CHAPTER X 



I HOPE that yet some happy days 



We'll capture, you and I, 

 And golden stables shall be yours, 



In Heaven, by and by." 



WILL CARLETON. (By Permission.) 



I 



"A HE next summer papa thought that 

 the faithful old bay mare, Nellie, 

 had done work enough to earn a 

 rest in her old age, so he sent her to lead a 

 free and easy life on grandma's old ancestral 

 homestead to roam and graze in the broad 

 green fields by the pleasant streams, and 

 amble, now and then, to the country church 

 and store and post-office for gentle exercise. 

 He said that no horse of his, who had been 

 a faithful, loving member of the family as old 

 Nellie had been, and been intrusted for 

 years with the safety of all, should ever be 

 sold off to suffer to death by inches 

 among heartless buyers who were bound to 

 get the last dollar out of her. 



A couple of years before papa had brought 



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