IMMATURE. 139 



ness. Children, horses, dogs, and plants are all 

 affected by the treatment they receive. We speak 

 of a highly cultivated person, and the same term may 

 be applied with equal reason to vegetable growth. 

 All living things are capable of cultivation, and the 

 brains of animals, human or otherwise, are decidedly 

 capable of improvement. Any one who loves horses 

 and has been intimately acquainted with them, knows 

 that a horse can be taught to do almost anything, and 

 the tales illustrative of their wonderful intelligence and 

 sagacity would, were they collected, more than fill the 

 largest volume ever printed. 



Mr. Payn, in his amusing little essay entitled, " Out 

 of Harness," which is in reality about men and not 

 about horses, speaks in the first few lines about horses 

 as follows : 



" When horses leave the shafts they have various 

 ways of accepting the gifts of leisure and liberty. 

 Some, with drooping ears and staggering gait, repair 

 forthwith to their stables and go to sleep (I am 

 credibly informed by equine friends) standing. This 

 is a case that has no human parallel. 



"The behaviour, however, of many of these 

 animals on leaving work, is similar enough to that 

 of mankind under the like circumstances. Some rush 

 at once to drink ; some instantly begin to browse, 

 and never seem to have their fill of flesh (for flesh 

 is grass) ; some kick up their heels, and hinny an 

 invitation to the fair sex to join in their gambols. 



" These creatures, like the majority of mankind, 

 appreciate a holiday. On the other hand, there are 

 some who, when once the stage waggon or the 

 omnibus ceases to thunder at their heels, appear to 

 have no raison ditre. When their cumbrous harness 



