62 Chapters on Animals. 



description shows how much the poet felt for the suffering 

 animals, though he expresses no sympathy directly. But 

 the tenderness of the man capable of loving a good horse 

 is reserved entirely for the last two stanzas, where it is 

 expressed in the manliest way, yet in a way so affecting 

 that no noble-minded person who read the poem aloud 

 could get through those last stanzas, when he came to 

 them, without some huskiness of emotion in the voice, 

 and, perhaps, just a little mistiness in the eyes, 



'' Then I cast loose my buff coat, each holster let fall, 

 Shook off my jack-boots, let go belt and all, 

 Stood up in the stirrup, leaned, patted his ear. 

 Called my Roland his pet-name, my horse without a peer ; 

 Clapped my hands, laughed and sang, any noise, bad or good. 

 Till at length into Aix Roland galloped and stood. 



And all I remember is, friends flocking round. 



And I sat with his head ^twixt my knees, on the ground ; 



And no voice but was praising this Roland of mine. 



As I potired down his throat our last measure of wine. 



Which (the burgesses voted by common consent) 



Was no more than his due who brought good news from Ghent." 



This is the ideal of the relation between man and horse, 

 — the horse serving man to his utmost, lending him his 

 swiftness with a perfect good will, — the man accepting 

 the service for a noble purpose, doing all he can to make 

 the work lighter for his servant, and at last, when the 

 great effort is over, caring for him as tenderly and anx- 

 iously as if he were a brother or a son. This is the ideal, 

 but the reality too often falls short of it on both sides. 

 There does not exist in the minds of owners of horses 

 generally that touch of romantic sentiment which trans- 

 lates itself in affectionate companionship and tender care. 

 The horse is a valuable animal, and is, on the whole, looked 



