12 The Selection and 



as inevitable. Purchasers at fairs are greatly 

 exposed to the practices of such rascals, -who 

 never fail to secure both animal and money in 

 the end, and thus provide the means of con- 

 stantly possessing a trap wherein unsuspecting 

 persons easily fall. 



Some years ago a hard-working honest man, 

 well known to the writer, attended a fair in 

 Yorkshire for the purchase of a cart-horse. He 

 was by no means a bad judge of the physical 

 characters required in the animal sought, and 

 soon his eyes fell upon one in which was con- 

 centrated, to all appearance, the qualities so 

 essential for the purposes. Price being asked, 

 and the animal shown through various evolutions, 

 no objection was found. Accordingly a purchase 

 was made and the horse led away. 



The new owner had not proceeded far before 

 a stranger, to him at least, stepped up and 

 offered a small sum for the horse, adding, 

 " You'll not like to take him into your stable as 

 he's ' blaundered ' " (i.e. glandered). And thus 

 he continued to pester the poor fellow, while 

 others privy to the game joined at various 

 stages on the road, and kept up the spirit which 

 was to secure again their prize. 



Upon examination the animal was found to be 

 a most confirmed roarer in the language of the 

 dealers, said " to have the bellans " and had 

 been drugged in order to cause the defect to pas 

 unobserved. 



