160 THE HORSE'S RESCUE. 



I superintended, shod, and cared for this horse's feet, 

 with this boy's help, for several months, and we had 

 the satisfaction of seeing Billy quite a trotter again. 

 He got to looking well, tiie hair brightened up and lay 

 sleek; his body rounded up; he could rest nights. If 

 he was not in harmony of action on his forward feet 

 he was so much so that it would not be seen by such 

 judges as awarded him a premium at Elmira six 

 months before. He could have been put in harmony 

 of action if I could have been allowed to do it by his 

 owner. 



They called all of these stiff horses in this place 

 *' foundered," and classed them in four kinds. After 

 I had cured them it was something else — "road-sore" 

 or " rheumatism," or they would oret stiff asrain. I 

 had worked almost night and day in this town, and 

 had spent hundreds of dollars besides what I earned 

 shoeing, a great deal of which was paid me in prom- 

 ises that were never fulfilled. I saw that my money 

 was going fast. I must change my course or there 

 would be danger of shipwreck. I used no medicine, 

 consequently I could not get any pay for my skill. 



A thought occurred to me to experiment on the hu- 

 man family. I always have been experimenting and 

 watching the result. I picked up two castawav beer 

 bottles, went to the brick-yard, put sjme brick-dust in 

 them, and filled them with water. Then I got some 

 of the ingredients fi-om a hen-roost to make up this 

 composition, and locked it up in my desk. They 

 would ha\'e it I used medicine in some way. I 

 thought, as I could not have my way, I would let 

 them have their way, and see what the result would 



