkrein, a very sharp

curb, and the reins put in at the bottom bar. It is my belief that it made the horse mad, being tender in the

The next day Hotspur, that was his name, came home; he was a fine brown horse, without a white hair in him,

as tall as Captain, with a very handsome head, and only five years old. I gave him a friendly greeting by way

of good fellowship, but did not ask him any questions. The first night he was very restless. Instead of lying

down, he kept jerking his halter rope up and down through the ring, and knocking the block about against the

manger till I could not sleep. However, the next day, after five or six hours in the cab, he came in quiet and

sensible. Jerry patted and talked to him a good deal, and very soon they understood each other, and Jerry said

that with an easy bit and plenty of work he would be as gentle as a lamb; and that it was an ill wind that blew

nobody good, for if his lordship had lost a hundredguinea favorite, the cabman had gained a good horse with

Hotspur thought it a great comedown to be a cabhorse, and was disgusted at standing in the rank, but he

confessed to me at the end of the week that an easy mouth and a free head made up for a great deal, and after

all, the work was not so degrading as having one's head and tail fastened to each other at the saddle. In fact,

For some people Christmas and the New Year are very merry times; but for cabmen and cabmen's horses it is

no holiday, though it may be a harvest. There are so many parties, balls, and places of amusement open that

the work is hard and often late. Sometimes driver and horse have to wait for hours in the rain or frost,

shivering with the cold, while the merry people within are dancing away to the music. I wonder if the

beautiful ladies ever think of the weary cabman waiting on his box, and his patient beast standing, till his legs

I had now most of the evening work, as I was well accustomed to standing, and Jerry was also more afraid of

Hotspur taking cold. We had a great deal of late work in the Christmas week, and Jerry's cough was bad; but

however late we were, Polly sat up for him, and came out with a lantern to meet him, looking anxious and

On the evening of the New Year we had to take two gentlemen to a house in one of the West End Squares.

We set them down at nine o'clock, and were told to come again at eleven, "but," said one, "as it is a card

As the clock struck eleven we were at the door, for Jerry was always punctual. The clock chimed the quarters,

The wind had been very changeable, with squalls of rain during the day, but now it came on sharp, driving

sleet, which seemed to come all the way round; it was very cold, and there was no shelter. Jerry got off his

box and came and pulled one of my cloths a little more over my neck; then he took a turn or two up and

down, stamping his feet; then he began to beat his arms, but that set him off coughing; so he opened the cab

door and sat at the bottom with his feet on the pavement, and was a little sheltered. Still the clock chimed the

quarters, and no one came. At halfpast twelve he rang the bell and asked the servant if he would be wanted

"Oh, yes, you'll be wanted safe enough," said the man; "you must not go, it will soon be over," and again

At a quarter past one the door opened, and the two gentlemen came out; they got into the cab without a word,

and told Jerry where to drive, that was nearly two miles. My legs were numb with cold, and I thought I

should have stumbled. When the men got out they never said they were sorry to have kept us waiting so long,

but were angry at the charge; however, as Jerry never charged more than was his due, so he never took less,

and they had to pay for the two hours and a quarter waiting; but it was hardearned money to Jerry.

At last we got home; he could hardly speak, and his cough was dreadful. Polly asked no questions, but

This was said in a hoarse whisper; he could hardly get his breath, but he gave me a rubdown as usual, and

even went up into the hayloft for an extra bundle of straw for my bed. Polly brought me a warm mash that

It was late the next morning before any one came, and then it was only Harry. He cleaned us and fed us, and

swept out the stalls, then he put the straw back again as if it was Sunday. He was very still, and neither

whistled nor sang. At noon he came again and gave us our food and water; this time Dolly came with him;

she was crying, and I could gather from what they said that Jerry was dangerously ill, and the doctor said it

was a bad case. So two days passed, and there was great trouble indoors. We only saw Harry, and sometimes

Dolly. I think she came for company, for Polly was always with Jerry, and he had to be kept very quiet.

On the third day, while Harry was in the stable, a tap came at the door, and Governor Grant came in.

"I wouldn't go to the house, my boy," he said, "but I want to know how your father is."

"He is very bad," said Harry, "he can't be much worse; they call it `bronchitis'; the doctor thinks it will turn

"That's bad, very bad," said Grant, shaking his head; "I know two men who died of that last week; it takes 'em

off in no time; but while there's life there's hope, so you must keep up your spirits."

