2 Among Men and Horses. 



easily.' The words I knew were wise ; so I went home to 

 repeat them to my partner. She, with a woman's keen sense 

 of the practical, remarked that she had been waiting ' ever so 

 long ' for a windfall to buy a new dress ; that Gustave's livery 

 bill had not been paid for the last five months; that there was 

 nothing like having something to 'go on ' with ; and that I 

 really ought to get half-a-dozen new shirt collars for myself, as 

 the old ones were hopelessly frayed out at the edges. Necessity 

 prevailing over sentiment, I produced the ' copy/ sent it in, 

 and cashed the cheque. Having done the deed, I feel more 

 or less brazen about its accomplishment, and shall henceforth 

 insist that the study of many subjects is imperative for the 

 thorough acquisition of one. Hardened in my revolt, I have 

 included among the illustrations of The Points of the Horse, 

 photographs of an antelope, cheetah, lynx, bullock, buffalo, 

 and a rhinoceros. I shall now go a great deal further, and 

 say that although I have always been fond of horses, and 

 have lived more or less among them, I have devoted myself 

 specially to them only for the last five-and-twenty years. 



I was born and bred in the county of Cork, which is a very 

 horsey part of the world. My father, who had flour mills at 

 Ovens, near Ballincollig, and afterwards at Bellgooley, near 

 Kinsale, kept a miscellaneous lot of animals for cart-work, 

 driving and riding ; but he took so little interest in them, that 

 he was never able to recognise any of his own. Probably the 

 reason for his apathy to the topic which absorbed all the 

 attention of his neighbours, was that he was a singularly 

 honest man, and would never believe ill of anyone until too 

 late. The story had its usual ending : he made the fortune 

 of others and lost his own. My step-brother was devoted to 

 horses. He read Youatt instead of the Bible. He rode well 

 out hunting on any horse he wanted to sell. He went to 

 Australia, and is now very rich. The earliest incident of 

 my childhood which I can remember is that of catching hold 

 of the hot bars of the old-fashioned fireplace, in order to steady 

 my uncertain steps, while toddling, contrary to orders, through 



