TREATMENT OF FARM-STOCK. 23 



suppose that any of tlie laws of the Creator of all things can 

 be subverted or clisobeyd by mankind with impunity. You 

 may over-work, over-drive, over-load, your patient and sub- 

 missive animal ; but you abstract so much wealth from your 

 possession by so doing. The laws of vital economy are aptly 

 illustrated by a little story which I remember to have read 

 somewhere, in substance as follows: A youth and an old 

 man started off together on a long journey ; the former on a 

 jet-black fiery charger, the latter on a quiet, undemonstrative 

 gray nag. At the start the black steed was soon out of 

 sight ; and, ere a quarter of the journey was performed by the 

 steady old gray, already had the youth put half the road 

 behind him. Thus they journeyed on, until at length the 

 old man, on looking up, thought he discerned in the distance 

 a dark, moving spot, which suggested to his mind the possi- 

 bility that his young friend, having met with some accideiit, 

 had been compelled to moderate his speed. As he pro- 

 gressed, the dark spot became more distinct, until at last it 

 assumed the form and aspect of a horse and rider, which soon 

 thereafter resolved itself into what had been, at the start, his 

 dashing companion. But, alas, how changed ! Where were 

 now the freshness, vigor, and impatient confidence which 

 characterized the outset ? Where the spirit, elegance, and 

 proud assurance of the start? Gone, all gone, and in their 

 stead, pallor, exhaustion, and dismay. And so they both 

 reached the appointed goal at the same instant of time, — 

 the black steed and its rider, broken, strained, and weary ; 

 and the old man and his plodding servant, tired, it is true, 

 but ready for a future journey. 



So interwoven with and dependent on the brute creation 

 is the prosperity, and even life, of mankind, that often the 

 meanest insect and bird stand sentinel over their property. 

 It would astonish and confound an individual addicted to 

 the wanton destruction of little birds, for example, to learn 

 the value to agriculture of these seemingly insignificant 

 creatures. Permit me to cite an example of the unapprecia- 

 hle utility of only one of them, — the martin, a species of 

 sparrow. From the 15th of April to the 29th of August, 

 eighteen of these birds were once killed, in the stomachs of 

 which were discovered not less than eighty-six hundred and 

 ninety insects destructive to the produce of the farm ; 



