220 EVILS OF MODERN" STABLES. 



In another point of view, the decision must be favorable to the animal. 

 Wature has gifted the horse with faculties, and blessed it with instincts. 

 Foremost among these faculties is, a facility of varied motion, displayed 

 in particular yearnings ; as a fondness for fresh air, green fields, and a 

 desire to roam abroad, unfettered, in the company of its kind. Man 

 violently seizes the quadruped ; without caring for the innate promptings 

 of nature, he forces his slave to live, severed from all its longings and 

 away from all it loves. Which is the horse to obey ? Is it to deny the 

 charter planted by its Maker within its bosom ? Or is it any crime to 

 rebel against the will which will shorten its life, withhold its pleasures, 

 and cripple its body, — studying nothing but the pigmy's personal gain 

 and heartless advantage ? 



Then, when the reader turns to the consideration of the custodian's 

 conduct. Had the circumstances deprived him of all choice, and limited 

 his means of restraining to a doubling of the customary bonds ? It is 

 folly for the weak to engage in a muscular contest with the powerful. It 

 is madness for the feeble to place dependence on straws, when the design 

 is to bind a giant. In both respects the groom was in fault. Had he 

 only thought for an instant, reason would have suggested that plan by 

 which the resistance of the horse might have been subdued, and his 

 master's property might have continued uninjured. 



The animal's struggles expressed merely a dislike to the rope attached 

 to the head. Two fastenings were not calculated to remove the abhor- 

 rence which a single bond excited. Had the horse been led from the 

 stall and placed in the solitary chamber of a loose box, the change had 

 quieted its spirit. At so small an expense might all the subsequent 

 damage have been avoided. But a loose box does not acknowledge the f 

 pride of man, to use all the life with which this world abounds according 

 to his convenience. It was for pride's sake that mortality waged the 

 battle ; and in loss did pride undergo defeat. 



Endeavor to explain the reason why a valuable horse has been dam- 

 aged, to any professed groom, and try to make him understand how the 

 miscalled accident might have been avoided; — the man, while you are 

 speaking, will put on that look of dogged indifference which informs you 

 the fellow has closed his comprehension against 6very argument. When 

 you cease talking, the servant stares you in the face, and replies, "He 

 wants no gentl'man to teach him his doty;" and, by so saying, announces 

 a determination to persevere in that course of conduct which has induced 

 such lamentable consequences. There are men in this world who only 

 employ their reason l||| perpetuate their ignorance. It is one thing to 

 teach ; but it is more difficult to find a pupil willing to be instructed. 



In many genteel families, stables are esteemed as places in jvhicb 



