CHAPTER XXV. 



THE AMERICAN HORSE. 



Was our civil war so immensely destructive of our 

 best horses, Count? 



"Alas, yes! the war almost depleted the country 

 of its thoroughbreds. I had not yet found a home 

 in America, but all Europe rang with accounts of 

 the hearty response, and self-forgetting rush to arms, 

 which was made by men of all classes, in defense of 

 their country and its honored institutions." 



Ah, Count, that was but the practical expression 

 of a noble patriotism ! There are many large and 

 generous hearts in America, and each individual 

 man and woman longed to help, if only a little. I 

 know that the farmers and owners of valuable breeds 

 offered willingly to the government their most 

 precious possessions, their horses, and begged Presi- 

 dent Lincoln to accept them. The proportion of 

 horses to men was one hundred to one, and it seems 

 incredible that so many should have been slain ! 



" It seems so, but those offered were the best and 

 finest in the land, and were the stallions and geld- 

 ings. The mares were left at home for the very 

 good reason that in battle they are likely to stam- 

 pede and create a panic through fright. Horses 

 have more nerve. The beat of the drum, the call to 

 arms, the familiar toot of the bugle and horn, and the 



127 



