Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1882-08-23

Il Sy d b as nsss % h BAES S
the Boardl
The history of this noble animal rs re-
CARDS his origin or natural locality and the
period of his first subiugation is involved
in obscurity. Zoologically considered the
family consists Of the single germs. dis.
Itinguished from all other animals by hav-
ing one single toe, and II single hoof on
each foot. The different species of equines,
as the zebra and the ass, so resemble each
other in outward form and eternal econ
omy, that the description of the one would
answer for all. They live rarely more than
thirty years. Almost every part of n horse
after death is useful to mantle skin for
gloves, hair for cloth, bones for buttons
and grinding into fertilizers, flesh for
hounds if not for man, hoois for glue, in.
tesines for the manufacture of delicate
membraneous tissues. His native place
not certain; thought to be brought under
subiugation in Asia or in northern adjacent
TO Nubia and Abysinia. The ass was pre-
ferred by nations OF antiquity as more
easy of management, harder nature,
cheaper kept, ETC.; when great wealth
became common the horse was preferred
The horse is found wild in North Asia and
America, descendants undoubtedly of do
mestcated; probably none exist in nativ.
| ity. We have the Shetland pony. mustang,
| Arabian. Most countries have peculiar
breed adapted to soil and climate. Horses
are found to be contemporaneous with the
mastodon and megalonyx. Fossil horse
is found in the old world in the pliocene
of Europe with the msstodon, and through
all the diluvial period and upper territory
of Asia before the advent of man. Some
claim the fossil horse is found upon this
continent.
There can be no doubt that the reduc-
ton Of the horse to domestcatod state
was the greatest acquisition from the
animal kingdom ever made by the art of
man. We learn from sacred writing that
he is of eastern origin, and 1t is very prob.
able that the Egyptians were first to re
duce him to servitude. The first notice of
the horse occurs about $50 years before
the deluge, when Joseph who gave them
bread in exchange for horses and for their
fiocks, etc. Very soon after mention is
made of the venerable patriarch Jacob
when diving in Egypt, addressingihis son,
said, Dan shall be q serpent by the way.
an adder in the path that biteth the horses
heels, so that his rider shall fall back
ward" When the body of Jacob was
removed from Egypt to Canaan by his
son Joseph for burial we are told there
went up with him both chariots and horse.
men. And we find that Pharaoh in the
pursuit Of the 1sraelites employed numer
Gus chariote. That they were very rare
among the Hebrews in the early ayes is
not to be questioned. The patrarchs had
none, and after the departure ofthe Israel
ties from Egypt, God expressly forbade
their ruler to procure them. His words
are, ale shall not multiply horses to him
self, nor cause the people to return to
Egypt, to the end that he should multiplv
horses; for as much as the Lord hath said
yo shall henceforth return no more that
way" In the time of the Judges we find
horses and war chariots among the Ca.
nantes, but still the Israeli!es had none
David's enemies brought against him n
strong cavalry force. Solomon, hayinr
married daughter of Pharaoh, procured
breed of horses from Egypt, and so
greatly did he multiply them, that he Ind
four hundred stables, forty thousand stalls
and twelve thousand horsemen. Herodo.
tus expressly states that Xerxes obtained
a portion of his cavalry from Etbiopia
Thus we SEQ that Egypt and its adjacent
country must be reasonably regarded AS
his primitive habtation.
As the wild horses. which are now found
in various parts Of the world, appear tn
have originated from domesticated stock
they afford no clue to the elucidation nj
the point in question, other than the con.
clusion to which we have arrived. The
numerous herds of wild horses existing
on the plains of Tartary do not appear TO
have been indigenous to that country; and
the still greater number which inbabit
South America are carly traced to the
horses which the Spaniards introduced
into that part of our continent from
Europe; and ancient writers tell us that
when the American Indian first saw n
man on horseback, they thought the m IN
and the horse to be one and the same: A
kind of centaur growing,
Unto his seat
AZ he bad been encorrs'd and demi -natured
With the brave beast"
Never the conviction dawped upon rs
that we could do without this noble animal.
family pet, a creature of force and intel.
ligence, graceful, noble, grand; efficient
in times Of peace In cultivatlng our farms
in carrying US from town to town, village
to village.