"Yes," said Harry quickly, "and the doctor said that father had a better chance than most men, because he

didn't drink. He said yesterday the fever was so high that if father had been a drinking man it would have

burned him up like a piece of paper; but I believe he thinks he will get over it; don't you think he will, Mr.

"If there's any rule that good men should get over these things, I'm sure he will, my boy; he's the best man I

"Thank God!" said the governor, "and now you must keep him warm, and keep his mind easy, and that brings

me to the horses; you see Jack will be all the better for the rest of a week or two in a warm stable, and you

can easily take him a turn up and down the street to stretch his legs; but this young one, if he does not get

work, he will soon be all up on end, as you may say, and will be rather too much for you; and when he does

"It is like that now," said Harry. "I have kept him short of corn, but he's so full of spirit I don't know what to

"Just so," said Grant. "Now look here, will you tell your mother that if she is agreeable I will come for him

every day till something is arranged, and take him for a good spell of work, and whatever he earns, I'll bring

your mother half of it, and that will help with the horses' feed. Your father is in a good club, I know, but that

won't keep the horses, and they'll be eating their heads off all this time; I'll come at noon and hear what she

At noon I think he went and saw Polly, for he and Harry came to the stable together, harnessed Hotspur, and

For a week or more he came for Hotspur, and when Harry thanked him or said anything about his kindness,

he laughed it off, saying it was all good luck for him, for his horses were wanting a little rest which they

Jerry grew better steadily, but the doctor said that he must never go back to the cab work again if he wished

to be an old man. The children had many consultations together about what father and mother would do, and

"The streets are nothing but slush," said the governor; "it will give you a good warming, my boy, to get him

"All right, governor," said Harry, "I shall not leave him till he is; you know I have been trained by my father."

While Harry was sponging off the mud from Hotspur's body and legs Dolly came in, looking very full of

"Who lives at Fairstowe, Harry? Mother has got a letter from Fairstowe; she seemed so glad, and ran upstairs

"Don't you know? Why, it is the name of Mrs. Fowler's place mother's old mistress, you know the lady

"Oh! Mrs. Fowler. Of course, I know all about her. I wonder what she is writing to mother about."

"Mother wrote to her last week," said Harry; "you know she told father if ever he gave up the cab work she

Harry scrubbed away at Hotspur with a huish! huish! like any old hostler. In a few minutes Dolly came

"Oh! Harry, there never was anything so beautiful; Mrs. Fowler says we are all to go and live near her. There

is a cottage now empty that will just suit us, with a garden and a henhouse, and appletrees, and everything!

and her coachman is going away in the spring, and then she will want father in his place; and there are good

families round, where you can get a place in the garden or the stable, or as a pageboy; and there's a good

school for me; and mother is laughing and crying by turns, and father does look so happy!"

"That's uncommon jolly," said Harry, "and just the right thing, I should say; it will suit father and mother

both; but I don't intend to be a pageboy with tight clothes and rows of buttons. I'll be a groom or a

It was quickly settled that as soon as Jerry was well enough they should remove to the country, and that the

This was heavy news for me, for I was not young now, and could not look for any improvement in my

condition. Since I left Birtwick I had never been so happy as with my dear master Jerry; but three years of

cab work, even under the best conditions, will tell on one's strength, and I felt that I was not the horse that I

Grant said at once that he would take Hotspur, and there were men on the stand who would have bought me;

but Jerry said I should not go to cab work again with just anybody, and the governor promised to find a place

The day came for going away. Jerry had not been allowed to go out yet, and I never saw him after that New

Year's eve. Polly and the children came to bid me goodby. "Poor old Jack! dear old Jack! I wish we could

take you with us," she said, and then laying her hand on my mane she put her face close to my neck and

kissed me. Dolly was crying and kissed me too. Harry stroked me a great deal, but said nothing, only he

I was sold to a corn dealer and baker, whom Jerry knew, and with him he thought I should have good food

and fair work. In the first he was quite right, and if my master had always been on the premises I do not think

I should have been overloaded, but there was a foreman who was always hurrying and driving every one, and

frequently when I had quite a full load he would order something else to be taken on. My carter, whose name

was Jakes, often said it was more than I ought to take, but the other always overruled him. "'Twas no use

Jakes, like the other carters, always had the checkrein up, which prevented me from drawing easily, and by

the time I had been there three or four months I found the work telling very much on my strength.

