72 FIVE ACRES TOO MUCH. 



then to descend into the bowels of the earth; he 

 leaped from side to side of the road with an ease and 

 rapidity that would have shamed a well-practiced 

 kangaroo ; the wagon bounded after him like the tail 

 to a boy s kite when the latter gets pitching about 

 with the violence of the wind, while his heels played 

 like flashes of lightning far over my head. Fortu 

 nately, a countryman rari to my assistance and held 

 back the wagon, while another caught the horse by 

 the head. I rewarded those men liberally. Now a 

 family horse should not kick, nor plunge, nor rear. 



Another of his peculiarities was a dislike to stand 

 ing. He did not mind standing in the stable in the 

 least, but when he w r as harnessed he expected to keep 

 moving. I hardly drove him sufficiently to learn his 

 eccentricities of temper, and on one occasion laid 

 down the reins for a moment. He immediately 

 started, and the reins slipped over the dash-board 

 out of reach. Reader, have you ever experienced 

 the feeling of being run away with I mean, female 

 reader by a horse? If not, do not aspire to it. It 

 is not pleasant. The motion is rapid, and perhaps 

 exhilarating, but it is not smooth, and the mode of 

 stopping is uncertain. There is little to do, and 

 probably much to suffer, with a possibility of ceas 

 ing to be. Dandy, instead of being a family horse, 



