Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1894-11-30
BILL NYE ON DOCKEO TAILS.

1.-TWO Little Boys in Blue, FrOhtenac,
writes ave have IA debating club here,
and recently we have taken up the
question, Resolved, That it is not iusti-
fable to dock the tails of horses What
is your oplnion?"
NV own opinion is that it is not iustl-
fable, but more honored in the breach
than in the observance, if you will per-
nit a delicate pun caused by the hot
weather and overwork.
1t is fashion which is feebly defend
ed by fashionable people only. My own
stud is free from locked horses and my
stables from the overdraw check. The
overdraw check is as injurious to the
comfort and beauty of the horse as it is
to ones equilibrium at the bank.
A high authority says recently in
The Country Gentleman that the only
excuse offered for docking horses-viz.,
that it prevents their getting their tails
over the line and keeping them there
is entirely exploded by recent eXper-
mcnts.
The docking process besides aggra-
Yates the nervousness and senstiveneSs
of the horse regarding his tail, and so de-
feats Its very object. However, as
said moment ago, it is merelya fashion,
ranking along with that of cutting an
eyelet in the nose and wearing bone
collar button in it. peculiar to barbarOus
dudes, or the silly custom of natteuing
the head of child by putting him in Il
crude Squattng IN chine during infancy.
In Africa there is Il social set of people
who bore IA hole in the upper lip and
wear peg of ivory in the buttouhole.
while others cut or burn long burrows
along the front breadths of their bodies.
so as to raise huge ridges and cicatrices,
which they regard as beautiful and
aristocratc.
The tenderest portion of horses
body is that quarter easily defended by
long tail. but entirely out of reach of
a locked horse. | cannot bear to look
at crazed animal beating the air wildly
with his pathetic stump while the mad
deniug flies are singing his poor little
stomach.
cannot be patient with those who
follow this wicked custom in order that
they may be considered fashionable.
The man who does this, knowing the
facts regarding it, is the man who pulled
flies to pieces when u boy. and if his
wife really endorsed it her family ought
to have the coffee analysed every MORN
ing.
And how can locked horse be re-
garded a beautiful?
How would George Washington look
in marble riding mutlated horse:
Does any great sculptor ever put Il
rider on Il bob-taied steed?
Not unless he be also the editor of Il
fashion magazine.
We may strain point to be fashion
able by putting mourning rosettes on
our horses and draping the russell boot
tops of our footmPn and coachmen, but
why disfigure a beautiful horse and
cause him needless pam all through the
docking process and then each year
through fv-time in order to be lin
style?'
How do we know, besides, how the
sensitive nerves of the horse may be
tortured all his life afterwards by the
strain put upon them during the long
hours when his inhamed stump is tied
to the rafters of the stable in ORDER to
give it that sore thumb angle which
(,pntral Park scans IN demands
How do we know what dull aches may
come down the spine and chase each
other over the scared stub of oEce
tail when there is going tobe change
in the weather?
There was never a time in the history
of the word when men and women were
more sensible regarding their dress, it
seems to me, than the present. Men go
without vests even in congress if they
are more comfortable, and women are
giving up the custom of squeezing the
floating ribs into the lungs in order to
look slender and miserable.
The old Roman toga, which was so
unsatisfactory in cold, blustery weather,
has been discarded, and the present
styles worn by English speaking men
and woman are getting more and more
of foothold even among the more re-
mote races.
Health, too, is more and more consid-
cred in the choice of homes, food, air,
water, etc, and the use of patent medi-
cines is narrowed down to those regions
where school teachers get only SIG per
month and board around.
Let us, then, show some signs of prog
ress in the treatment of our dumb beasts.