OR, The Turn Out, 



225 



CONCLUSION: EXPLANATION OF TITLE. 



VERYTHING that has a commencement 

 must have a conclusion, and "Centaur" 

 is no exception to the general rule 

 Therefore, as the mythical creature 

 whose name the Author has adopted as 

 the title for his book possesses the head 

 of a man and the extremities of a horse, 

 so this work has its commencement or 

 head, and now comes the conclusion or 

 tail (end). But here the writer, before 

 bringing his work to a close, would add 

 a word or two by way of justification of 

 the peculiar title he has taken for his book. 



The " Centaur," like most of the ancient legends, had a 

 deep meaning. 



Thus — man by his " humane " treatment of the horse 

 imparts to it a portion of his nature, and the animal becomes 

 so wise that it obeys the will of its rider or groom as readily 

 as do the members of the human body the impulse of the 

 brain ; and in this sense the horseman and the horse become 

 one, and the brain of the man becomes, as it were, united to 

 and governs the body of the horse.* 



The Author wishes it to be clearly and distinctly under- 

 stood that he makes no pretension to having exhausted the 

 various subjects brought under consideration in this work. 

 To have done so would have necessitated writing a volume 



* A striking illiistration of the power of kindness and companionship upon the 

 horse came under the writers' notice a short time ago. A little boy ci^ht^ oars old 

 was missing from the house of a friend whom the Aulhor was visiting in 

 Warwickshire. Search was made, but the child could not be found ; at length 

 he was discovered lying in a fleld beside a young horse, with his arms round (or 

 upon) the animal's neck. Although the child had only been at the place about 

 three weeks, the horse would follow him like a dog wherever he called it, 

 and when they were lying together, if the horse wanted to get up, it always took 

 rare to rouse the child by rubbing its nose against the child's face, nor would it 

 rise until it had seen its young companion at a safe distance first ; then the animal 

 would roll over, spring up, and trot to the child's side. 



