The new Northwest. [volume] (Portland, Or.) 1871-1887, 1876-12-15
Mr.. Butterwiok's Horse
BY MAX ADELER.

called him out to St. Louis, where he
was detained for about six weeks. Dur
ing his absence Mrs. Butterwick as
sumed the responsibility for the manage
ment of the horse, and as she knew as
much about taking care of horses as she
did about conducting the processes of
the side real system, the result was that
Mr.. Butterwick's horse was the uncOn-
scious parent of infinite disaster. When
Butterwick returned, and had kissed his
wife and talked over his journey, the
following conversation ensued. Mrs.
Butterwick said:
"YOu know our horse, dearest ."
'Yes, sweet; how is he getting along?"
mot so Uery well; he has cost a great
deal of money since you've been away"
'Indeed ?"
ayes, besides his regular feed and
Patrick's wages as hOstler, [ have on
hand unpaid bills to the amount of ST.
600 dollars on his accountw
1.-TWO thousand! Why, Emma, you
amaze me! What on earth does it
mean ?n
'Pll tell you the whole story, love.
Just after you left he took a severe cold,
and he coughed incessantly. You could
hear him cough for miles. All the
neighbors complained of it; and Mr..
shot at the horse four times. Patrick
said it was whooping-cough."
"Whooping-cough, darling? Impos-
sible! A horse neUer has whOOping-
cough"
"Well, Patrick said so. And as I al
ways give paregoric to the children
when they cough, l concluded it would
be good for the horse, So I bought a
bucketful, and gave it to him with
sugar"
IA bucketful of paregoric, my love!
1t was enough to kill himw
"Patrick said that was a regular dose
for a horse of sedentary habits, and it
didn't kill him. 1t put him to sleep.
You will be surprised, Henry dear, to
learn that the horse slept straight ahead
for four weeks. Never woke up once.
was frightened about it, but Patrick
told me that it was a sign of a good
horse. He said that Dexter often slept
six months on stretch, and that once
they took Goldsmith Maid to a race
while she was sound asleep, and she
trotted a mile in 2:l5, think he said,
without getting awake"
"Patrick said that, did he?"
"Yes; that was at the end of the sec
Ond week. But, as the horse didn't
rouse up, Patrick said it couldn't be the
paregoric that kept him asleep so long;
and he came to me and asked me not TO
mention it, but he had suspicious that
Mr.. Potts had mesmerized him."
81 never heard of a horse being mes
merized, dearest"
"Neither did /, but Patrick said it was
a common thing with the better class
Of horses. And when he kept on sleep
ing, dear, I got frightened, and Patrick
consulted the horse-doctor, who came
over with a galvanic battery, which he
said would wake the horse. They fixed
the wire to his leg, and turned on the
current. 1t did rouse him. He got uI
and kicked fourteen boards out of the
side of the stable, and then jumped TIE
fence into Mr.. Potts yard, where ht
trod on a litter of young pigs, kickeC
two COWS to death, and bit the tops of
of eight apple trees. Patrick said h'
tried to swallow Mrs. Potts baby; bu
didn't see him do that"
"The man that sold him to me didn't
mention that he was fond of babies"
"But he got over the attack. Tht
only effect was that the paregoric o.
the electricity or something turned hi
hair all the wrong way, and he looked
the queerest you ever saw. o, yes; i
did seem to affect his appetite, too. HI
appeared to be most always hungry
He ate up the hay-rack, and two sets o
harness, and the dasher on the best car
riage. And one night he broke ou
and nibbled off all the doOr-knobs OF
the back of the house, and ate thre,
sheets and a pair of drawers from tht
clothes-line, besides four croquet balls
and one of my old hoOp-skirts."
'tDoor-knobs, Emma? Has he showI
fOndneSs for door knobs ?n
eyes; and he ate Louisa's hymn
book, too. She left it lying on the tabl,
in the porch. Patrick said he knew
man in Ireland whose horse woulC
starve to death unless they fed him OF
Bibles. II he couldn't get Bibles, he'C
take Testaments; but unless he go
scriptures of some kind, he was utterly
intractable."
81 would like to have had look a
that horse, sweet"
$50 we got the horse doctor again
and he said that what the poor anima
wanted was a hypodermic injection 0
morphia to calm his nerves. He tolC
Patrick to get machine for placing tht
morphia under the horse's skin. Blu
Patrick said he could do it without tn,
machine. So one day he got the NOR
phia, and began to bore q hole in thu
horse with gimlet."
81 giGlet, Enma?"
'An ordinary gImlet. But it seemed
unpleasant to the horse, and so he kick
ed Patrick through the partition, break
ing three of his ribs Then I got tht
doctor to perform the operation proper
ly, and the horse after that appeared
right well, excepting that noticed tha
he had suddenly acquired an extraor
dinary propensity for standing on hi
head"
"He is the first horse that ever wanted
to do that, love-"
"Patrick said not. He told me about {
man he worked for in Oshkosh who haC
a team of mules who always stood OIL
their heads when they were not at work
He said all the mules in Oshkosh did
So Patrick tied heavy stone to oul
horses tail, to balance him and keel
him straight. And this worked to 8
charm, until took the horse to church
on Sunday, when, while crowd stood
QrounH him loolspr NJ hi m ho