422 AGRICULTURE AND THE HORSE. 



most lavish bounty. He is intimately associated with 

 all those scenes and events which make life dear and 

 sacred to us ; and, as he has found his eulogists in the 

 past, I doubt not that hereafter he will still receive from 

 devoted friends in every walk in life that tribute to 

 which he is entitled as man's most brilliant ally in the 

 work of the world. He has already had a high place as- 

 signed him among the objects which occupy and absorb 

 the minds of men ; and I trust the day is not far distant 

 when it will be deemed worthy of some large-hearted 

 and liberal-minded messenger of the divine to lift up 

 his voice for the elevation of this noble animal into his 

 proper place, — above the fears of the prudent and the 

 suspicion of the good, and for the amelioration of all the 

 hardship of his lot. He has done his duty so well thus 

 far, that of him it has been said by one of the most bril- 

 liant of the sons of men, — 



" Deduct all that has been achieved, directly or indi- 

 rectly, by the aid of the horse, in the way of conveyance 

 at home, from place to place, for business or recreation ; 

 of distant journeyings before the power of steam was 

 so wonderfully applied to the purposes of locomotion ; 

 of the draught of heavy burdens ; of motive-power con- 

 nected with machinery, of agriculture, and of war, in 

 all countries and in all ages, — deduct all that has been 

 done, directly or indirectly, in all these respects, by the 

 aid of the horse, and what a stupendous abatement you 

 would make from the sum total of achievement and 

 progress ! " 



