64 FIVE ACKES TOO MUCH. 



occasionally turning over on his side. He was alto 

 gether a rarely sociable companion : so much for our 



Fg- 

 In selecting a horse, there was one point I had 



made up my mind upon he must be gentle; he 

 might be fast or slow, stylish or commonplace, &quot;but 

 kind in single or double harness, as the professionals 

 term it, he should be. My experience of horse-flesh 

 has been varied and instructive : I have been thrown 

 over their heads and slid over their tails ; have been 

 dragged by saddle-stirrups and tossed out of wagons ; 

 I have had them to balk and to kick, to run -and to 

 bolt, to stand on their hind feet and kick with their 

 front, and then reciprocate by standing on their front 

 and kicking with their hind feet. I have seen more 

 of a horse s heels, have known more of the intricacies 

 and possibilities of a &quot; smash-up,&quot; have had more bits 

 of pole and whiffle-trees sent flying over my head 

 than falls to the lot of most men; I have been thrown 

 much with horses, and more by them ; I have had 

 them do nearly every thing they should not have 

 done, and leave undone all that they should have 

 done. So gentleness was the one prerequisite to a 

 purchase, and many were the animals I examined 

 to secure this qualification, many the faults I discov 

 ered; but I finally obtained the precise creature I 



