242 FAULTS INSEPARABLE FROM STABLES. 



were the habits, the instincts, and the wants of an existence to be con- 

 sidered. 



The assumed evil disposition of the most placid of beings has been 

 wrongfully abused as the cause of every injury. The possibility of so 

 groundless a reason being advanced to cover that carelessness which 

 provoked punishment, is by no means complimentary to the wisdom of 

 mankind. The care needful for the safe guidance of a timid animal is 

 denied; the trifling outlay which would secure the immunity of the 

 creature is selfishly withheld. Nevertheless, how frequent and how 

 poignant is the lamentation, which complains that horse flesh is a " very 

 hazardous species of property I" Yet, when investigated, what does the 

 cry import, more than that a beautiful living body is not sent upon earth 

 superior to man's power of abuse ? 



Nature endowed the horse with every faculty needed to enjoy the 

 freest existence on the most extended plane. It was created the grace- 

 ful embodiment of the wildest liberty I The classic mind rightfully re- 

 cognized its attributes ; for by it, as Pegasus, the boldest flight of a poet's 

 fancy was significantly allegorized. The ancient intellect, in its fresh- 

 ness, beheld in the steed the fitting representative of that which prisons 

 should not confine, neither should chains fetter. Yet, formerly, the full 

 truthfulness of the image was but partially demonstrated. Years of 

 after-experience have shown the animal can thrive in opposite regions ; 

 it can live on almost every variety of sustenance ; it propagates its race 

 under the extremes of too much care and of absolute neglect ; the creat- 

 ure which man sorrows over as so very delicate has the strength of a 

 giant, the docility of a dog, and a constitution which is well characterized 

 by a proverbial expression, "strong as a horse !" 



The boasted civilization of the present age has degraded the animal 

 into a living type of stagnant misery ! It was gifted by its Creator with 

 a speed which defied pursuit ; with a sight which could endure the sun's 

 fiercest ray, or could penetrate the darkness of the night; and it was 

 gifted with the recognition which is telescopic in its range of inquiry. 

 It was sent upon this earth with an ample nostril, and a sense of smell 

 capable of appreciating the varied odors of an Eastern plain. How has 

 human perversity distorted the intentions of Beneficence ! Now it is 

 locked into an outhouse, where either total darkness prevails, or the eye 

 is fastened close to a whitened surface. It is tied to a manger, while the 

 floor on which it stands so slants as must banish ease from the feet, and 

 the partitions which confine the body prevent rest from change of posi- 

 tion. If the place is cold, the creature's home is possessed of no means 

 to counteract the effect. If it should be warm^ it is contaminated by 

 the fermentation of filth; the air is loaded with^as, which must pain 



