Hunting in the Golden Days. 53 



who have mistaken their vocation. They think it the 

 proper thing to punish their poor horses for any short- 

 comings of their own ; and many a time have I 

 remonstrated with an infuriated driver for thrashing his 

 horses when perhaps they had been quite in the right 

 and the driver entirely in the wrong. 



Then there is a class of young men who are very fond 

 of showing off their abilities. These fellows will spring 

 their horses just to show the passengers that they can 

 drive above-a-bit, the consequence being that at the 

 end of the journey the steam is all out of their animals. 

 Horses so treated seldom or never carry any flesh. 



But our John was cast in a different mould. He 

 knew what horses could do and what they could not 

 do. He never did things in a hurry, and yet he was 

 always punctual. Before he mounted the box to 

 start, he took a survey on foot to see that all was right, 

 for, as he truly said, in these cases it was a matter of 

 life and limb — not only his, but lives, perhaps, younger 

 and more valuable. What a treasure this old chap 

 was to the man who horsed the coaches. Now his 

 former friends and admirers recall his many virtues and 

 find his equal is not to be met. 



Then, too, he was so careful of his cattle. You would 

 hear him say to the ostler when they pulled up at 

 the end of the stage, "Jim, I heard that grey mare 

 cough twice coming out of the stable this morning ; give 

 her this ball to-night and a bran mash last thing." By 

 these little attentions, taken in time, he often avoided 

 a serious illness. 



His horses he treated as his friends and fellow- 

 workmen. They knew him as well as possible, and 

 it was wonderful what a number of years some of 

 them worked under him, owing to his skilful driving. 



5 