One day I was loaded more than usual, and part of the road was a steep uphill. I used all my strength, but I

could not get on, and was obliged continually to stop. This did not please my driver, and he laid his whip on

Again I started the heavy load, and struggled on a few yards; again the whip came down, and again I

struggled forward. The pain of that great cart whip was sharp, but my mind was hurt quite as much as my

poor sides. To be punished and abused when I was doing my very best was so hard it took the heart out of

me. A third time he was flogging me cruelly, when a lady stepped quickly up to him, and said in a sweet,

"Oh! pray do not whip your good horse any more; I am sure he is doing all he can, and the road is very steep;

"If doing his best won't get this load up he must do something more than his best; that's all I know, ma'am,"

"Yes, yes, too heavy," he said; "but that's not my fault; the foreman came just as we were starting, and would

have three hundredweight more put on to save him trouble, and I must get on with it as well as I can."

"You see," she said, "you do not give him a fair chance; he cannot use all his power with his head held back

as it is with that checkrein; if you would take it off I am sure he would do better do try it," she said

"Well, well," said Jakes, with a short laugh, "anything to please a lady, of course. How far would you wish it

The rein was taken off, and in a moment I put my head down to my very knees. What a comfort it was! Then

I tossed it up and down several times to get the aching stiffness out of my neck.

"Poor fellow! that is what you wanted," said she, patting and stroking me with her gentle hand; "and now if

you will speak kindly to him and lead him on I believe he will be able to do better."

Jakes took the rein. "Come on, Blackie." I put down my head, and threw my whole weight against the collar;

I spared no strength; the load moved on, and I pulled it steadily up the hill, and then stopped to take breath.

The lady had walked along the footpath, and now came across into the road. She stroked and patted my neck,

"You see he was quite willing when you gave him the chance; I am sure he is a finetempered creature, and I

dare say has known better days. You won't put that rein on again, will you?" for he was just going to hitch it

"Well, ma'am, I can't deny that having his head has helped him up the hill, and I'll remember it another time,

and thank you, ma'am; but if he went without a checkrein I should be the laughingstock of all the carters; it

"Is it not better," she said, "to lead a good fashion than to follow a bad one? A great many gentlemen do not

use checkreins now; our carriage horses have not worn them for fifteen years, and work with much less

fatigue than those who have them; besides," she added in a very serious voice, "we have no right to distress

any of God's creatures without a very good reason; we call them dumb animals, and so they are, for they

cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words. But I must not detain

you now; I thank you for trying my plan with your good horse, and I am sure you will find it far better than

the whip. Goodday," and with another soft pat on my neck she stepped lightly across the path, and I saw her

"That was a real lady, I'll be bound for it," said Jakes to himself; "she spoke just as polite as if I was a

gentleman, and I'll try her plan, uphill, at any rate;" and I must do him the justice to say that he let my rein out

several holes, and going uphill after that, he always gave me my head; but the heavy loads went on. Good

feed and fair rest will keep up one's strength under full work, but no horse can stand against overloading; and

I was getting so thoroughly pulled down from this cause that a younger horse was bought in my place. I may

as well mention here what I suffered at this time from another cause. I had heard horses speak of it, but had

never myself had experience of the evil; this was a badlylighted stable; there was only one very small

Besides the depressing effect this had on my spirits, it very much weakened my sight, and when I was

suddenly brought out of the darkness into the glare of daylight it was very painful to my eyes. Several times I

I believe, had I stayed there very long, I should have become purblind, and that would have been a great

misfortune, for I have heard men say that a stoneblind horse was safer to drive than one which had

imperfect sight, as it generally makes them very timid. However, I escaped without any permanent injury to

My new master I shall never forget; he had black eyes and a hooked nose, his mouth was as full of teeth as a

bulldog's, and his voice was as harsh as the grinding of cart wheels over graveled stones. His name was

I have heard men say that seeing is believing; but I should say that feeling is believing; for much as I had

Skinner had a low set of cabs and a low set of drivers; he was hard on the men, and the men were hard on the

Sometimes on a Sunday morning a party of fast men would hire the cab for the day; four of them inside and

another with the driver, and I had to take them ten or fifteen miles out into the country, and back again; never

would any of them get down to walk up a hill, let it be ever so steep, or the day ever so hot unless, indeed,

when the driver was afraid I should not manage it, and sometimes I was so fevered and worn that I could

hardly touch my food. How I used to long for the nice bran mash with niter in it that Jerry used to give us on

