134 OCCASIONAL HAPPY THOUGHTS. 



"He moves so oddly," my Aunt ventures to obsen-e, 

 nervously. 



The horse, still trotting, executes a figure like a segment 

 of a circle. 



'' Shies, I think," I say to Gloppin. 



Gloppin replies, " O, any horse Avill do t/iaf. There's 

 nothing in that. As I say, he's young." 



Happy Thought. — And Youth will have its fling. Uncom- 

 fortable idea at this moment. The horse shies at straws. 

 He doesn't appear to object to anything but straws. And 

 he must have seen straw before. This suggests a proverb — 

 " straws show which way the horse shies'' — w^ork this up. 



As I don't want to appear nervous (though I believe my 

 Aunt's feelings at this moment are nothing to mine), I agree 

 with him that this action of his (uncommonly like shying) is 

 nothing. 



We commence turning. Very steadily in a wide part of 

 the road. The horse's idea is to begin by backing, gradually 

 getting the right hand shaft at right angles to the trap. At 

 last, desperation and the certainty of the ditch behind us, 

 nerve me to use the whip, diffidently. 



Happy Thought. — Quotation adapted, " Touch him up 

 tenderly.'' The horse seems to execute this movement 

 uneasily, or awkwardly, as if he had been always accus- 

 tomed to go straightforward, and turning wasn't in the 

 contract. 



I feel that I've got him well in hand, with my lips pressed 



