St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1873-02-14
Mr.. Stiver's Horse.

! NHoSc mouse we I'VE, had been callet
away and wanted to know if | woul,
see t" his horse through the day.
| knew that Mr.. Silver owned hon Sc
because | occasionally Saw him drive i
out of the yard, and | SAW the stabl,
every day, but what kind of Il horse il
was didn't know. never went int
the stable for two reasons: in the tirs
place had no desire to, and secondly
| didn't know as the horse cared BAR
ticularly for company.
never took care of IL horse in nv
lltr, and had | been OF il less hopeful
nature, the charge Mr. Silver had left
with me Night lave bad .:l.Sxess de-
| pressing effect. but | told Mrs. Perkins
/ | would do it.
You know how to take care of a
horse. don't .you - said she.
| gave her IL reassuIing wink. In
fact | knew So little about it. that !
didn't think it safe to converse more
tluemtly than 10y winks.
After breakfast seized il toothpick
and walked out to the stable. There
was nothing particular to do. as Silver
had given him his breakfast. and
found him eating it, So looked around
The horse looked around. too; and
stared pretty hard at me. There was
but little said on either side. | hunted
up the location of the feed, and then
sat down on Il peek measure. and fell to
stud In% ihc beast. There is il wide
difference i'll HORSES. Some of them will
Kick You over, and never look around
i" see what becomes of YOU. | don't
like Il disposition like that. and won
drrcd if >tiver'> horse WAS one of them.
W hen came home at noon | went
straight To the stable. The animal WAS
there all right. Silver hadn't told me
what 10 give him for dinner. and had
not gwen the subject any thought but
went to the oat box and filled the
peck measure. and sailed up to the
mangcr.
When he SAW the oats he almost
smiled: this pleased and amused him.
| rmpticd them into the trough and
LEFT hlm above me To admire the WAY
parted my hail behind. just got my
head up III tlmc to save the whole of it.
He had his ears back. his mouth open.
and 10 'kcd as if he We're on the point of
committing murder. | went out and
TILED the measure again. and climbed
up the side of the stall and empticd it
on top of him. He brought his head mp
:" suddenly at this that | Immediately
got down. letting 90 of everything to
do it. struck on the sharp edge of ii
barrel and rolled over IL couple OF times.
and then disappeared under a hay cut
ter. The peck measure went down on
the other side. and got my>tcIiouslv
tangled up i'll that animals heels. and
he went to work at it. and then emSued
the most dreadful noise | ever heard in
all my life. and | have been married
eighteen Years.
It did seem a> if | never would get
ont from that hay-cuttcr. and all the
while WAS struggling and wrcnching
my self and the cutter apart. that awful
beast wa> kicking around in that stall.
and making the most appalling sounds
Imaginable.
W hen | got ont. | found Mrs. Perkins
at the door. She had heard the racket.
and mad sped out To the stable. her only
Thought of me and three stove lids
which she had under her arm. and one
ut which she WAS about To fire at the
beast.
This made me mad.
Ito AWAY. You umf 'rtunate idiot" |
do Nou want to knock my
brains out - For | remembered see
ing Mrs. Perkins sling Il missile once
before. and that | nearly lost tlIe Use of
an eye hN the operation, although
standing "n til" opposite SIDE of the
house at the time.
She retired AT once. And at the
>amr time the animal quoted down.
hul there WAS nothing left of that peek
measure. not even the makers name.
| followed Mrs. Perkins into the
house, and had her do me up. and then
1 sal down on chair. and fell into Il
profound train of meditation. After
awhile | felt better and went out to the .
stable again. The horse wis leaning
against the stable stall, with eyes partly
closed. and appeared to he very much /
tngros>cd in thought.
"Strp of To the left" | said. rubbing
his back.
He didn't step. got the pitchfnrk /.
and punched him in the leg with the
handle. He Immediately raised up
both hind legs at once. and that fork /
flew ont of my hands. and went rattlimg
up against the timhcrS above. and came
down again i'll an instant. the end of
The handle rapping me with such force
III the top of the head. that | sat right
down on the floor, under the impress
SION that was standing in front of IL
lrug store in the evening. | went
back into the house. and got some more
stun on me. But the Perkins grit wa>
rnm that stable went nuI ther.
,,,.,i, rho tI,,u,rL, ,t,m,.l, ,,.. ,I,,t
tL.,t tb. animal v..,nt..J u..,S ,.y.,.,.is,.
If th,t tbnnrht had haan ~, .rnnt, rIv-