, 1870-06-12
a KNOWING HORSE,

OF tie wilderness part of ii, ut lcast-I Was
frequently employed by correspondents from
abroad to search out certain sections of 1ADd
and report az to their value, timber, quality Of
went on horseback, using favorito old family
horse. 10 find the particular section de-
scribed, would first find a surveyors - blazed
line," and follow il up until found =
I" corner-post,' where would find the .'cot-
ner-trees marked with the number Of the
port Was the boundary then by glauce at
the map, could tell at once the distance and
direction of the section / WAS in search Of,
and would follow the blazed lines accord
ingly. On one occaEion-a dismal, foggy day
Il had gone longer distance from home
that was stranGe to me- After making tho
survey, the fog came on so very thick that
dare not take my usual course Of returning by
direct route, without regard TO the angles Of
the surveyor, but started on blazed line
leading neareet to the required direction. Be-
which was impossible on horseback, and I
was forced to go round it. After I had got
on the opposite side, could not find The Line
agnin, and, after searching some little time,
gave it up, and threw the reins upon the
neck OF the hotee and bade him 70 home;
prefersing to trust to his instinct to find the
way, rather than my own Judgment as to the
proper direction to be taken. We had not
gone many rods before noticed the blazed
Trees, for which had been looking, aud my
curiosity was at once excited to kEow whether
the horse really noticed the faint marks on
ipgly, left the reins perfectly free, and was
soon satisfied beyond doubt that such was
tho fnct, for, on coming to q fallen tree or
other obstruction, he would 60 round it, re-
turn to the line, and follow it without mis-
take: in fact, he seemed to find the line more
readily than could myself: A1terward. I
tested him time and again. It made no dn-
ference whether the direction was to or from
home Once start him On surveyor line,
and he would follow it unerringly. II the
direction was from home, on coming to q cor
ner-post he would make stop, as if to in
qui1e whether to keep straight on, or turn to
the right or left. This was only one Of many
withstsnding the old fellow waa SO docile and
knowing, 7 could never persuade him to let
me- shoot game from his back; and. after q
few attempts, Was forced to give it up, He
would not let me even mount linn with the
gun in my hand, OF allow it to be handed to
me after had mounted. He appeared to
hnve hor1W Of firearms; perhaps be had
noticed the result Of their use on the game,
and YVES afraid of some time getting . shot
himself. With another horse I tried IN ex-
pertinent that never should have thought Of,
except for the intelligence, il not reasoning
power, displayed by an old favorite. had
bought horse in Milwaukee, jet-black, and
perfect beauty Of a horse-which was said to
have been casght from drove Of wild horses
On the Te1ns I1A,ries- He Was gentle aud do
Gle enough while in hand, but once loose, there
Was no such thing az catching him again byany
Of the ordinary means nsed for catching horsea.
In fact, the man from whom purchased him,
after chasing him for days with relays Of horses
from his Gyelystable, bad been obliged, At last,
to "crease " him, in order to catch him-f. e.,
to shoot him through the top Of the neck, just
above the neck-bone, temporarily paralyzlng
him, without doing him permanent injury.
This, to be successfully performed, requires
good marksman; for, If the ball struck an
inch too low, the shot would be fatal. After
had been his oHnar aomo six or eight
monthH, hs Ent 1ooee in the fall Of the year,
and took to the woods near bE. used to
see him often, but he would never let me
approach anywhere near him After SNOW
fe1l in the winter, and feed became scara in
the woods, he coul1 occasionally be seen in
the evening near the stable, and used to
leave the door open until bedtime, and some-
times as late rs 2 o'clock at night, and
place measure Of oats and salt within tempt
ing distance inside the stable, in hopes that
he would 60 in but he was not to be entrap-
ped in that WAY. At last began to cast about
for the reason why he would not venture to zen. e.
ter the stable Willie the door stood invihngly
open and no person in sight, and / came to the
CONCLUSION that the horse reasoned after this
manner: "AH long as lights are burning in
the house. people are stirring about, and
l am Liable to surprise; after the
Lights arc out there is no more stir for the
night, and il the door was left open, might
venture in with safety" Iakingit for granted
that had solved the problem cor7ectlT, I hid
my plans accordingly: Attaching one end Of
rope to the handle Of the stable door,
passed the other end through the window OF
the house, which commanded a view OF the
situation, and, at the usual hour for retiring.
Lad the lights put out and everything Espt
quiet The result was IL had hoped, rather
than expected The lights had not been ont
more than ten Or fifteen minutes before the
horse cautiously approached and entered the
stable The trap vas sprung, and We had him
safe How this Affected his reasoning facul-
ties can't tell, but ho must evidently have
considered himself taken in. That the horse
Wonld not have gone into the stable had the
lights been LETT burning don't pretend to
say; ] give the facts as they occurred Bat
| am satisfied, from more than thirty yearz'
Close observation, that the horse observes
and makes (rneutal) note OF great deal
more than is generally supposed,