22 WHIP AND SPUR. 



really a part of one's self; and she was quick 

 to respond to my changing moods. I have some- 

 times, when unable to sleep, got up in the night 

 and saddled for a ride, usually ending in a long 

 walk home, with the bridle over my arm, and the 

 old mare's kind face close beside my own, in some- 

 thing akin to human sympathy; she had a way 

 of sighing, when things were especially sad, that 

 made her very comforting to have about. So we 

 went on for three years, always together, and 

 always very much to each other. We had our 

 little unhappy episodes, when she was pettish and 

 I was harsh, — sometimes her feminine freaks 

 were the cause, sometimes my masculine blunder- 

 ing, — but we always made it up, and were soon 

 good friends again, and, on the whole, we were 

 both better for the friendship. I am sure that I 

 was, and some of my more grateful recollections 

 are connected with this dumb companion. 



The spring of 1861 opened a new life for 

 both of us, — a sad and a short one for poor 

 Vix. 



I never knew just how much influence she 



