WORK ON A NATIONAL FOREST 



No, 9, Chiefly Concerning Horses 



By CHARLES HOWARD SH1NN, Supervisor Sierra National Forest 



\( L upi MI a time a 

 supervis< >r h a d a 

 brilliant idea ; it was 

 in the holiday sea- 

 son, and in Land 

 i >rfice days. He was 

 so beautifully young 

 that lie looked on all 

 those who sat upon 

 far-off thrones o f 

 authority as merely 

 mortal like himself, and as just as 

 willing to take a josh. So he put in 

 a regular requisition for half a dozen 

 centaurs "as an experiment of great 

 scientific importance to American for- 

 estry." I Ie further specified that he 

 wanted "two white ones, two black, 

 and two bald-face sorrels, all warranted. 

 s< 'iind in wind and limb." 



I have heard it whispered, where in- 

 spector- congregate, that this super- 

 visor ver\ nearly lost his position. Mis 

 reque-t was not considered at all funny; 

 in fact. OIK- dignified official termed it 

 "impudence." My friend got back from 

 the ( ircat < (ffice the proper form, redh 

 stamped "Xot in Stock." "\o date can 

 be -et f >r the delivery of these article-." 

 There the incident closed without a 

 tragedy. 



It is just as well, perhaps, that no 

 centaur- \\ere to be had, becau-e their 

 rating must have troubled the civil serv- 

 ice, and their social -landing at our 

 annual meeting- would have been a 

 problem of fascinating complexity. I'.ut 

 how convenient and how effective a 

 few intelligent centaur- of the clas-i'- 

 I'hironian type could be made up here 

 in Sierra every day in the year. 



(I do no; mean the gaud) brand of 

 patent-medicine poster centaurs; 1 

 mean, of course, th^-e wonderful crea 

 tures of whom Maurice ( iuerin wrote ) 



(an it be that none of the-e mi-lit) 

 and splendid centaurs are left alive in 

 some far-oft and mv-tic Thibetan val- 

 ley of moonlight and forest- to be per- 

 suaded forth b\ -nine ardent collector 

 from the Department of \griculture: 

 I'rofessor 1 Ian-en ha- done 50 \vell 

 finding new Turkestan alfalfas that 

 perhaps he might be -ent after centaurs. 



Hut, in truth, the ranger i- the near- 

 est that we are likely to get to those 

 pre-hist >ric centaurs, for very often he 

 and his hor-c are almo-t one. and the 

 horse seems the most essential end of 

 the combination. I have no doubt that 

 many of our boys figure more carefully 

 on having enough hay and grain for 

 their horses than they do on buying 

 warm winter flannels for themselves. 

 A very considerable part of our time 

 is unavoidably devoted to -addle-horses, 

 "pack-." outfits, -table-, pastures, and 

 all that the-e thing- imply, include and 

 require. 



In the towns and valleys men too 

 often buy horses just a- they buy pota- 

 toes for unromantic use. l"p here in 

 the mountains men bin more or le-> o| 

 poetry and companionship in even the 

 mi t -hai;-bark Indian p< >nv. 



( Mice I noticed at a cam]) that a cer 

 tain new ranger was distinctly given 

 the cold shoulder by all the rest. lie 



-t 1 up under it \\ith -urprivd and 



bewildered indignation. < >f course, in 

 such cases, one can't a-k what the tr 

 hie i-. but I rather thought he had made 

 pepper\ remark- about cam]) life. In a 

 little \\hile. \\heii we rode together. 1 

 sa\\ exactly the reason; he had several 

 bea-tly little ways of being mean to his 

 horse, and thi- it wa- which had rubbed 

 the rangers the wn>n- way. 



So I look especial pleasure in telling 

 him ho\\ it locked to other-, and he 



47. : ! 



