Sharp County record., 1890-10-23

/ tiOn. For ages the lion has been called
| the king VI beasts. I knock of its cor
/ ouet and put the crown upon the horse,
in every way uobler, whether in shape
or spiri, Of saGacity or intelligence, or
| affection or usefulness. He IS semi
| human, and Knows how 10 reacOn on a
small scale. Thecentaur Of oldsn times,
part horse and part man, seems TO be
suggestion Of the fact that the horse IS
something more than 4 beast
Job sets forth his strength, his beauty,
his majesty, the painting Of his nOstrIL
the pawing Of his hoot and his enthusL-
asm for the battle. What Rosa Bon
/ heur did for the cattle, and what Land
seer did for the dog, Job, with might
| Ter pencil does for the horse. Eighty
eight times does the Bible speak OF
him. He comes into every kingly pro-
cession, and into every great occasion
and into every triumph. 1t is very
evident that Job and David, and Isaiah,
and Ezekiel, and jeremiah, and John
were very fond Of the horse. He came
into much Of their imagery. A red horse
that meant war; black horse-that
meant famine; pale horse-that meant
death; a white horse-that meant VIC
tory.
As the Bible makes a fayorite OF the
horse, the patriarch and the prophet
and the evangelist and the apostle,
stroking his sleek hide, and patting his
rounded neck, and tenderly lifting his
exquisitely formed hoof, and listening
with thrill to the champ of his bit, so
all great natures in all ages have spo-
ken Of him in ecomiastic terms Virgil
in his Georgics almost seems to pla-
giarize from the description of Job. The
Duke of Wellington would not allow any
one ire everently to touch his old war;
horse, Copenhagen, on whom he had
ridden fifteen hours without dismount-
ing at Waterloo; and when old Copen-
agen died, his master ordered a mill
rary salute fired over his grave. John
Howard showed that ne did not ex-
haust all his sympaties in pitying the
human race, for when sick he writes
home: Has my old chaise-horse, Se.
como sick or spoiled?"
But we do not think that the speed OF
the horse should be cultured at the ex-
pense of human degradation Horse
races, in olden times, where under the
ban Of Christian people, and in our day
the same institution has come up under
fictitious names, and it is called a
summer Meeting" almost suggestive
to positive religious exercises. And it
is called Agricultural Fair" sug-
gestive of every thing that is improving
in the art OF farming. But under these
deceptive titles are the same cheating
and the same betting, the same drunk
enness and the same vagabondage au
| the same denominations that were to L
I ound under the old horse-racing syz
| TEN :
| never knew a man yet who could
give himself to the pleasures of the turf
for long reach of time and not be bat
teGed in morals, They hook up their
spanking team, and put on their SPORT
ing cap, and light their cigar, and take
the reins and dash down the road to
perdition. The great day at Saratoga,
Long Branch, and Cape May, and near
lY all the other watering places, is the
day of the races. The hotels are
thronged, nearly every kind Of equip
age is taken up at an al
most fabulous price, and there
are many respectable people
mingling with Jockeys, and the gam
blers and libertines, and foul-mouthed
men and hashy women. The bartender
stirs up the brandy smash. The bets
run high. The greenhorns, supposing
all is fair, put in their money soon
enough to lose it, Three weeks before
the race takes place the struggle is de-
cided, and the men in the secret know
on which steed to bet their money
The two men on the horses riding
around long before arranged who sha Il
beat
| go further and speak of another
temptation that hovers over the water
ng-places; and this is the temptation
to sacrifice physical strength. The
modern Bethesda was meant to recu-
perate the physical strength; and yet
how many come from the watering
places, their health absolutely de-
stroyed! New York and Brooklyn idiots
boasting Of having imbibed twenty
glasses OF Congress water before break
fast Families accustomed to going to
bed at ten o'clock at night, gossiping
| until one or two o'clock in the morning
Dyspeptics usually very cautious about
their health mingling ice-crelms and
lemons and lobster salads and cocoa
nuts, until the gastric Juices Lift IN
all their voices OF lamonation and
protest Delicate women and brain
less young men chassezing themselves
into vertigo and ca tNlepsy. Thousands
ofmenand women coming back from our
watcring-placos in the autumn with
the foundations laid for ailments chat
will last them all their life long. You
know AS we'll rs / do that this is the
simple truth.
( Another temptation hovoring arou nd
The waterng.placo is 10 the formation
Of hasty and lifelong alliance, Tho
waterlng-places are responsible for
moro Of Che domestic infelcitios of this