CART HORSES. 209 



haps the most ideal representation of cart horses in 

 the world, and yet no exaggeration of the reality. 



Almost all the accessories of the cart horse, his 

 trappings, the uses to which he is put, the place in 

 which he is kept, the loads that he pulls, are pictu- 

 resque. Most often one thinks of him as an agricul- 

 tural character, a true son of the soil, who slowly 

 draws home a huge pile of hay, or is found at the 

 plough, turning up long, glistening lines of rich 

 earth. There is nothing spick and span about his 

 stable, but, on the contrary, it is marked by pictu- 

 resque disorder, — plenty of straw about, the stalls, 

 mangers, and roof tinted a rich brown by the long 

 lapse of time, cobwebs hanging luxuriantly overhead, 

 deep mows of hay, and capacious gram-chests within 

 easy reach to hold his provender. 



Nor does the cart horse fail to harmonize with 

 his surroundings in the city, where he receives more 

 grain and more grooming than are obtainable on the 

 farm. His shape, though still round, is here more 

 elegant, his neck takes a prouder curve, and his 

 coat becomes smooth and glossy : fit servant of com- 

 merce ; solid and substantial as the Bank of Eng- 

 land; conscious of his strength, like a merchant of 

 indisputable credit ; able to transport the wealth of 

 the Indies from wharves to warehouses, or to draw 

 towering piles of wool from the railroad to the fac- 

 tory. Smaller animals may clatter over the massive 

 pavements of the city, but the cart horse, with his 

 slow, majestic step and proudly bent head, is its 

 proper denizen of the equine race. 



Long established and wealthy firms do not hesitate 

 to borrow splendor from the excellence of their cart 



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