The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-11-28

AtC LO6u WOuiO nave SGVeIely SIt 10eu kue reputation of the most unblemished char. acter. don't think overestimate the case when say that the worthy parson would have wrestled with sore doubt as to his course toward communicant who should so far forget himself.
 have no intention whatever of finding fault with 8 people who had con.rived to train up race of horses to such exceed ing docility, and whose views upon eques- trian locomotion were so much at vari- ance with what somebody has called the glorious freedom of the saddle" Ca the contrary, when you come to look upon horse solely as a means of loco motion over indifferent roads in a hot climate, utilitarianism is apt to banish showy ambition :; peace and comfort with five miles an hour is found to be incom. parably the best, if not the neblest, aim.
 To curvet around on gravel sweep for quarter of an hour before starting, and to have his arms pulled of afterward, ceases to fascinate the person whose bus mess is transacted on horseback. This was the attitude of my neighbors in Charles county toward the horse Ques- tion.
 have inflicted this too long disquisi- ton on my reader to enable him to par tially realize, at any rate, the rude shock experienced when a real buckjumper of the most eccentric and deceptive descrip- ton crept unawares into our peaceful homes.
 Now, there was living in my house at this time young Englishman ofeighteen, eX~RAHinUlxy rIa onA 1ne4nhscks cated youth he passed for; and though come of great sporting stock, he had, oddly enough, neither past experience nor future ambition for performances in the pigskin. have heard western stock men say that the young English gentle man, admirable though his capacity to stick on horse, and willing enough as he often is, to act the cowboy, destroys his utility and frightens employers by his absolute inability to symp athize with the powers of his horse. These young gen. tlemen, westerners unite in saying, will kill two horses over ob that should scarcely test the endurance of one, so un- necessarily do they bucket them.
 My young friend, whom l shall call Sam, did none of these things. He was one of those rare young Bitishers who had no taste and no natural aptitude for riding. Oa the other hand, he took ex- ceeding care of the horse, which was necessary both to his business and his pleasure. 1 might add in his behalt that he rarely let partridge get away, and is, to this day, the terror of all provincial igeon-shooters.
 The colt which he was riding at this time was quite unworthy of remark. It had been raised in the neighborhood, and would as soon have thought of per petrating the least bad manners as it would of singing hymn. Upon one un- lucky day, however, that unaccountable youthful impulse, from which even Sam was not free, suggested change of steeds. The boy had gone upon a certain occa- sion to city some t~enty miles off, and in the evening he returned upon another beast. He had, he said, traded off the colt. Now, 1t was the first trade that Sam had ever attempte l, and my anxiety was not lessened when learned that the scene of this transaction had been liv- cry stable which was famous even above it's compeers for sharp dealing. Nothing, however, cou.d be urged against the new conner. She was big, loose knit under bred looking, five-year-old bay mare, ap- parently, and, as she afterward proved to be, perfectly sound. Sam said she would run in harness, clear advantage over the departed colt. In fact, the adv ntage Sam had gained in the transaction was specifically so uuquestion able that was filled with the gravest suspicion.
 The mare did everything she professed to do. She was extraordinarily dull ul . der the saddle, duller even than her pre- decessor, which was saying a gooo deal But as she was a big horse, and broken to everything, knew very we'll that her mere saddle qualities would not in that district have influenced this particular bargain.
 Days and weeks passed on, and l be- gan to put that livery stable keeper down as social phenomenon.
 Now, it happe aed that Sam and had to do great deal of riding together, and | that mare became perfect nuisance on account of her sluggishness. My own sleed was common and by no means fast moving cob, but go at what pace l would, Sam and the n are were inv ari ably twenty yards behiad. The conversation 6 (C, | and for two months we rode about the couatry single file and in silence. One day was ambling along, half asleep, the usual seven or eight lengths ahead of Sam, when heard sort of scuffllng sound behind. looked round and beheld the boy upon his back on the ground, and the mare blinking at him, with her head dropping and the reins hanging loose on her neck.
 "All right" sung out the unsophisti. cated youth as he gathered himself up and proceeded to remount "I over. reached myself trying to buckle up the mar,ingale and slipped cfE' Under other circumstances 1t would have oc- cured to me that he managed to roll pretty clear ot the road, but as it was l thought nothing more of it, and we moved on.
 A month passed by, and the mare dis, l nguiShed herself by nothing SO far as