THE ETHICS OF HORSE-KEEPING. < 



and agility." i Treat him as you would treat him if he 

 had cost you a great sum, or as if you expected to win a 

 great sum through his exertions. Let him have good 

 blankets, good grooming, and all the little attentions 

 of a well ordered establishment. Is there anything 

 ridiculous in this ? Shall not the stable, as well as 

 the house, have its sacred rites of hospitality ? 

 Shall not the old cheap horse be made as comfortable 

 as the young and costly one ? 



And here I anticipate an obvious criticism. "The 

 horse should be killed, and the money that it costs to 

 maintain him be given to the poor." I grant it. Let 

 the old horse be shot, and let the two dollars and fifty 

 cents per week necessary for his support be given in 

 charity. But see to it, ye who might maintain an 

 equine pensioner, and forbear to do so for reasons of 

 conscience, — see to it that the poor be not defrauded 

 of the sum thus saved for them. 



Doubtless the ideal manner of keeping a horse is 

 that practised in Arabia, where, we are told, he is 

 treated like one of the family, being the constant 

 companion of the children, and allowed to poke his 

 nose within the tent and in all the household affairs. 

 Unfortunately, our habits of living will not permit 

 such intimacy, although I have seen a yearling colt 

 within the walls of a country dwelling-house, taking a 

 moderate lunch of oats from the kitchen table, and 

 afterward, with ears erect, briefly surveying the out- 

 side world through the drawing-room window. Mr. 

 Briggs's introduction of his hunter to the clining- 



1 The final illustration is a portrait of an old cab horse, rescued 

 in a moribund condition, and rejuvenated in the manner stated in 

 the text. 



