The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1873-10-29
Some Horse.

hc"''y pick ont any day of the einht
w"icn that animal passed in our socie
~. He was cnmely beast, with lone
limbs, Il straight body, and eyes that
would rival those of an eagle in Look
ing hungry.
When he came into the yard we al!
went ont to look at him. 1t was y u
evening clear, bright, and beautiful.
MY parents stood near the well. hold
my The animal by the halter. We had
d"s, black and white; and il there
ever was dog who thou ht he had a
head slowed full of knowledge, it was
that dog.
H"w plainly I can see him approach
that yellow horse, to smell of his head.
tie ought 10 have got more of q smell
fi.an hr did, considering that he lost
the greater part of one ear in tie at
tempt. 1t was done SO quick that it is
l"ssih'e we would not have k ow Il
anything ahoHt it, had the dog not spo-
ken "f it himself.
lie never smelt of that yellow horse
again. The flavor wasn't what he had
been used to-, think.
Three DAYS later, when he was turn
ing around, to speak to Il flea near his
tail. as is customary with dogs, that
yellow horse unexpectedly reached
down. aud took a mnuthfuI of spinal
joints ont of the dogs back, and the
'n"rt'icati'n from being thus can.ht
preyed =" heavily npon the dogs mind
lsaf I,t,. Il,
Thar evening mother interested IA
her with an account of Cape,'s. death
while he was waiting for to replace
the collar the yellow horse that after
noon had suatc!,ed from his hest coat.
And thus time passed. But the
horse lost none of it. There wasn't
neiS'hnr within half-mile of our
house but l'nre some mark of that aui
mails friendship. Like death, he was
II" resrecter of persons. He never
stopped to inquire whether IL man was
w"rII, II mil ion dollars or ten cents
when reaching for him. He may have
had sante curiosity about it a forwards,
but he never showed it.
Finally people came to avoid him
when they met HIM on the street. Fl
| d mt think they did it purposely, but
it seemed! To cone natural tn them to
rush through the first doorway or over
the most convenient fence when they
saw him approach. This inexpIicaulc
dread communicated itself to the very
dogs on The street; hut before they had
come fairly tn understand him, he had
suc"ec'ied in reducing the price of a
winter breakfast luxury to almost II
mere song.
After that they looked mp TO him
will, the respect rxactcd by a HindOn
gnh With two changes Of nndcrciutheS,
ard no dog within three blocks of ia
would think of going to sleep ut night
wiilnnt first cunning over to see if that
horse was locked up. 1t was instinct,
pr"hably.
My lmrentnever enjoyed a single day
of the ei Int he was the sole po>srssor of
the animal. He nipped away some por
tin, ut him once in while. Ny par
ent was not rrntanc man, bnt he was
snrrly tempted to I've every hour in the
day. The man who lived next to It's
was II profound swrarer. He owned II
horse that was Il model of goodness in
every reSPect--as gentle as u lamb, AMI
as l"vabe us II girl OF sixteen. My
father could never understand this. He
always spoke of it as one OF the inscru-
table ways of Providence.
There was only one person that had
anything to d" with the animal who
came ont of that fiery ordeal unscailed.
He was the hired man, and he owned
his salvation to IL misfortune. He was
cross eyed. He was Il great source of
misery to that yellow horse. The mis-
formation of his eyes was calculated to
deceive even smarter beings. TIE
beast kicked ut him few times when
he was evidently looking the other way,
but that was just the time he was bear
ing one eye strongly on him, and he
missed; and when he really was not
lacking was just the time the beast
thought he was, and 81 it went through
the entire eight days, both stomach
and heels yearnins for morsel OF him,
but never getting It.
am sure there never was such an
other horse to kick and bite. He did
it sn unexpected, too. He wonId be
looking ut IL stranger square i'll The face,
apparently about to communicate in,
formation Df value. aud then suddenly