Saturday nights in hot weather, that used to cool us down and make us so comfortable. Then we had two

nights and a whole day for unbroken rest, and on Monday morning we were as fresh as young horses again;

but here there was no rest, and my driver was just as hard as his master. He had a cruel whip with something

so sharp at the end that it sometimes drew blood, and he would even whip me under the belly, and flip the

lash out at my head. Indignities like these took the heart out of me terribly, but still I did my best and never

My life was now so utterly wretched that I wished I might, like Ginger, drop down dead at my work and be

I went on the stand at eight in the morning, and had done a good share of work, when we had to take a fare to

the railway. A long train was just expected in, so my driver pulled up at the back of some of the outside cabs

to take the chance of a return fare. It was a very heavy train, and as all the cabs were soon engaged ours was

called for. There was a party of four; a noisy, blustering man with a lady, a little boy and a young girl, and a

great deal of luggage. The lady and the boy got into the cab, and while the man ordered about the luggage the

"Papa," she said, "I am sure this poor horse cannot take us and all our luggage so far, he is so very weak and

The porter, who was pulling about some heavy boxes, suggested to the gentleman, as there was so much

"Oh! he can do it all right, sir; send up the boxes, porter; he could take more than that;" and he helped to haul

"Papa, papa, do take a second cab," said the young girl in a beseeching tone. "I am sure we are wrong, I am

"Nonsense, Grace, get in at once, and don't make all this fuss; a pretty thing it would be if a man of business

had to examine every cabhorse before he hired it the man knows his own business of course; there, get in

My gentle friend had to obey, and box after box was dragged up and lodged on the top of the cab or settled by

the side of the driver. At last all was ready, and with his usual jerk at the rein and slash of the whip he drove

The load was very heavy and I had had neither food nor rest since morning; but I did my best, as I always had

I got along fairly till we came to Ludgate Hill; but there the heavy load and my own exhaustion were too

much. I was struggling to keep on, goaded by constant chucks of the rein and use of the whip, when in a

single moment I cannot tell how my feet slipped from under me, and I fell heavily to the ground on my

side; the suddenness and the force with which I fell seemed to beat all the breath out of my body. I lay

perfectly still; indeed, I had no power to move, and I thought now I was going to die. I heard a sort of

confusion round me, loud, angry voices, and the getting down of the luggage, but it was all like a dream. I

thought I heard that sweet, pitiful voice saying, "Oh! that poor horse! it is all our fault." Some one came and

loosened the throat strap of my bridle, and undid the traces which kept the collar so tight upon me. Some one

said, "He's dead, he'll never get up again." Then I could hear a policeman giving orders, but I did not even

open my eyes; I could only draw a gasping breath now and then. Some cold water was thrown over my head,

and some cordial was poured into my mouth, and something was covered over me. I cannot tell how long I

lay there, but I found my life coming back, and a kindvoiced man was patting me and encouraging me to

rise. After some more cordial had been given me, and after one or two attempts, I staggered to my feet, and

was gently led to some stables which were close by. Here I was put into a welllittered stall, and some warm

In the evening I was sufficiently recovered to be led back to Skinner's stables, where I think they did the best

for me they could. In the morning Skinner came with a farrier to look at me. He examined me very closely

"This is a case of overwork more than disease, and if you could give him a run off for six months he would be

"Then he must just go to the dogs," said Skinner. "I have no meadows to nurse sick horses in he might get

well or he might not; that sort of thing don't suit my business; my plan is to work 'em as long as they'll go,

"If he was brokenwinded," said the farrier, "you had better have him killed out of hand, but he is not; there

is a sale of horses coming off in about ten days; if you rest him and feed him up he may pick up, and you may

Upon this advice Skinner, rather unwillingly, I think, gave orders that I should be well fed and cared for, and

the stable man, happily for me, carried out the orders with a much better will than his master had in giving

them. Ten days of perfect rest, plenty of good oats, hay, bran mashes, with boiled linseed mixed in them, did

more to get up my condition than anything else could have done; those linseed mashes were delicious, and I

began to think, after all, it might be better to live than go to the dogs. When the twelfth day after the accident

came, I was taken to the sale, a few miles out of London. I felt that any change from my present place must

At this sale, of course I found myself in company with the old brokendown horses some lame, some

brokenwinded, some old, and some that I am sure it would have been merciful to shoot.

