CRUELTY OF DOCKING. 73 



" When the gad-fly lights and stings, or the pump- 

 fly — so called because its sting once inserted, it 

 pumps the blood and poisons it — or when any insects 

 persistently irritate the sensitive skin, the long hairs 

 of the tail have power to switch them off. The tail 

 is usually long enough, to reach all along the body 

 up to the neck. About the fore-legs the horse can 

 reach with his nose, and thus defend himself in those 

 parts. As the point of his nose is his touch-point and 

 the sense of a thing is conveyed to him with it, just 

 as we examine an object with our fingers, so is the 

 tail important also, as a part of his sign-speech. " 



Please explain what you mean by his sign- 

 speech. 



" Does not the dog wag his tail to give expression 

 to his delight? and does he not hold it down close 

 between his legs, to show his humiliation at angry 

 words or any form of punishment? By the same 

 token, does the horse lift his tail proudly when in 

 motion, and wave it to and fro like an ostrich plume, 

 when he is happy and pleased. One of the surest 

 signs of good-breeding is the spring of the tail from 

 the crupper. Then it can give also a direct blow, 

 blinding, disconcerting, paralyzing, to the too famil- 

 iar, when the intelligent beast knows he need not 

 kick in self-defense." 



Live and learn! I had never thought of all these 

 accomplishments ! 



" Then when the head hangs wearily down, the 

 tail drops also, and these are signs of great fatigue 

 after hard work, or a long day's toilsome journey. 

 The merciful man notes all these familiar signs, 



