FIRST-HAND BITS OF STABLE LORE 



wheel-horse which stands drowsily while cannons 

 fire in his face, has a convulsion at sight of a 

 fluttering apron. 



As the ideal school is a medley of hideous sights 

 and sounds, so the ideal schoolmaster is dumb. 

 He who never speaks to a horse does well ; he 

 whose vocabulary is absolutely limited to *'whoa" 

 and "c'lk " is fortunate. These words should be 

 construed by your pupil as always meaning but 

 two things — instant and motionless stop in the 

 first case, and accelerated progress, to be regulated 

 by the feeling of the hand upon the reins, in the 

 other. Your voice alone, even in its kindest 

 tones, causes apprehension in the narrow-gauge 

 mind of the raw colt or wild horse, and he 

 is prevented by his natural limitations from 

 calmly comprehending the two details of speech 

 and action upon your part. Your actions he 

 finally appreciates through their personal effect; 

 and in the same way the tones accompanying 

 certain motions are finally accepted as signals. 

 Pray do not — O dear reader do not — enroll 

 yourself among that band of chirping and chir- 

 ruping dickey-birds who, with their incessant 

 "P-weep-p-p" and the " c'lk, c'lk, c'lk,*^ make 

 themselves a menace to others, and render them- 



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