The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1874-01-29

! llluu llOSS IL IL Gltlu HIS llSttu Oll, SlI. Ii
you don't take him out, he'll be so wild
that he'll bust the machine to flinders,
sirW
The threatented catastrophe seemed
so alarming that [ took him out, al
though / had important work to do at
home. The next day | wanted to stay
up in the city to go to the lecture; but
that morning early the horse displayed
an alarming amount Of friskiness, and |
felt as if I must exercise him. L drove
him for three hours at a rapid gait, and
succeeded in working off at least the
exuberance of his spirits.
On the following Wednesday / came
home in the afternoon exhausted with
work, and intending to retire at an early
hour. At half-past six o'clock Chubb
came in. He remarked
"Adeler, that horse of yournll go
crazy if you don't move him around.
He kicks like tlint-lock musBet now,
if you come within forty feet of the
stable"
/ vent out and hitched up, and that
night | drove twenty-four miles at a
frightful speed. Horses have, perhaps,
gone further and faster, but few have
been pushed forward with smaller re-
gard for consequences. Nothing but a
recollection of the cost of the no Sc re-
strained me from driving him into the
river and leaving him there.
BY degrees the despicable brute be-
came the curse of my existence. Ii |
desired to go on a journey, the restless
ness of the horse had first to be over
come. If received an invitation to
party, the horse must be exercised be-
forehand. If / had an important article
to write, must roam around the coun-
try behind that horse for two or three
hours, holding him in with such force
that my hands were made too unsteady
for penmanship. If | wanted to take a
row on the river-an exercise OF which
| am passionately tond-that accursed
animal had to be danced up d down
the turnpike in order to keep him from
kicking the stable to pieces. And he
was recommended to me as "urbane y
He made my life unhappy. I became
depressed and morose, and even some-
times, when amid a circle of friends,
there was provocation to laughter, and
| participated in the general hilarity, |
would suddenly buvvuto conscious uf
the fact that the horse was in active
existence, and the mirth would be ex-
tinguished in gloom. He mingled with
nv dreams. Visions of bOb-tailed
horse consuming spectral oats and kick
ing with millions of legs disturbed my
rest at night. 1 rushed with him over
countless leagues of shadowy road, and
plunged with him over incomprehensi-
BILE prccipices. He ORGANIZED himself
into hideous nightmare shapes, and
charged wildly over me as / slept, and
filled all the air of that mysterious
slumber land with the noise of his de-
moniac neighing.
The reality was bad enough, without
The unreal nocturna! horrors. | might
have sold the brute, but my wife really
wanted to have horse, and | wished to
oblige her. But it was very wearing to
bear about constantly the feeling OF re-
sponsibility which the animal engcn-
dered. [ had to choose between driving
him continually and having the lives OF
the members of my family imperiled
when they took him out, and the con-
sciousness that, whether there was sick
ness or business, storm or earthquake,
calamities or death, the horse must be
driven, gradually placed me in the po.
sition of man who is haunted by some
dreadful specter, which cllngs to him
and overshadows him forever and fore
ever.
The perpetual nervous worry told
upon me. became thin. My clothing
hung loose upon me. | took up two
inches in my waiscoat strap. The ap-
petite which enabled me to find enjoy
mcnt mt the table deserted me. The
food seemed tasteless, and if in the
midst of the meal the neigh of the horse
came eddying mp through the air from
the stable, turned away with feeling
of disgust, and felt as if / wanted to
prod somebody with the carving knife.
One day my wife said to me :
"Mr. Adeler, you know that | urged
you strongly to buy that horse, and /
thought he would do, but -
"But now You want to sell him y |
exclaimed quickly, and with delight.
every well I'll send him to the auc-
tioneer's this very day"
81 wasn't going to say that" she re-
marked. "What I want to mention
was, that nearly everybody in good cir
cumstances about here drives a pair,
and / think we ought to get another
horse; don't you, my dear? It's so
much nicer than having only one.
"Mrs. Adeler, ] said solemnly, "that
one horse down there in tie stable now
has reduced me to a skeleton, and made
me perfectly miserable. I will do as
you say if you insist upon it; but tell
you plainly that if another horse is
brought upon these premises, / shall 60
mad"
"Don't speak in that manner, my
dear"
81 tell you, Mrs. Adeler, that shall
go stark, staring mad Take your
choice /; go without the horse or have q
maniac husband"
She said, of course, that she would
do without the horse.
But the affection was suddenly and
unexpectedly removed. My horse had
a singularly brief tail, and 1 thought
that it might be that some of his violent
demonstrations in the stable were in
duced by his inability to switch off the
flies which lighted upon sensitive por.
tions of his body. 1t occurred to me to
get him up an artificial tail for home
use, aud / procured a piece OF thick
rope for the purpose. There was, too,
a certain humorousness about the idea
that pleased me, and as the amount OF
locularity which that horse had OCCASION
ed had, thus far, been particularly small
the notion had peculiar attractiveness,