The Horse, as Comrade and Friend 



that within him, which impels. Dame 

 Nature's evolution machine has been at it 

 again and has planted that hereditary spur. 

 The foals that were not early on their feet 

 and afield had the lesser chance of survival. 

 Those who were up and doing, and able to 

 gallop within the fewest number of minutes, 

 survived to propagate their like. It is one 

 of a myriad examples of the inexorable law 

 of the survival of the fittest. 



However often the foal tumbles over, the 

 overmastering impulse is immediately again 

 at work. Watch him for a little. The mare 

 herself, with enormous effort, gets upon her 

 legs and stands there swaying and tottering, 

 but determined not to go down again. A 

 little yellow milk is spurting from her teats, 

 and she rubs the foal with her nose and con- 

 tinues to lick him. She is still so weak that 

 perforce she has to stand where she is and let 

 the foal, in his gymnastics, wander a little 

 away from her. What with the licking, the 

 evaporation in the sunshine, and the increasing 

 warmth of his body, the colt is steaming and 

 getting dryer. Not the worst of tumbles 

 daunts him now. He has learnt the trick 

 of putting out his forefeet wide apart to steady 

 his swaying and is trying to get foothold be- 

 hind. Many are the slips until the hind snow- 

 balls disappear ; but he struggles on, and 

 when he does get a real grip, his propulsive 



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