THE eokt. 



THE GOAT. 



It was a great pity that the kind-hearted Mr. Hawes, who 

 was instrumental in bringing to pass the Act of Parliament 

 for the abolitiob of dog labour, did not at the same time be- 

 think him to include the unfortunate Bvroas family in relation 

 to their use as beasts of draught. Pferhaps the Legislature 

 never supposed that so UBlikely an animal as the goat could 

 be adapted to harness, or that its obstinate head could ever be 

 made to turn by the jerk of a rein ; perhaps it never imagined 

 that man could ever so albuse his dominion over the beast of 

 the field as to force the goat to labour for his profit. It ought, 

 however, to have known that meanness of such a depth was 

 by no means improbable, for at the very time the dog question 

 was under discussion a team of little fieas were tugging at a 

 carriage in the exhibition-room at the Egyptian Hall for the 

 entertainment of such of the publio as were wiUing to pay a 

 shiUing for the sight. 



Is there no generous M.P. of the present day who will see 

 into this goat question ? Let him any fine summer afternoon 

 take a stroU to the suburbs — ^to Olapham, to Blackheath, or to 

 Victoria Park — and thefe he will find animals of the goat triba 

 that kiUed and dressed would no more than fiU a great dinner 

 dish, toiling along the dusty road with a " chaise" at its heels, 

 and a couple of Brobdignagian babies sitting in the chaise. 

 " Make him go faster," says affectionate mamma to the goat-boy; 

 " whip him and make him run." The goat-boy is nothing loth ; 

 he lays into the flanks of the poor little quadruped, who makes 

 a frantic scramble forward and is only kept from sprawling on 

 the ground by the strong-wristed goat-boy, who grasps the 

 bridle and hoists Him along at something like a trot. If not 

 for sedate M.P.'s, there is among the goat-chaises plenty of 

 work for the officers of the " Society for the Prevention of 

 Cruelty to Animals," and with them I suppose we must be 

 content to leave the grievance. 



How the goat first came to bS' domesticated among us no 

 one knows. Some naturalists opine that it is derived from 

 the wild goat that roams the mountains of the Caucasus and 

 Persia ; others that the Ibex is the father of goats. But what- 

 ever doubts may exist concerning the derivation there can be 

 none concerning its utility. In the time of our grandfathers, 

 when wigs were universal, goat's hair was in high request: 

 that which grew on the animal's haunches being most valuable 



