152 



TEETH. 



bearance, and how miich misery might be banished from that abode 

 which the idle complacently term "a vale of tears" ! The gums newly 

 lacerated or the jaws bleeding do not indicate that conformation of parts 

 or announce that established strength which could endure extreme ex- 

 haustion. Such signs rather suggest pain, and declare that life is suffer- 

 ing the penalty of existence. They ought to kindle the sympathy of 

 him who likewise is born to sorrow, and crave the commiseration of one 

 whose sad inheritance it is to draw breath at the risk of misery. Would 

 any man expect his child — whether girl or boy — ^when only acquiring 

 the permanent front teeth, to be equal to the toil which a task-master 

 should allot to fully-developed strength in its prime or in the maturity 

 of its power ? The horse is not a speaking creature. It has no voice 

 to plead or to complain. But what right has the lord of earth, being 

 blessed with 'ability to control his acts and with reason to comprehend 

 the signs of nature, to enforce that fate upon the dumb slave in his 

 possession from which he would esteem it a duty to shelter his own 

 offspring ? 



THESE TEETH EQUALLY DECLARE ONLY FOUR YEARS OLD. 



The colt with four incisors in either jaw, all fully grown and worn flat 

 with use, is esteemed to be no older than the animal with only one lateral 

 nipper barely through the swollen gum. Both creatures, according to 

 man's reckoning, are of one age. Neither can, says the Jockey Club, be 

 an hour in advance of the other. Yet the colt with four pairs of perma- 

 nent incisors in the mouth has not paid the penalty which nature exacts 

 from early life. There are still the corner milk nippers to be shed ; yet, 

 while the provision necessary for that labor is taking place within the 

 body, or while nature is preparing her mute offspring for the coming 

 struggle, man considers the poor quadruped as fully developed and as 

 enjoying the prime of its existence. 



The teeth may be scarcely visible in the mouth, nevertheless such a 

 sign announces the fifth year to be attained. Man, who estimates a 

 horse's life according to the laws of the Jockey Club, and ignores na- 



