148 ILLUSTRATED STOCK DOCTOR. 



•Features in terror, from fear of the whip, and then beat with renewed 

 vigor because the innocent brute does not comprehend what the master 

 reallv does not know himself ; to give the faithful servant over to th* 

 tender mercies of some man who calls himself a blacksmith, who either 

 pricks him with a nail, pares down the hoof and the frog to the quick. 

 and then because the poor animal cringes, holds back or perhaps stum- 

 bles, beats him for it. Such are a few of the more common of the 

 cruelties inflicted, and which may be seen day by day by any who will 

 notice. A man cannot pass along the streets in any large city, on any 

 day, without seeing some of these things. 



The observing man need not travel far in the country to see some such 

 picture as we present of the farmer who believes in letting his stock shift 

 for themselves when not at work, and is careful not to over-feed when 

 they struggle with the plow or wagon. 



m. A Picture from Life. 



But, sav some readers, the picture on page 146 is a fancy sketch. Not at 

 all. It is drawn from life. The superannuated, rat-tailed horse, with 

 one ear gone, blind, spavined, ill kept and ill fed ; the mule, still more 

 rat-tailed than the horse, intact only as to his ears, the broKea-down 

 fence, the edge of the marshy pond, serving as a wallowing place for 

 hogs, and as a watering place for the family and stock ; the dilapidated 

 stable ; the log cabin — all are true to life. There is but one redeeming 

 feature in the whole scene : the wife begging that a little land may be 

 left in front of the house unplowed. "Will it be granted? Not so. 

 The ragsred edged plow will cut as close to the corner of the cabin as 

 possible, and then bear off in a circle in the near distance beyond. Land 

 is too valuable to spare any next the house, but the weeds and dilapidated 

 fence tell a tale of plenty of land bcA^ond. If the traveler chose he 

 might learn the cause of all this. A history made in the comer grocery 

 of the village, over the broken bridge. 



Contrast this with the companion picture we give on page 147, and 

 which tells a very different tale. 



IV. The Other Side. 



It is of the farmer who is well-to-do by his own tact and energy. His 

 team is trained to almost human intelligence. Strong, able horses, whose 

 dams were kindly worked and carefully fed. When foals they were early 

 teu^ht to take their oats. In Winter they were carefully housed, their 

 training commencing within a few days of their birth ; broken in at two 