The buyers and sellers, too, many of them, looked not much better off than the poor beasts they were

bargaining about. There were poor old men, trying to get a horse or a pony for a few pounds, that might drag

about some little wood or coal cart. There were poor men trying to sell a wornout beast for two or three

pounds, rather than have the greater loss of killing him. Some of them looked as if poverty and hard times

had hardened them all over; but there were others that I would have willingly used the last of my strength in

serving; poor and shabby, but kind and human, with voices that I could trust. There was one tottering old man

who took a great fancy to me, and I to him, but I was not strong enough it was an anxious time! Coming

from the better part of the fair, I noticed a man who looked like a gentleman farmer, with a young boy by his

side; he had a broad back and round shoulders, a kind, ruddy face, and he wore a broadbrimmed hat. When

he came up to me and my companions he stood still and gave a pitiful look round upon us. I saw his eye rest

on me; I had still a good mane and tail, which did something for my appearance. I pricked my ears and

"Poor old fellow!" said the boy, "do you think, grandpapa, he was ever a carriage horse?"

"Oh, yes! my boy," said the farmer, coming closer, "he might have been anything when he was young; look

at his nostrils and his ears, the shape of his neck and shoulder; there's a deal of breeding about that horse." He

put out his hand and gave me a kind pat on the neck. I put out my nose in answer to his kindness; the boy

"Poor old fellow! see, grandpapa, how well he understands kindness. Could not you buy him and make him

"My dear boy, I can't make all old horses young; besides, Ladybird was not so very old, as she was run down

"Well, grandpapa, I don't believe that this one is old; look at his mane and tail. I wish you would look into his

mouth, and then you could tell; though he is so very thin, his eyes are not sunk like some old horses'."

The old gentleman laughed. "Bless the boy! he is as horsey as his old grandfather."

"But do look at his mouth, grandpapa, and ask the price; I am sure he would grow young in our meadows."

"The young gentleman's a real knowing one, sir. Now the fact is, this 'ere hoss is just pulled down with

overwork in the cabs; he's not an old one, and I heerd as how the vetenary should say, that a six months' run

off would set him right up, being as how his wind was not broken. I've had the tending of him these ten days

past, and a gratefuller, pleasanter animal I never met with, and 'twould be worth a gentleman's while to give a

fivepound note for him, and let him have a chance. I'll be bound he'd be worth twenty pounds next spring."

"Oh, grandpapa, did you not say the colt sold for five pounds more than you expected? You would not be

The farmer slowly felt my legs, which were much swelled and strained; then he looked at my mouth.

I arched my poor thin neck, raised my tail a little, and threw out my legs as well as I could, for they were very

"'Tis a speculation," said the old gentleman, shaking his head, but at the same time slowly drawing out his

purse, "quite a speculation! Have you any more business here?" he said, counting the sovereigns into his

They walked forward, and I was led behind. The boy could hardly control his delight, and the old gentleman

seemed to enjoy his pleasure. I had a good feed at the inn, and was then gently ridden home by a servant of

my new master's, and turned into a large meadow with a shed in one corner of it.

Mr. Thoroughgood, for that was the name of my benefactor, gave orders that I should have hay and oats

every night and morning, and the run of the meadow during the day, and, "you, Willie," said he, "must take

The boy was proud of his charge, and undertook it in all seriousness. There was not a day when he did not

pay me a visit; sometimes picking me out from among the other horses, and giving me a bit of carrot, or

something good, or sometimes standing by me while I ate my oats. He always came with kind words and

caresses, and of course I grew very fond of him. He called me Old Crony, as I used to come to him in the

field and follow him about. Sometimes he brought his grandfather, who always looked closely at my legs.

"This is our point, Willie," he would say; "but he is improving so steadily that I think we shall see a change

The perfect rest, the good food, the soft turf, and gentle exercise, soon began to tell on my condition and my

spirits. I had a good constitution from my mother, and I was never strained when I was young, so that I had a

better chance than many horses who have been worked before they came to their full strength. During the

winter my legs improved so much that I began to feel quite young again. The spring came round, and one day

in March Mr. Thoroughgood determined that he would try me in the phaeton. I was well pleased, and he and

Willie drove me a few miles. My legs were not stiff now, and I did the work with perfect ease.

