398 ZACHARIAH SIMPSON, ESQ. 



these cases were connected with horse-dealing, in 

 which, as in love and war, some think that ' all is 

 fair,' too much should perhaps not be made of what 

 he did or attempted to do. For one thing, he several 

 times asked me if I really thought that a veterinary 

 surgeon could tell the age of a horse by the appearance 

 of its teeth; or in other words, could a two-year-old 

 be known from a three-year-old by the same means ? 

 To which, when I used to say ' Yes,' he would reply, 

 ' I don't believe they can.' Of course there are 

 several methods taken to arrive at the different ages of 

 different animals at different periods of their life. I 

 accordingly reminded him of the story of a pro- 

 fessional man who said he could tell the age of any 

 number of horses by the never-failing teeth-test. 



' Yes,' said an elderly lady present, ' and so can I 

 any quantity of chickens or geese by the same 

 means.' 



' Why,' said the gentleman with astonishment, 

 ' poultry have no teeth !' 



' ISTo,' replied the lady, ' but I have.' 



This did not seem thoroughly to convince him. I 

 gave the attempt up, thinking either that he must be 

 incorrigible or my story pointless. 



I have named his stud-srroom Sturgeon. This 

 man could neither read nor write, to which qualifica- 

 tions, or the want of them, he was indebted for his 

 situation. Mr. Simpson himself kept the few books 

 that were kept, and no one but himself knew what 



