5-1 FARM ECHOES. 



wrong. It may be, and it, doubtless, frequently is the 

 case, that lazy drivers make lazy oxen. 



I often wonder if King Pharoah had to endure any 

 such trials. Though he wore the crown of Egypt, he 

 too was a farmer or keeper of cattle ; and he proved his 

 appreciation of them when he questioned Joseph respect- 

 ing his brothers, just arrived from the land of Canaan : 

 " If thou knowest any men of activity among them, then 

 make them rulers over my cattle." As much as to say : 

 If there are any lazy fellows among your brothers, don't 

 let them disgrace my cattle by going near them. 



Horses are vastly preferable to oxen on farms properly 

 cleared. Their superiority is the more apparent when 

 long distances have to be travelled in drawing hay, grain, 

 or any other load, and in plowing, harrowing, etc. 

 That is, they can be got over the ground much more ex- 

 peditiously. A person was asked the length of a fathom, 

 and replied that "it depended upon circumstances." 

 " Circumstances" often determine the speed of horses as 

 well as of oxen. If any of my city readers have not 

 learned this by experience, they can easily do so. Let 

 them hire a cab for the trip to a certain part of the 

 city, and then hire another, or the same, by the hour. 

 If, in the latter case, they do not feel like putting their 

 heads out of the cab window and asking the driver whose 

 funeral they are attending, they will be more highly 

 favored than most people. 



I have referred to the training of oxen. Horses are, 

 of course, differently handled ; sometimes not in the best 

 way, however, for the trainers, if the story of the sea 

 captain who turned farmer, and resolved upon "subdu- 



