THE HORSE. 55 



tance in a chariot and four. Attempts to secure such 

 great speed have often been accompanied by much 

 severity and cruelty ; but the improved state of the roads, 

 the employment of a large number of horses in short 

 and well arranged stages, and the constant guarding 

 against all avoidable delays, have frequently gained the 

 desired end without these great evils. The introduction 

 of railroads has produced other changes, the results of 

 which cannot be calculated. 



Horses require to be carefully broken, to answer the 

 purposes for which they are used. Various and con- 

 tinued means are commonly necessary, but James Sulli- 

 van, an ignorant awkward rustic, of the lowest class, and 

 a horsebreaker, obtained the name of " the whisperer" 

 from a most extraordinary art he possessed of con- 

 trolling, in a secret manner, and taming into the most 

 submissive and tractable disposition, any horse or mare 

 that was notoriously vicious and obstinate. He prac- 

 tised his skill in private, and without any apparently 

 forcible means. In the short space of half an hour, 

 his magical influence would bring into perfect submis- 

 sion and good temper even a colt that had never been 

 handled ; and the effect, though instantly produced, 

 was generally durable. When employed to tame an 

 outrageous animal, he directed the stable in which he 



