AUTOBIOGRAPHY. 33 



couraged, he stops to breathe, and men call him balky, apply 

 the whip again, put sand in his ears, gravel in his mouth, 

 twist his tail, and goad him to desperation by a system of 

 barbarous inflictions unworthy of even the first stages of 

 civilization. Trotting over slippery pavements, imperfectly 

 shod, twitched to the right or left as a sudden emergency 

 seems to demand, he stumbles and falls. No compassion is 

 excited by this mishap. Hastily assisted to arise, and re- 

 harnessed, crack goes the whip O, lash him, cut him, until 

 the great ridges of swollen flesh stand out upon his back to 

 testify to man's superiority over the brute. Left standing 

 for hours while the master attends to business or pleasure, 

 impatient to change his position, he starts before the man is 

 comfortably seated in the vehicle ; crack again goes the 

 whip, until his nerves are strung to their highest tension. 



Crazed almost beyond endurance, he leaps forward, sud- 

 denly a bolt gives way, something strikes his heels, he 

 becomes frightened, and then, "O! he's a runaway!" Con- 

 fined in a dungeon, poorly ventilated, called a stable, 

 improperly fed, driven fast, compelled to draw heavy loads, 

 with very little attention paid to his requirements, it is a 

 wonder that he lives even a year. The question naturally 

 arises, Why is this? Simply because the great masses of 

 humanity are ignorant of the disposition of the horse. They 

 do not understand how to manage or educate him. They do 

 not think and therefore do not care. Now any one who 

 succeeds in ameliorating the condition of this noble animal, 

 is a public benefactor, deserving of the highest praise. 

 Prof. O. S. Pratt has made this the study of his life. Slowly, 



