St. Landry democrat., 1886-08-14
hEROlC BRAVERY.
The Noble Steed Which an Ague Sufferer
Was About to Brave.

! life, and when the doctor proposed u
| change his mode of treatment from
quinine to horse back exercise was
little dubious as to the outcome.
My bump of caution is very large, re-
snlting in rare development OF my
running qualities. |, like so many
other self-made men, do not know what
fear is, but | always have preclpltate
inclination to show dangerous foe now
my coat fits in the back, and am always
very generous in lending enchantmens
to the view, distance being no object,
just so there's enough of it between us.
Contrary to report. | am not reckless,
but when close pressed by a too inquls-
tive dog, / have been known to scale
ten-rail fence with an abandon that
would reflect glory on survivor OF the
noble Six Hundred.
Now the time had come to show my
nerve. The change from two-graln
pills to a full-grown horse would have
dismayed most people, but my great
grandfather landed on Plymouth Rock
just tritie ahead of the May Flower,
didn't like the soil and came west. and I
resolved not to disgrace him. Our
neighbor owned a horse whose daily
business consisted in running wood
saving and Iresolyed, despite
my wife's entreaties. to borrow the ami
NAL on the following Sunday. The CON-
tract was made without trouble. 3took:
every precaution to have things 60 right,
and, under pretense of watching them
saw wood, narrowly scanned the ac-f
tions of the horse in the box. He was a
picturesque looking animal; beautifut
range of hills running along his back
while the landscape on either side was
much broken and diversified. He had
good steady gait, and making my calcu-
lations from the number of revolutions
the wheel at the saw made, judged he
could make the mile post in 2:29. That
seemed like pretty quick time, and
when | told my wife about it she begged
me not to 90. But l remembered
Plymouth Rock, and went next day
to gain more pointers. The horse
was diamond in the rough" /
think you could have scratched a plate
glass window with most any corner of
him. | always noticed q peculiar CLEAN
n the eye of the soap-grease man when
ne looked at him, and he was connois-
'eur. The horse had pathetic droop
o his upper lip, and must have had a
history. On his right flank was brand
,f an ark with rainbow in the back
ground, indicating great antiquity.
ook him an ear of corn one day, and
when | held it up to his good eye, he
lid not recognize it. They were plainly
strangers, and the horse jumped back
Is though he thought it was loaded.
Is l watched, the possibilities in that
!orse grew, as likewise did my admira-
ION. Travelling, as he always did, up
ill, the sections of his backbone had
lind O settled towards his tail and
eemed to have little life in them. But
ust let the saw strike knot in the log,
nd the way he'd couple that train OF,
ones and start up grade would ring q
heer from u six-driver locomotive. T
hink he dissipated on "anti-fat," and
1hen he'd gather up his forces for a
nal squirt he d make Haverly's "bones''
reen with envy.
My wife, meanwhile, was busy pre-
airing for my Sunday excursion. She
ad life-preserver rolled up to put un-
er the tail-board of the saddle, some
andages and splints, a canteen of cold
20 and bottle of patent iniment I
lggested, scarcastically, that fog
orn would add to the general effect of
he collection, but she said the almanac
sid Sunday would be a clear day. so
absided. These preparations for war
'oked so much like reality that I be-
an to inquire into the habits of the
orse more closely. They said he got
'ose one night and ate up a tub of
'ft soap; ate all the bristles off of the
og's back and the brush end of the
room. All this from pure viciousness,
II they had given him a pintcup level
I'll of oats two days before. He snap.
ed a straw hat off of the preachers f
oy's head and swallowed it-bucklea
I'D all. 1t was considered utter reck-
ssness to leave kindling-wood or
lavings within his reach. From this
me onI had no peace. Could I, as the,
lad of family. even in an attempt to
gain my health, risk my life on such
steedp
Saturday night slept but little, but
lnday morning brought relief. Some
ID boys had broken into the horses {
able the previous night and poured al
,ck of oats into his feed box. Thew
und him dead and the oats untouched!
ne verdict of the soap-grease man ali
e post-mortem examination was thai
} came to his death from palpitationI
the heart superinduced bv fright. In
his long life he had never Seen So
any oats before.-Cor. Reck's San.
Not New Discovery.
D. ,-lo.- vTL:, :; 81