44 



THE HORSE AND THE WAR 



meiit of the awful din of battles, the deep mud and piercing cold of France, or 

 the heat and flies of the East. His temper and constitution have remained 

 whole, while the specimens of his mother's branch of the species have cracked 

 and fallen by the wayside. Given his liquid refreshment and his humbler 

 rations it takes a lot to put a mule out of action. He has even kindled enthu- 

 siasm among ardent horse-lovers who were once prejudiced against him and 



f 



The right-shaped mule. 



The wrong- shaped mule. 



despised the donkey in his outline and demeanour. So in time they have 

 come to say : " Give us mules for this job of war rather than horses." A 

 strange and yet true conversion ! 



Again, as when writing of the American light draught horses, one marvels 

 that America's supph^ should have been so abundant. They are coming still, 

 travelling well over the much troubled seas, and picking up rapidly on arrival 

 in a way which savs much for their sangfroid and entire indifference to new 



