THE HORSE. 121 



the road wagon or the dray, he is the obedient servant of man, 

 doing his bidding cheerfully, often receiving therefor neglect and 

 not unfrequently positive cruelty. His service in all the arts of 

 peace is so important, that no greater public calamity could come 

 to the nation than a plague which would render our horses unfit 

 for work — a brief experience in which, a year or two since, fairly 

 interrupted the business and commerce of metropolitan centres, 

 interfered with the transmittal of the mails, the various depart- 

 ments of the Government service, and even prevented the proper 

 burial of the dead. In war, too, notwithstanding the curious in- 

 ventions and improvements in our engines of destruction, what 

 could take his place? Well did old Job say of him, "The glory 

 of his nostrils is terrible. lie paweth in the valley and rejoiceth 

 in his strength ; he goeth on to meet the armed men. He mocketh 

 at fear and is not afrighted ; neither turneth he back from the 

 sword. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage. He 

 smelleth the battle afar oS, the thunder of the captains and the 

 shouting." In commerce, too, the horse has in the past acted an 

 important part, towing boats ladened with the golden grain of the 

 great wheat producing sections, to the Atlantic seaboard, through 

 important water-ways — which even with our more speedy means 

 of transportation in recent years, still act an important part in the 

 business of the world. Indeed, so infinite are the variations of his 

 uses to man, in all parts of the world, on the farm, on the road, in 

 the workshop — that his capacity has formed the only standard for 

 the correct measurement of steam engines, which, in so many 

 kinds of work have entirely taken his place — the ability to raise 

 33,000 pounds avoirdupois one foot in height in one minute of 

 time — being everywhere adopted as the actual capacity of one 

 horse, and the standard for estimating the power of the largest 

 engines ever constructed. Moreover, the wide range of country 

 which the horse inhabits, and his adaptibility to conform to various 

 circumstances of situation, is one of the most valuable qualities 

 which he possesses, and goes far towards rendering him the ser- 

 viceable beast which he is. While other animals which man in 

 various parts of the globe has trained to become his servant, are 

 useful only within limited range — the horse, not only lives with 

 man wherever he can furnish him with a supply of food, but by his 

 peculiar characteristics of speed and strength, renders him a ser- 

 vice which is inestimable. The reindeer, the camel, the elephant, 

 are worth nothing out of their small range. The horse exists in 