"He's growing young, Willie; we must give him a little gentle work now, and by midsummer he will be as

good as Ladybird. He has a beautiful mouth and good paces; they can't be better."

"So am I, my boy; but he has to thank you more than me; we must now be looking out for a quiet, genteel

One day during this summer the groom cleaned and dressed me with such extraordinary care that I thought

some new change must be at hand; he trimmed my fetlocks and legs, passed the tarbrush over my hoofs, and

even parted my forelock. I think the harness had an extra polish. Willie seemed halfanxious, halfmerry, as

"If the ladies take to him," said the old gentleman, "they'll be suited and he'll be suited. We can but try."

At the distance of a mile or two from the village we came to a pretty, low house, with a lawn and shrubbery at

the front and a drive up to the door. Willie rang the bell, and asked if Miss Blomefield or Miss Ellen was at

home. Yes, they were. So, while Willie stayed with me, Mr. Thoroughgood went into the house. In about ten

minutes he returned, followed by three ladies; one tall, pale lady, wrapped in a white shawl, leaned on a

younger lady, with dark eyes and a merry face; the other, a very statelylooking person, was Miss

Blomefield. They all came and looked at me and asked questions. The younger lady that was Miss Ellen

took to me very much; she said she was sure she should like me, I had such a good face. The tall, pale

lady said that she should always be nervous in riding behind a horse that had once been down, as I might

"You see, ladies," said Mr. Thoroughgood, "many firstrate horses have had their knees broken through the

carelessness of their drivers without any fault of their own, and from what I see of this horse I should say that

is his case; but of course I do not wish to influence you. If you incline you can have him on trial, and then

"You have always been such a good adviser to us about our horses," said the stately lady, "that your

recommendation would go a long way with me, and if my sister Lavinia sees no objection we will accept

In the morning a smartlooking young man came for me. At first he looked pleased; but when he saw my

"I didn't think, sir, you would have recommended my ladies a blemished horse like that."

"`Handsome is that handsome does'," said my master; "you are only taking him on trial, and I am sure you

will do fairly by him, young man. If he is not as safe as any horse you ever drove send him back."

I was led to my new home, placed in a comfortable stable, fed, and left to myself. The next day, when the

"That is just like the star that `Black Beauty' had; he is much the same height, too. I wonder where he is

A little further on he came to the place in my neck where I was bled and where a little knot was left in the

skin. He almost started, and began to look me over carefully, talking to himself.

"White star in the forehead, one white foot on the off side, this little knot just in that place;" then looking at

the middle of my back "and, as I am alive, there is that little patch of white hair that John used to call

`Beauty's threepenny bit'. It must be `Black Beauty'! Why, Beauty! Beauty! do you know me? little Joe

Green, that almost killed you?" And he began patting and patting me as if he was quite overjoyed.

I could not say that I remembered him, for now he was a fine grown young fellow, with black whiskers and a

man's voice, but I was sure he knew me, and that he was Joe Green, and I was very glad. I put my nose up to

"Give you a fair trial! I should think so indeed! I wonder who the rascal was that broke your knees, my old

Beauty! you must have been badly served out somewhere; well, well, it won't be my fault if you haven't good

In the afternoon I was put into a low park chair and brought to the door. Miss Ellen was going to try me, and

Green went with her. I soon found that she was a good driver, and she seemed pleased with my paces. I heard

Joe telling her about me, and that he was sure I was Squire Gordon's old "Black Beauty".

When we returned the other sisters came out to hear how I had behaved myself. She told them what she had

"I shall certainly write to Mrs. Gordon, and tell her that her favorite horse has come to us. How pleased she

After this I was driven every day for a week or so, and as I appeared to be quite safe, Miss Lavinia at last

ventured out in the small close carriage. After this it was quite decided to keep me and call me by my old

I have now lived in this happy place a whole year. Joe is the best and kindest of grooms. My work is easy and

pleasant, and I feel my strength and spirits all coming back again. Mr. Thoroughgood said to Joe the other

Willie always speaks to me when he can, and treats me as his special friend. My ladies have promised that I

shall never be sold, and so I have nothing to fear; and here my story ends. My troubles are all over, and I am

at home; and often before I am quite awake, I fancy I am still in the orchard at Birtwick, standing with my old