19» FOOD. 



given late at night? The present custom, of allowing the stable-man 

 his time after six o'clock, is not beneficial to the servant; nor is it 

 advantageous to a master. It merely encourages habits which are 

 expensive. Expensive habits are not commendable or innoxious, vt^here 

 the weekly income is reckoned by shillings. A little more of whole- 

 some employment would greatly improve the stable-retainer. The man 

 is now corrupt ; but those who suffer by his vices, expose him to that 

 temptation which subverts the uprightness of his inclinations. After 

 six, is a better hour for equine exercise than during the heat of the 

 • afternoon. Subsequent to the setting of the summer's sun, during the 

 cool, moist time of twilight, the quadruped would delight in being 

 abroad; but, durmg the hours when nature formed her creature to 

 roam, man, for a servant's convenience, imprisons his slave ; and, 

 having perverted every intent or purpose of its existence, complains 

 aloud because the laws of Creation are not made subservient to his 

 perversity 1 



• Could society be rendered a trifle more sympathetic and a little less 

 conceited, horses would largely benefit by such a change in the disposi- 

 tions of their masters. But this cannot be with present thoughts and 

 existing institutions. The modern age essentially delights in knowing ; 

 it rather sneers at, than cultivates, feeling. England abounds in 

 schools, and is thickly strewn with colleges. Education is much 

 lauded; but the education at present given neglects the higher and 

 the better part of the pupil's mind. Everywhere knowledge is incul- 

 cated ; nowhere is feeling cultivated. Nay, in the majority of existing 

 educational establishments, the sensations are blunted and the emotions 

 suppressed. Yet to elevate the feelings of its followers, is the purpose 

 and the object of Christianity. Reverends and Dignitaries preside over 

 places wh^e, under pretense of being properly trained, youths are un- 

 christianized. Most young men quit their tutors with the knowledge 

 quickened ; but where is the being who began life with the heart im- 

 proved, or with the moral sense to guide him through the many obliga- 

 tions he was newly called to discharge, upon his becoming a member of 

 this world's society? The horse especially suffers under the conse- 

 quences which result from the present evil tendency of the community. 

 To talk of the feelings, the instincts, and the inclinations of the quad- 

 ruped, is to earn a character for maudlin affectation. The populace in 

 the public highways hourly stare at or carelessly pass spectacles which, 

 were the general mind really educated to understand what is before it, 

 should awaken the keenest commiseration ; but which are now viewed 

 as sights that enliven the prospect. Whence is derived such hardness 

 of heart ? Whence springs such general and such a deep-rooted insen- 



