CHAPTER YI. 



THE EVILS WHICH ARE OCCASIONED BY MODERN STABLES. 



Those gentlemen who have deeply studied such subjects, assert that 

 man is incapable of originating a single idea. Certainly an intelligent 

 being would not have been required to originate anything if, when in- 

 tending to confine an active animal, he had been expected to credit the 

 joyous creature with the common attributes of life. It could have 

 evinced no excessive servility if, before the building was raised for such 

 a purpose, nature and her requirements had been, in some slight meas- 

 ure, considered. 



It obviously is folly for mortal pride to contend against those ordiniza- 

 tions which govern the universe. However, in the case of exercising 

 power over the horse, centuries of defeat and ages of loss seem incapable 

 of causing mankind to relinquish a hopeless struggle. The strife has 

 been going fftrward almost from the commencement of time ; neverthe- 

 less, human beings, though always beaten, press onward to perpetuate 

 the contest. They scorn to retreat, and will suffer rather than own a 

 victor ; they will not, to make an advantageous peace, desert a silly cus- 

 tom or discard an ancient usage. They can sustain punishment ; they 

 can endure chastisement; but, like land crabs, when once upon the 

 march, they cannot deviate from the line which they have adopted. 

 They can abuse the master, but they cannot listen to the instructor. 

 "Nature," men exclaim in chorus, "is very stubborn." "Horse prop- 

 erty," respond another gang of culpables, "is particularly hazardous!" 



All this noise, however, might at any moment be avoided, would the 

 human race only stoop to employ a little reflection. Would man not 

 fight quite so obstinately, but merely think over the cause of combat, 

 he might possibly be a gainer in happiness as well as in pocket. Could 

 he only condescend to admit the horse is a living creature, he would 

 take a step toward his recognition of the truth, because a fact would 

 have been acknowledged. This being granted, then let mortals, in their 

 MJoUective capacity, decide in what the lowest proof of life — mere animal 

 existence — does prominently consist. 



It does not require any vast expenditure of thought to discover that 

 r200) 



