96 JUSTIN MORGAN 



hemlock, birch, white pine, ash, chestnut and stately oak. 

 Saw-mills whirred and sang busily on river banks, whose 

 falls afforded such marvellous water-power for their 

 wheels, and comfortable houses soon took the place of 

 pioneer huts in many places. 



In spite of his faithful service to the Wings, they did 

 not buy the Morgan, and Hawkins after a while sold 

 him to the same Robert Evans, at Randolph, for whom 

 he had once done such good service. 



Randolph had a newspaper now, called The Weekly 

 Wanderer, and this praised the Morgan so highly that 

 for a while, out of pride, Evans had to keep him in good 

 condition. But unfortunately this pride lasted but a 

 short time, Evans being too busy at his farm work and 

 trapping, earning a living for his family. 



On the day of his return to Randolph, Morgan heard 

 that Master Justin Morgan had gone on to "lie in green 

 pastures, beside still waters." So sweet a sound had 

 this to the lonely horse, separated from his good friends 

 in Montpelier, that he sometimes wandered away from 

 the Evans' primitive barn, looking for that ''Valley of 

 the Shadow" of which men spoke when referring to the 

 kindly school-master. The heat of the mid-summer days 

 sometimes oppressed the little horse, and he grew thin 

 and weary at the plow, but there was no "Valley of the 

 Shadow" for him — no other valley could he find than his 

 work-a-day one along the banks of the sparkling White 

 River in full sunshine. 



In the weary battling against the uncongenial farm 

 life, he was no little cheered by the memory of what his 

 father told .him of his high-crested ancestor, the Godol- 

 phin Arabian — ^that he, in all his greatness and beautv, 

 had once pulled a water cart in France. 



In a year the brave little horse was unrecognizable ; 

 his once glossy, soft coat had coarsened, and often he 



