I04 MY horse; my love. 



Have you seen many horses made lame by imper- 

 fect shoeing? 



" It is only too common a fault. Only lately a 

 physician called me to look at his horse, remarking at 

 the same time that he thought 'the horse must be- 

 come lame on purpose, for he couldn't discover any- 

 thing the matter with him!' He said further, *The 

 horse will go all right for ten minutes or so in the 

 morning, and will then suddenly go lame, and con- 

 tinue so the rest of the day.' Well, I examined 

 the horse carefully, although my eye had lighted on 

 the real cause at once, and I said: 'Now, doctor, you 

 are pretty wise, and know the proportions of a horse 

 and his defects. Stand exactly in front of him and 

 tell me if you can see nothing wrong. ' 



" 'No, ' replied the doctor, 'I'll be switched if I 

 can, and I believe he is playing off, the rogue!' 



"'Will you kindly look at his shoes?' 



" The doctor lifted first one hind foot and then 

 the other. 'Nothing the matter with them. Count.' 



"'Well, go on, finish your inspection.' 



" He lifted one forefoot and then the other and a 

 sudden light began to dawn on his visage: 'Ah, can 

 it be so simple a thing?' 



"'It is that, and that is all,' said I, and by actual 

 measurement the corks on the shoe of one fore- 

 foot, were a full inch longer than all the others, 

 and so lifted the horse just so much more from the 

 ground." 



You had the laugh on the doctor that time, 

 Count. 



" Yes, I had, and he went off half mad and half 



