WAYS OF NATURE 
for him unless he wins her by special and consistent 
kindness, and throughout her long domestication 
has kept her wild independence, and ability to 
forage for herself when turned loose, whether in 
forest or city street. It is when she is much loved 
and petted that her intelligence manifests itself, in 
such quiet ways that an indifferent observer will 
never notice them. But she always knows who is 
fond of her, and which member of the family is 
fondest of her.” 
The correspondent who had the experience with 
his pointer dog relates this incident about his blooded 
mare: A drove of horses were pasturing in a 
forty-acre lot. The horses had paired off, as horses 
usually do under such circumstances. The doctor’s 
thoroughbred mare had paired with another mare 
that was totally blind, and had been so since a colt. 
Through the field “ran a little creek which could 
not well be crossed by the horses except at a bridge 
at one end.” One day when the farmer went to salt 
the animals, they all came galloping over the bridge 
and up to the gate, except the blind one; she could 
not find the bridge, and remained on the other side, 
whinnying and stamping, while the others were 
getting their salt a quarter of a mile away. Presently 
the blooded mare suddenly left her salt, made her 
way through the herd, and went at a flying gallop 
down across the bridge to the blind animal. Then 
she turned and came back, followed by the blind 
226 
