The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-06-23
Deferreo matter.
Horses and HOrsemen,

Mr.. Editor One does not have to olive
Away" to learn that light sometimes
comes surprisingly upon what has long re-
NAMED dark problem defying solution.
And it is not necessarily through the dis
covery OF neo truth, always, so much as by
the neW application of some old, Well-knOUn
ones, that light breaks forth. Though not a
farmer, we share with many of them a
hearty enjoyment OF DIR. Hoskins' agricultu-
raj contributions to the WATCHMAN. One
of his last weeks "notes" pierces the
gloom that has enveloped for some fifteen
years certain business transaction in the
Hoosier State to which we were an I'M
sophisticated partner. Says Tor quotes) the
doctor: "A certain class of respectable"
cant we be allowed to raise very tall and
large interrogation point after that word
"respectable?'O "horsemen state that an an
imal known to be twelve or fourteen years
is eight years old, which of course is par
TALLY true" And so this is the logical "
passage-way for sundry horsemen to go
through and come out respectable What
jam " there must be in that quarter 1t
must be just the crowd in which TO look for
the other "partner" to the Aforesaid busi-
ness transaction" He was a young west
erner whose tent was then pitched in In
diana. He came to us one day and said
he wished to leave the place, and would
we buy his horse?" AS the fellow was a
" calamity " to the place and his horse was
the only tie that held him there, it could be
| taken as an appeal to ones public spirit to
buy. Up to that time we had never been in
the enjoyment of horse as its sole pos
sessor-a fact this fellow may have scented
and we were also in pressing need of one.
| We therefore rather admired the fellows
! genius in comprehending these and other
features of the situation and urging trade.
| The first question of moment was the price
asked for the animal, which was found to be
| $45 Inclusive of harness) and plenty of
time" Next in order was the question of
her age. We had never suspected the
owners being of a logical " turn of mind,
or having any consuming desire for "re-
spectability." He may, however, have rea-
soned that " the greater includes the less "
when he answered that the one he bought
it OF said she was seven Tor eight years old
last spring" That whetted the appetite for
a trade, but not without the consultation of
friends should it be made. One of them said
to us, " There is money in her." But there
was no occasion for blindiy following this
opinion, since the thinness of the animal
made an open secret of all there was in her.
Meanwhile, all unconscious of the agitation
over herself, the horse was feeding in a
pasture a mile or two from town. III she
had known it, however, she would doubtless
have been serene, for from what we after
ward learned a new owner must have
ceased to be a novelty to her. To this pas
ture we betook ourself with a halter and
started homeward with her. 1t was sol
emn procession If it were a question Of
how to keep the horse up till we could get
III was IL PTedueT one HOW 10 Keep
dorm questionings concerning her reputed
age. Meeting a farmer acquaintance, we
stopped land nothing was easier for the
horse) and asked his opinion of her age
He looked, and (of course) guessed she
was eight or nine years old.' The process
sion moved on. Another farmer friend was
met. He looked, and guessed She
must be twelve or thirteen" he said; but
to make sure" he advised us to ask GER
tain professional in town. We sought
him out. He looked her in the mouth and
tossed off this staggering decision When
horse gets to be eighteen or twenty years
, of age you can't tell anything by the teeth,
, and she's past that" But we bought her
, and acted upon the advice unwittingly
given afterwards by a kind-hearted Hoosier.
Soon after the purchase through uninten-
tional overlooking, we found her one day
doubled " by the collie. Taking her to a
Y grass-plot in front of the house, her condi-
ton naturally arrested the attention and
sympathy of passers-by, among whom was
this Hooser. He studied her case and told
us that "what she needed was addition
e powders" Truth. And it was long sum
e in I" addition" too, in the way of feed but
. at the end of three or four years she looked
- nearer seven or eight years of age" than
when we began with her. A.