Mower County transcript., 1890-02-05
STORIES ABOUT HORSES

"A wrAter IN HarperB Magazine saws
that horse when tied in the stable
should "always be kept 50 that he may
see the passers-by and ths other horses,
ana thus amuse and occupy himself ~
That Is good plan, but think mine is
! still better. own one Of those intelli.
gent horses myself. I have never no
ticed him politely passing hay" to the
other horses in the stable, but possibly
that Is because there are no other
norses' l have frequently observed him
dividing his oats with the hens, which
Is much the same thing. And he has
the hay fever, just like folks" Yes.
indeed. But was going to speak about
making provisions for his hours in the
stable. When he is to be left alone any
length OF time. we always place the
morning paper, q copy OF the Nation
and late magazine or two in his feed
box, and he looks over them with great
interest. On one occasion he so plainly
resented my taking away a late
magazine, q number containing some
wonderful stories about real dogs
which wished to show the
terra Gotta pug, that I looked to see
what article so deeply interested the
noble animal. found he was in the
midst OF bright sketch of travel in the
"Feed-ye islands," Don't tell me q
horse hasn't human intelligence. The
fact Is, the people who sneer at these
stories OF the remarkable intelligence
OF animals are coarse and unintelligent
people, who know nothing about ami
mails. The more people study their
brute companions, the more clearly and
correctly do they understand, neigh,
! comprehend them. Look at the wild
Indian; what he doesn't know about
horses 'n't worth knowing. And he be-
lieves his horse will 20 to Heaven with
him. Whether the horse believes that
the Indian will go to Heaven or not, we
have no means as yet of ascertaining.
This horse of mine, ] am confident, has
opinions on the subject, because one of
his favorite books is ''Barns n Oats on
Timothy" He is, however, I grieve to
say, heartless sort of brute; the sound
| OF whoa never moves him. Like
all well-bred horses, he has a
| certain sense of humor, and one
day, when my little boy quoted, in his
presence, the line: "How tall was Alex
ander, pap the intelligent animal i'm
mediately replied: 'Box STALL" and
burst into horse laugh. Upon one oc-
casion, when every thing on the road
had passed US, overheard him saying
to himself, slowly: 1T pace to go slow"
He IS horse of contented disposition,
although sorrow has left her traces along
his ribs. l had to get the rest of the
harness myself. Like all intelligent
horses, he likes to be amused and played
with. I used to play with my horses a
great deal, to keep them from becoming
low-spirited and homesick. But I
haven't for long while, now. Last
time had any fun with horse he was
new one. noticed that he seemed
out of tune with his environments. He
wore his ears fat back on his neck, and
had his eyes rolled back and held in
place with white folds OF the same.
He looked about as companionable
and pleasant as q Umatilla cayuse
So l thought l would 60 in and brisk
him up with a little game. He didn't
seem to understand Halma or Parchesi,
nor Fox and Geese, as the story-book
horses do, so I proposed game of romps
as something more suited to his un-
| cultured mind. 1 smote him a resound-
ing thwack under the bosom, after the
manner of horsemen, and cried gaily:
''Come up and come overt" He did both,
at once. Igot down and went under.
My man, who was bedding strawberries
on the sunny side of the barn, said If I
had told him was going to come out of
that window he would have left it open.
Still it made no great difference. It
was cheap window, anyhow; don't
suppose the whole thing cost more than
eighty-seven cents, glass and all.
Eh? You say ''some of these wonder
full stories about horses are hard to be-
lieve? Nonsense; you get a horse or a
dog of your own. In six weeks you'll
believe any thing you tell about either
Of them. But will other people? Well,
yes; that is, they will believe as much
of your story as you believe of theirs;
what more do you want?-Burdette, in
Brooklyn Eagle.
The Best Of All Cribs.
A mother says: "A clothes-basket
makes one of the incest possible cribs
for baby. All my children were
raised in q clothes-basket and ham
mock, with never q cradle or crib. It
was large-sized one (the basket, I
mean), with handles at the ends. For
the first baby it was covered with blue
silesia and dotted Swiss. But when the