16 LACERATED TONGUE. 
A farmer engages a pretty-looking stable boy. The young scamp is 
sufficiently a groom to glory in nothing so much as deception. The 
farmer, however, takes this pretty boy to the fair, where an additional 
horse is purchased. With the new ‘‘dobbin” the boy is entrusted, being 
cautioned to lead it gently home. With numerous protestations boy and 
horse depart, but have barely reached the suburbs before the knowing 
youngster stops ‘‘dobbin,” and, twisting the halter in ‘a chaw,” leads the 
animal to the nearest gate, where the lad climbs upon its back. 
“A chaw” is the slang short phrase for something to chew. This is 
made by twisting the balter into the animal’s mouth so as to encircle the 
jaw. In this position the rope is thought by some knowing people to 
answer the purposes of a bridle. To this rope the boy hangs, rolling to 
either side; now, nearly off—and now, jerked from his seat, as ‘‘dobbin,” 
after repeated urgings, starts off into the lazy pretense at a trot. 
Anything inserted into a horse’s mouth provokes the curiosity of the 
animal. It is felt and poked about with the tongue, till at last the 
lingual organ is, by the exercise of much ingenuity, inserted beneath the 
obstacle. In this state of affairs, ““dobbin” and the pretty boy finish 
the latter half of the journey. The youngster laughing, as the rough 
action of the horse bumps him up and down, he all the time dragging at 
the halter. Before home is reached, night has set in; the boy dis- 
mounts, and with all the simplicity his face can assume leads ‘‘ dobbin” 
to the homestead. 
The boy is protesting about being so very tired after his long walk, 
when the horse’s mouth is discovered to be stained with blood. The 
youthful expression of surprise exceeds that of the elder’s. Next the 
halter is found to be rich with the same fluid. The horse’s mouth is 
then opened, it is full of blood, and the tongue nearly cut through. 
Accusations are made against the lad; at first they are replied to with 
defiance; at last they are propitiated with tears, drawn forth by the 
idea of honesty being suspected. Youthful knowing, however, is not in 
the long run a match for the self-interest of age; and perseverance is 
rewarded by a full confession. 
“The chaw” is an artifice recognized in every stable. Grooms have 
their tastes. It is very unpleasant to these gentry when they behold 
some unmannerly horse hang back in the halter. Stalls are drained into 
a main channel, situated at the edge of the gangway. The pavement on 
which the animal stands consequently slants from the manger to the 
footpath. This nice arraugement obliges the horse always to stand 
with the toes in the air and throws the weight of the body upon the 
back sinews. To ease its aching limbs the animal is apt to go to the 
extent of its rope, so as to place the hind feet upon the gangway, and 
