THE HOUSE AND THE CHILD. 83 



great tenderness for animals and especially for horses, 

 and has taken a pleasure in treasuring authentic 

 anecdotes of his favourites. He told me the follow- 

 ing narrative, and at my request committed it to 

 writing. 



The reader will pardon the insertion of the last 

 clause, but it is too characteristic to be omitted : — 



East Gate, Gloucester : December 4, 1879. 



' When my father was quite a little child, of 

 perhaps three or four years old, he horrified his 

 mother by trotting across the street in front of their 

 house, in the village of Bere Eegis, and tripping up 

 exactly in front of a team of horses drawing a heavy 

 waggon. 



CO 



' As he fell, the leader horse set his great hoof on 

 the child's head, and his mother expected to pick 

 him up dead. But no ! He used to say that all 

 his life afterwards he kept a most distinct remem- 

 brance of the soft and gentle touch of the horse's 

 foot pressing him to the ground " like a sponge," 

 and holding him there until his mother relieved 

 him. 



' The horse had pulled up in the twinkling of an 

 eye, and brought the rest of the team to a standstill. 

 But he knew that the child was safer lying still than 

 wandering among heels and wheels ; and there he 



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