1862. 



NEW ENGLAND FARIVIER. 



371 



"AT THE LAST." 



This beautiful poetry appeared, orisjinally, in the Independent, 

 written upon the passage, "Man goeth lorth unto his work, and 

 to his labor, until the evening." 



The stream is calmest when it nears the tide. 

 And flowers are sweetest at tlje eventide, 

 And birds most musical at the close of day, 

 And saints divinest when they pass away. 



Morning is lovely, but a holier charm 

 Lies folded close in Evening's robe of balm ; 

 And weary man must ever love her best, 

 For Morning calls to toil, but night to rest. 



She comes from Heaven, and on her wings doth bear 

 A holy fragrance, lilie tlie breath of prayer ; 

 Footsteps of angels follow in her trace, 

 To shut the weary eyes of Day in peace. 



All things are hushed before her, as she throws 

 O'er earth and sky her mantle of repose: 

 There is a calm, a beauty, and a power 

 That Morning knows not, in the evening hour 



"Until the evening" we must weep and toil. 

 Plow life's stern furrow, dig the weedy soil, 

 Tread with sad feet our rough and thorny way. 

 And bear the heat and burden of the day. 



O ! when our suu is setting may we glide. 

 Like Summer evening, down the golden tide, 

 And leave behind us, as we pass away, 

 Sweet, starry twilight round our sleeping clay ! 



LAMPAS I]Sr HORSES. 



This is an imaginary disease, but one common- 

 ly believed in by grooms, and we are sorry to add, 

 by a great many well informed persons. If a 

 young horse refuses to eat, it is usually imputed 

 to the lampas, wliich is said to be a swelling of 

 the roof of the mouth back of the upper front 

 teeth, to such a degree that the animal cannot 

 chew its food. Then the awful remedy is present- 

 ed, of burning the part with a red-hot iron ! and 

 in many instances the cruel suggestion is put in 

 force with inhuman indifference and haste. This 

 terrible torture is often inflicted without the 

 slightest reference to the condition of the horse in 

 other respects — to the manner in which he has 

 been fed — what work he has been doing — or what 

 exposure he has experienced. No effort is made 

 to learn whether he has taken cold, and is fever- 

 ish, has eaten or drank heartily immediately after 

 a lively drive, or whether there are symptoms of 

 colic, or some injury has taken place to the mouth 

 or the jaws. No. It is lampas, and the red-hot 

 iron must be applied — nothing else will do. 



Truly, the lot of the horse is a hard one, and if 

 we can do anything to alleviate it, to arouse men 

 to a more merciful consideration of the noble ani- 

 mal, we shall certainly feel happier every time we 

 see one. 



Last week we noticed a new book upon the 

 horse, by Edward Mayhew^, and expressed the 

 opinion that it is the best work, probably, ever 

 AVi'itten upon the subject. Since that expression 

 was made, we have given the book still more care- 

 ful attention, and find abundant reasons for the 



belief then expressed. Below, we copy a portion 

 of what the writer says in regard to the imagina- 

 ry disease of lampas in horses. 



That affection is supposed to consist of inflam- 

 mation, which enlarges the bars of the palate and 

 forces them to the level of or a little below the 

 biting edges of the upper incisor teeth. 



Would the groom take the trouble to examine 

 the mouths of other young horses which "eat all 

 before them," the "lampas" would be ascertained 

 to be natural development ; but the ignorant al- 

 ways act upon faith, and never proceed on inquiry. 

 Young horses alone are supposed to bo subject to 

 "lampas ;" young horses have not finished teeth- 

 ing till the fifth year. Horses are "broken" dur- 

 ing colthood ; they are always placed in stables 

 and forced to masticate diy, artificial food before 

 all their teeth are cut ; shedding the primary mo- 

 lars is especially painful ; of course, during such a 

 process, the animal endeavors to feed as little as 

 possible. A refusal to eat is the groom's strong- 

 est proof that lampas is present. But, putting the 

 teeth on one side, would it be surprising if a 

 change of food and a total change of habit in a 

 young creature were occasionally attended with 

 temporary loss of appetite ? Is "lampas" neces- 

 sary to account for so very probable a conse- 

 quence? The writer has often tried to explain 

 this to stable servants ; but the very ignorant are 

 generally the very prejudiced. While the author 

 has been talking, the groom has been smiling; 

 looking most provokingly knowing, and every 

 now and then shaking his head, as much as to say, 

 "Ah, my lad, you can't gammon me !" 



Young horses are taken from the field to the 

 stable, from juicy gi'ass to dry fodder, from natu- 

 ral exercise to constrained stagnation. Is it so 

 very astonishing if, under such a total change of 

 life, the digestion becomes sometimes deranged 

 before the system is altogether adapted to its new 

 situation ? Is it matter for alarm should the ap- 

 petite occasionally fail ? But grooms, like most 

 of their class, regard eating as the only proof of 

 health. They have no confidence in abstinence ; 

 they cannot comprehend any loss of appetite ; they 

 love to see the "beards wagging," and reckon the 

 state of body by the amount of provision con- 

 sumed. 



The prejudices of ignorance ai"e subjects for 

 pity : the slothfulness of the better educated mer- 

 its reprobation. The groom always gets the mas- 

 ter's sanction before he takes a horse to be cruelly 

 tortured for an imaginary disease. Into the hands 

 of the proprietor has a Higher Power intrusted 

 the life of his creature ; and surely there shall be 

 demanded a strict account of his stewardship. It 

 can be no excuse for permitting the living sensa- 

 tion to be abused, that a groom asked and the 

 master willingly left his duties to another. Man 

 has no business to collect breathing life about him 

 and then to neglect it. Every human being who 

 has a servant, a beast or a bird about his home- 

 stead, has no right to rest content with the asser- 

 tions of his dependents. For every benefit he is 

 bound to confer some kindness. His liberality 

 should testify to his superority ; but he obviously 

 betrays his trust and abuses the blessings of Prov- 

 idence when he permits the welfare of the crea- 

 tures dependent on him, to be controlled by any 

 judgment but his own. 



