274 FARMERS' REGISTER— SHOEING HORSES— MANAGEMENT OF SWINE. 



which is always at his heels: the sudden sting of 

 the whip is a jjain with which he gets but too well 

 acquainted, yet the "undederivatur" ot" the sensa- 

 tion he cannot explain — he neither knows when it 

 is coming, nor where it comes from. It any tri- 

 fling accident, or even irregularity, occurs — if any 

 little harmless strap, which ought to rest upon his 

 back, happens to tall to his side — the poor, noble, 

 and intelligent animal, deprived of his eyesight, 

 the natural lanterns of tlie mind, is instantly 

 alarmed: and though from constant heavy draught 

 he may literally, without metaphor, be on his last 

 legs, yet if his blinkers should happen to fall off, 

 the sight of his own master — of his very own 

 pimple-taced mistress — and his own fine yellow 

 carriage in motion — would scare him so dreadlully, 

 that olf he would probably start, and the m.ore 

 they all pursued him the faster vx^ould he fly I 



MANNER OF SHOEING HORSES IN GERMANY. 



From the same. 

 In passing the shop of a blacksmith, who lived 

 op]wsite to the Goldene Kette, the manner in 

 which he tackled and shod a vicious horse alvvaj-s 

 amused me. On the outside wall of the house, 

 two rings were firmly fixed; to one of which the 

 head of the patient v/as lashed close to the ground; 

 the hind foot to be shod, stretched out to the ut- 

 most extent of the leg, v\-as then secured to the 

 other ring about five icet high, by a cord which 

 passed through a cloven hitch, fixed to the root 

 of the poor creature's tail. 



The hind foot was coi^sequently very much 

 higher than the head; indeed it was so exalted^ 

 and pulled so heavily at the tail, that the animal 

 seemed to be quite anxious to keep his other foot 

 on terra firma. With one hoof in the heavens, 

 it did not suit him to kick; with his nose pointed 

 to the infernal regions he could not conveniently 

 rear, and as the devil himself was apparently pull- 

 ing his tail, the horse at last gave up the point, 

 and quietly submitted to be shod. 



THE MANAGEMENT OF SWINE IN A COUNTRY 

 WITHOUT FENCES. 



From the same. 



Every morning at halt-past five o'clock, I hear, 

 as I am dressing, the sudden blast of an immense 

 long wooden horn, from vvdiich always proceed the 

 same four notes. I have got quite accustomed to 

 this wild reveille, and the vibration has scarcely 

 subsided, it is still ringing among the distant hills, 

 when, leisurely proceeding ti'om almost every door 

 in the street, behold a pig ! Some from their jaded, 

 care-worn, draggled appearance, are evidently 

 leaving behind them a numerous litter; others are 

 great, tall, monastic, melancholy looking creatiu'es, 

 which seem to have no other object left in this 

 wretched world than to become bacon; while others 

 are thm, tiny, light-hearted, brisk, jietulant pig- 

 lings, with the world and all its loves and sorrows 

 before them. Of their own accord these creatures 

 proceed down the street to join the herdsman, who 

 occasionally continues to repeat the sorrowful blast 

 from his horn. 



Gregarious, or naturally fond of society, with 

 one curl in their tails, and with their noses almost 

 touching the ground, the pigs trot on, grunting to 

 themselves and to their comrades, halting only 



whenever they come to any thmg they can man- 

 age to swallow. 



I have observed that the old ones pass all the 

 carcasses, which trailing to the ground, are hang- 

 ing belbre the butchers' shops, as if they were on 

 a sort of parole cfhonneiir not to touch them; the 

 middle-aged ones wistfully eye this meat, yet jog 

 on also, while the piglings, who (so like mankind) 

 have more appetite than judgement, can rarely re- 

 sist taking a Vi'ibble; yet, no sooner does the dead 

 calf begin again to move, than from the window 

 immediately above out pops the head of a butcher, 

 who, drinking his coffee, whip in hand, mflicts a 

 prompt punishment, sounding quite equal to the 

 offence. 



As I have-stated, the pigs, generally speaking, 

 proceed of their own accord; but shortly after they 

 have passed, there comes dov.m our street a little 

 bareheaded, barefooted, stunted dab of a child, 

 about eleven years old, — a Flibbertigibbet sort of 

 creature, which in a drawing, one would express 

 by a couple of blots, the small one for her head, 

 the other for her body; while streaming from the 

 latter, there would be a long line ending in a flour- 

 ish, to express the immense whip which the child 

 carries in its hand. This little goblin page, the 

 whipper-in, attendant, or aid-de-camp of the old 

 pig-driver, facetiously called at Langen-Schwal- 

 bach, the "Schvvein-general," is a being no one 

 looks at, and who looks at nobody. Whether the 

 hofs of Schwalbach are lull of strangers, or empty 

 — whether the promenades are occupied by princes 

 or peasants — whether the weather is good or bad, 

 hot, or rainy, she apparently never stops to con- 

 sider: upon such vague subjects, it is evident she 

 never for a moment has reflected. But such a 

 pair of eyes, for a [lig, have perhaps seldom beam- 

 ed from human sockets ! The little intelligent 

 urchm knows every house from which a pig ought 

 to have proceeded; she can tell by the door being 

 open or shut, and even by footmarks, whether the 

 creature has joined the "herd, or whether having 

 ovenslept itselij it is still snoring in its sty — a single 

 glance determines whether she shall pass a yard 

 or enter it: and if a pig, from indolence or greedi- 

 ness, be loitering on the road, the sting of the 

 wasp cannot be sharper or more spiteftd than the 

 cut she gives it. As soon as finishing with one 

 street, she joins her general in the main road, the 

 herd slowly proceed down the town. 



As I folloAvcd them this morning, they really 

 appeared to have no hams at all; their bodies were 

 as flat as if they had been squeezed in a vice; and 

 when they turned sideways, their long sharp noses 

 and tucked-up bellies, gave to their profile the ap- 

 pearance of starved grey-hounds. 



As I gravely followed this grunting, unearthly 

 looking herd of unclean spirits, through that low 

 part of Langden-Schwalbach which is solely in- 

 habited by Jews, I could not help fancying that I 

 observed them holding their very breaths, as if a 

 loathsome pestilence were passing; for though fat 

 pork be a wicked luxury — a forbidding pleasure 

 which the Jews has been supposed occasionally 

 in secret to indulge in, yet one may easily imagine 

 that such very lean ugly pigs have not charms 

 enough to lead them astray. 



Besides the little girl who brought up the rear, 

 the herd was preceded b)^ a boy of about fourteen, 

 whose duty it was not to let the foremost, the more 

 enterprising, or in other words, the most empty 



