The 

 Human 

 Harvest 



[20] 



horses. But the other horses were the horses 

 who were left. From their loins came the 

 next generation, and with these there was less 

 fire and less speed than the first horses pos- 

 sessed in such large measure. But still the 

 rush went on — whip and spur made good 

 the lack of native movement. The racers 

 still pushed on the course, while in the stalls 

 and paddocks at home the dull and com- 

 mon horses bore their dull and common 

 colts. Variation was still at work with these 

 as patiently as ever. Heredity followed, re- 

 peating faithfully whatever was left to her. 

 Segregation, always conservative, guarded 

 her own, but could not make good the de- 

 ficiencies. Selection, forced to act perversely, 

 chose for the future the worst and not the 

 best, as was her usual fashion. So the cur- 

 rent of life ran steadily downward. The 

 herd was degenerating because it was each 

 year an inferior herd which bred. Each gen- 

 eration yielded weaker colts, rougher, duller, 

 clumsier colts, and no amount of training 

 or lash or whip or spur made any perma- 

 nent difference for the better. The horse- 

 harvest was bad. Thoroughbred and race- 



