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FOUR CYCLES OF PERCHERON HISTORY. 



The following pen picture covering four distinct periods 

 in the evolution of the hreed of which we write, present- 

 ing first the famous French "chargers" of the middle ages, 

 their successors on the heavy coaches of the ante-rail- 

 way days, the demands of the plow for a weightier type 

 as the arts of peace advanced, and now the "ton horse" 

 of modern commerce is taken from the sketch of the 

 late Mark W. Dunham, written hy Mr. Sanders and pub- 

 lished last year in his book "At the Sign of the Stock 

 Yard Inn." It is republished here by request. 



"Under a gray old castle's frowning walls a drawbridge 

 falls across the moat. The trumpets sound. A glittering 

 cavalcade emerges. Pennons gay and guidons flutter in 

 the breeze. Steel and silvei" — corselet, hilt and morion — 

 glisten in the morning sun, and noble chargers, mostly 

 white and gray, prance proudly, bearing out into the 

 medieval world brave belted knights and their retainers 

 faring forth to meet what ere betides. 



"Generations pass: in the far distance the rhyth- 

 mic beating of heavy hurrying hoofs! It is a highway 

 builded by the kings of France. To the sound of the 

 horn and the sharp note of the lash, the great diligence 

 bearing the royal mails and laden deep with passengers 

 and their gear comes into view. A rush, a roar of wheels 

 and the great freighted coach is gone. 



"Agriculture calls: down the long furrows see the 

 shining plowshares deeply driven. The mellow earth 

 awaliens, and lo, the stored up riches of a fertile field 

 await the seed. Long is the journey and repeated oft. 

 From 'early morn to dewy eve' the living shuttles travel, 

 hack and forth; but weight that wearies not is har- 

 nessed. 



"And yet again, last scene of all: a busy modern city 

 street. Huge vans and trucks are niinbling ever on the 

 granite blocks. Big grays and blacks march proudly to 

 the music of a nation's commerce. Power, patience, 

 dignity personified. Glory be to men who can produce 

 such prodigies!" 



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