The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1895-06-16
PASSING OF THE HORSE.
His Usefulness Being Rapidly Cur
tailed-A Poor Machine.
New York Evening Post.

| tailed-A Poor Machine.
New York Evening Post
| We print in another column a very viru-
lent letter directed against the horse. which.
| however, is not very far astray the
! future of that animal. But ii is hardly fair
to say of him that he has been found
| out" There never has been any conceal
ment or pretense about him. He has. for
some thousands OF years. shared with the
| camel the duty of furnishing the human
| race with its one means of rapid locomo-
ton. But no one who had any experience
| of him denied his extraordinary i'm
perfection as a machine. What, with his
diseases, and tenderness. and temper, and
| stupidity, he has been singularly ineffective
| as mode of motion. In fact. it has been
| SO difficult to make good use of him that
| the management Of him has been, in all
| ages a very difficult art. acquired only by
| very few people. Nor has he been particu-
larly ornamental The ordinary horse is not
| handsome. To get handsome horse, very
careful breeding, followed by close con-
fined. artificial and unhealthy life is abso-
| lutely necessary. To stay handsome, horse
has to be shut up in expensive house.
| and treated. with as much care as an in
| valid, and under the best of circumstances
he does not last very long. Happy is the
man who has a saddle horse in use for five
| years. The number and variety OF known
and understood diseases to which he is Ii
able are almost comic, to say nothing of the
mysterious ones which vet find
out. His attacks of insanity and panic, too,
are frightfuly frequent, although his cour-
age in battle is undoubted.
Why, then, has man put up with him so
long?t For the simple reason that there
substitute for him for travelling
| fighting purposes. He has held his own be-
cause ne had no competitor. He has been
thrown out of employment as fast as
science produced other means of getting the
work done. The railroads stopped his use
for long journeys. The old stage horse is
| gone. 1t seems marvellous now that he
| could hold on SO long when twelve miles
day was about as much as could be got out
| of him. The trolley and the cable car are
driving him out of employment as feeder
Of the railroads. Now he has been attacked
| in his last stronghold-as an instrument of
pleasure-by the bicycle. In truth, as fast
| as means of doing without him are discov-
| cred he is laid aside. The chances are that
| some means of supplying electric power to
light vehicles, like the bicycle or buggy. will
| Riding in a wagon behind a horse is, in
truth, not unlike employing as driver
| insanity. What may bring them on cannot
| be foreseen. A wheelbarrow, a bird in the
push push railroad 1T train or big dog ,, may "a;
owner or his family.
This long dependence. of humanity. on
the horse has furnished a striking Illus
| tration of the adaptability of the race to
| inevitable circumstances. Although he fell
| very short of furnishing, cheap, easy, or
/ all ages as one of the noblest of beasts.
The description of the war horse in the
Bible has been accepted for. many ages
4 as a good picture of the reality, although
| very few horses indeed answered to
| 1t. The fact, too, that he is extraordinarily
| difficult to use and manage, far from caus-
| ing complaint, simply developed a new art
which was held in great honor and brought
in much profit to its possessors.. Nobody
has ever blamed or deprecated the horse
| for being vicious. or silly, or intractable, or
skittish, or obstinate, tricky. The blame
has all fallen on man for not being able
| man who can successfully resist the horses
| efforts TO get rid of him has always been
IN a the her neo1 o eo
| get. rid of him. If the horse had been
looked on as what ne really was, however,
! treated as a calamity. A machine which
behaved as he has behaved would have been
universally decried and summed
But there is one excuse for him of which
our correspondent makes no mention,
which accounts for some part of his fall
and peculiarities of digestion have made
| his close association with the more culti-
waited portion of the human species impoe-
sible. He has consequently been cut off
| from the advantages enjoyed by the dog,
| which everywhere shares i'm household life,
and co-operates intelligently in some of the
work Of the world. This is largely due to
the e1 nacs that that the dog is able to enter the
| live In constant and familiar intercourse
with his master and his family. The horse.
mercss Of one Of the lowest Classes Of the
| community. the hostlers. grooms, or
teamsters who, as rule, tyrannize over
| him, and suppress or discourage rather
! than develop his Intelligence In their
hands: in fact, he is exposed to all the
blighting influences. of slavery. The life
| he leads under their rule, combined with
| the unhealthfulness of the abodes i'm which
| self
| To show the Importance of this we have
only to look at the horse under conditions
| of life similar to those OF the dog as in
Arabia. There he grows up in the tent or
| although he does no. join in the family life
as intelligently as the dog, the owners
far more sociable than the European horse.
| The runaway" or panic, is unknown
among Arao horses and so is what we call
| ''vice'-that is. bits of deviltry intended to
mar his usefulness. He is gentle tract
able. ready to serve and do his best, and
| is in such sympathy with his master that
he is not afraid of any ,ning which does not
| brighten his rider. AS matters stand the
cheap horse, with few good points, seems
doomed. The costly goou-looking horse will
| probably last long for hunting and cavalry,
and great pains will be taken to breed
him. The demand for cavalry will always
| be great, as long as the art of killing re-
mains in such high esteem. No charging
machine Will ever be invented, bat IL Is a
| question whether scouting will not be done
| far more effectively on bicycles than on
horses. In that sort of service bottom
and swiftness are what tell, and in these
| the morse, as compared 10 the wheel, is
] nowhere. But we must not discharge the
horse without recalling the great part he
has played in the work OF civilization and
| the number of glorious fields on which he
has laid down his life side by side with his
master. The epitaPh the Duke of We'll
lingtons Waterloo charger has much sug-
| gestion in IL:
Gods humble instrument, though meaner
| clay,
Must share the triumph of that glorious
| day."