Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1882-09-27
Beasts OF Burden,
THE UNTOLD MIsRRIEs wiiion MANY or
THEN HATE 20 EsDpRK,

THE UNTOLD MIsRRIEs WHICH MANY on
THEN HATE 70 HSpuhK'
A California paper relates clreum'
stance which once more suggests that
there Il nothing sadder IL nature than
tho life Of q beast Of burden, There
Is, says this paper, still existing q mule
which il one IT the pioneers OF 1910,
II was kept by It's original owner IN
Calaveras county until he died, u few
years ago, and Is now owned by u
Chlnaman, who gets all tho work he
can out Of tho poor old creature, Such
Il tho career, though not 50 long pro-
tFaeIed, says tho New York Times, Of
niue horses out Of ten, Up 10 three, aud
sometimes four, years old they are quite
happy, Then comes period OF, say
seven years, when some lead u llle OF
the highest artificial equine luxury,
while others are very hard At work,
but still Ia tho enjoyment Of health and
strength enabling them to bear up
against tho brutality and gross stupid
ily to which they are exposed, In tho
end, however, nearly all come to the
samc low level, Tho thoroughbred
aud the hardy roadster fluid common
sad fate, As for the street car horse,
lis time Of misery must DO held to date
from the time no enters that service,
when his "poor feet" never know what
II IL 10 bc OF those terrible cobblc
stones, by the end Of three years the
ruin Of the legs Of most Of these car
lorscs has been completed, aud thcn
they are sold of to the large class who
understand extracting the maximum Of
work with the minimum Of food, All
over the city may be seen animals at-
tachcd TO junk carts and dlapidatcd
expresses, which literally have not q
leg to stand upon. Watch the poor
things Tor moment standing, aud you
will SEQ them shift painfully from leg
to leg, so as to give one an occasional
rest, Many IRE lame Of both fore
aud hind foot, and cannot move with
ont great distress some cannot posi-
bly, get beyond walk without creating
IN exhibition which might raise q cry
of "Bcrgh !" A long way up town,
near the East river, there is n market
for animals of this Kind, and any hui
name person attending it must reflect
that the existence of horses is one of
the most inscruablc in the arrange
mcnts of providence. Here are ami
mails, presumably innocent Of offence,
condemned to long years Of the cxtrcm-
est misery, without remedy or appeal;
for can any misery be much greater
than, with weak, sick old body, and
terribly tender feet, to be attached to n
heavy load driven by man with q
heavy whip, day after day, until they
are on the verge of utter exhaustion!
A few months ago some benevolent
person in Connecticut discovered that q
farmer there adopted the economical
plan of buying up town horses utterly
unfit for further use and working them
to death on his farm. They managed
to get him heavily fined, but probably
not until he had in this fashion tortured
dozens of animals to death. IF as
children people were taught to think
more Of the suffering entailed on these
animals, there would be far less of it.
The clergy by occasionally preaching
on the subject may do much, as they
have done in England, but mothers
might do much more.