24 Our Noblest Friend, The Horse 



accepts you, and " faithfully " does his work, be- 

 cause he has always been made to do it, and is imbued 

 with the one idea that he cannot help himself. 



Were he genuinely " faithful," he would betray 

 the characteristic in various ways. He would not 

 leave you when loose; he would love to follow you 

 about; he would so enjoy your companionship and 

 so relish working for you as to prove impossible of 

 restraint from either sitting in your lap, or harness- 

 ing himself to the carriage and insisting upon taking 

 you to drive, whether you wanted to go or not ! In 

 short, he would prove an unmitigated nuisance. The 

 Po'wer which provided him for man's purposes ar- 

 ranged his failings (and his merits) exactly to 

 meet the requirements demanded, and as he stands he 

 is as nearly " faithful '' as we should care to have 

 him. 



True, he comes at your call from the field (that 

 is, sometimes he does, if he has nothing better to 

 do), but do not flatter yourself that faithfulness or 

 affection impel ! Not at all — either you or some 

 one else has been in the habit, when he obeyed, of 



