338 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMEK. 



N'ov. 



From the Atlantic Monthly. 



The Battle of Autumn. 



BY SOON G. WHITTIER. 



The flags of warlike storm-birds fly, 



The charging trumpets blow ; 

 Yet rolls no thunder in the sky, 



No earthquake strives below. 



And, calm and patient. Nature keeps 



Her ancient promise well. 

 Though o'or her bloom and greenness sweeps 



The battles breath of hell. 



And still she walks in golden hours 



Through harvest-happy farms, 

 And still she wears her fruits and flowers 



Like jewels on her arms. 



What means the gladnnesa of the plain. 



This joy of eve and morn, 

 The mirth that shakes the beard of grain 



And yellow locks of corn ? 



Ah ! eyes may well be full of tears 



And hearts with hate are hotj 

 But even-paced come round the years, 



And Nature changes not. 



She meets with smiles our bitter grief. 

 With songs our groans of pain ; 



She mocks with tint of flower and leaf 

 The warfield's crimson stain. 



Still, in the cannon's pause, wc hear 

 Her sweet thanks-giving psalm ; 



Too near to God for doubt or fear, 

 She shares the eternal calm. 



She knows the seed lies safe below 



The fires that blast and burn ; 

 Por all the tears of blood we sow 



She waits the rich return. 



She sees with clearer eyes than ours 



The good of suffering born — 

 The hearts that blossom like her flowers 



And ripen like her corn. 



Oh, give to us, in times like these. 



The vision of her eyes ; 

 And make her fields and fruited trees 



Our golden prophecies ! 



Oh, give to us her finer ear ! 



Above this stormy din, 

 We, too, would hear the hells of cheer 



Ring peace and freedom in. 



The Time to Train Colts. — Great diversity 

 of opinion exists among intelligent horsemen as 

 to the best age at which to conmence the train- 

 ing of colts. Some people are of the opinion 

 that they Bbould not be driven in harness, or 

 very much used, until from three to five years 

 old, while others contend that their training 

 should commence almost with their very exis- 

 tence, and, like children, their education should 

 begin in their infancy, and that, when judici- 

 ously and carefully performed, no damage will 

 occur from the training of these animals, how- 

 ever young. A colt should not be required to 



do the work of a fuly matured horse, any more 

 than a boy should be expected to do that of a 

 man. "A hen used according to their age and 

 strength, it will be a benefit in growth and de- 

 velopment of muscle, rather than an injury. If 

 the training is carelessly and injudiciousjy per- 

 formed, the animal may be injured at any age, 

 however mature. All this is undonbted'y true, 

 and at this day no humane breeder of these in- 

 telligent and noble animals will suffer a two-leg- 

 ged brute to have the care and management, 

 training or using of horse-flesh. How often have 

 we seen, bearing the semblance and claiming 

 the attributes of men, exhibiting in the use of 

 horses, and especially green ones, less intelli- 

 gence and feeling than the brutes they undertake 

 to train, or "break," as they call it, and wish 

 that the two could be m^de to change places. 



Thanks to Rarey and the progress of the age 

 in which we live, extreme cruelty to animals, and 

 espocially to noble horses, is more surely pun- 

 ished at this day than many other offences 

 against the peace and dignity of the State, made 

 penal by the statute, and scenes of this kind are 

 but seldom witnessed, yet the cruel disposition 

 still remains in some men, who should never have 

 the care and management of animals of a really 

 higher order of intelligence than themselves. 

 Some writers have said that there is no surer in- 

 dex of the degree of education and refinement 

 of a people or nation than the treatment of their 

 horses. This is in a sense true, but we Ameri- 

 cans would hardly bo willing to have our educa- 

 tion and refinement measured by that rule, since 

 we should suffer in comparison with the wander- 

 ing Arabs of the desert, who a^e proverbial all 

 over the world for their noble horses and their 

 attachment to them, suffering thirst and hunger 

 themselves rather than deprive the animals of 

 needed food or drink. They will part wiih every- 

 thing else dear to them — gold, and even life it- 

 self, rather than with a favorite mare. — (Stock 

 Journal. 



KiCH Soil — Rathbr. — The editor of the 

 American Stock Journal, says : " We are told, 

 too, a good story, which is no doubt true, of a 

 man who has actually sued and made to pay 

 damages in a court of law in Iowa, within the 

 last two years, for leaving a quantity of manure 

 on another's garden I The offender had hired a 

 stable and kept several horses, and deposited the 

 manure on a neighboring lot used as a garden. 

 The case was tried before a judge recently from 

 New Englond, who was satisfied by the evidence 

 that the land was rich enough without the ma- 

 nure, and that the manure caused a great growth 

 of weeds, which made far mere labor necessary 

 to cultivate the crops !" 



.«, . 



B^^The Chicago Tribune says a gang of one 

 hundred K. ft. C.'s recently attempted to lynch 

 Dr. Owens, of Williampon County, Illinois, whom 

 they believed to be the author of a recent ex- 

 pose of their designs. The Doctor escaped by 

 concealing himself in the house of a friend. 



