The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1895-01-03

nent in all the songs of the troubadours, many
of which were written by women. Indeed
the word chivalry Is from the French word
cheval, a horse. In these deadly iousts, WHERE
knights fought on horseback, in steel-cad
armor, with lances, it was always for
hidden to even wound q horse
Docs this not indicate that four
teen hundred years in the career Of the Anglo
Saxon race has not made man more human to-
wards his best friend than the so called barbariC
knights of the middle ages? We have just
heard of Pingree, Mayor of modern Detroit
who has officially recommended that the city
horses be put to DEATH as matter of economy
to save the winters feed Surely the modern
barbarians are not all in Barbary.
The Arabian makes his horse his companion
and the Arabian horse is probably the most
dOcie and intelligent Of all horses around the
world. The average American notwithstand-
all the much lauded humanities of our civil.
zation, does not treat his horse with hall
the consideration or kindness of the barbarian.
Our civilization seems to be running down
the vulgar lines Of venaity. Our politics and
our literature are surely tending that way. We
are losing some Of life's best inspirations.
Our metropolitan newspapers are without
much moral character, and seem to thrive by
reveing in the vices and follies Of the people.
The almost universal pursuit of money is
trampling in the dirt all poetic and patriotic
Ib5llHR dh 1TVlnR says, is
wearing all tho verdure out Of mems
souls, But let us return to our mutton, or
rather to our horse.
All the poets of modern times seem to get
the horse under their heroes. King Richard
the Third, according to Shakespeare, offered
his kingdom for horse, after his own game
steed fell dead on on the field of BoswOrth. He
did not get another horse on his offer, and lost
the battle and the crown, and the blood of Plan
tagenet was dried forever, and the blood Of
Tudor came in to rule England, all for lack of
a horse. All the standard English poets
were horse fanciers. They sing the horse
in all their minstrelsy. Sir Walter Scott, in
ron's sweet mouth the story of young Lock-
invar, one of the most thrilling musical gems
in the language. And young Lockinvar's s
horse is the supreme factor Of the escapade.
You remember when young Lockinvar stole
away the bride that was about to wed 80 lag
gard in love and u bastard in war;" he caught
her on the home stretch, and, throwing her
willing form behind his own, astrde his pranc-
ing horse, and while two pairs of chivalric
legs were thrilling the ribs Of the flying steed
the lads and ladies fair of the bridegroom had
no stceds fleet enough to follow, and LOCkin-
var got away with everything.
Even Tennyson, late poet laureate of the
England of today, with all his fncal, fine
ladyism of versifcation, occasionally braces up
on the English thoroughbred. He does this
in "Locksley Hail." but, of course, he could
never Canter in the same class with Sir Walter
Scott,
For instance, Scott in depicting the hunter
whose horse fell dead in sight of his hounds,
says:
"T little thought. when first thy rein
Stacked upon the banks of Seine,
That Highland eagle ere should feed
On thy fleet limbs my matchless steed!
Woe worth the chase Woe worth the day!
That cost thy life, my gallant gray!"
And the finest dramatic poem of our great
civil war is "Sheridan's Ride" by r. Bu-
Chanan Reed in which the horse is
the hero, because without this dead
game flyer, Sheridan, who was twenty miles
away from Winchester when the battle opened,
would never have reached the field, and the
battle would have been lost. Sheridan's fame
would have been only local name, and an
immortal poem that will go singing down the
ages in the raritied altitude of grand epic
would have been forever locked in the womb
of the unborn. And now let us mount our
hobby and our horse for final jOust.
Those of us who have passed into the scar
and yellow leaf can all remember some friend
Of the bygOne years, who, in his greed for
wealth, lost his health and went to an untime-
ly grave. He failed to realize that man is a
chaise, has only astipulated amount of wear and
tear. The man Of all worry and work and no
rest and recreation dies young and lives poorly
while alive. The horse is mans hest friend. As
asOurce OfrecreatiOn he is wholesome and restful.
And the American trOtteT is the best represent
ative of all horses to inspire enthusiasm and
healthful pleasure. The American trotter
(Which includes the PAGER, of course) is the best
equine companion on earth. No man of affairs
who works with his brain can afford to lose the
wholesome recreation that the inspiring horse
can impart. Better than medicine for a ner-
vous headache is drive amid pastoral scenes,
by running brooks and meadows sweet with
the horse to tired nature means more life, more
real joy in nature, less wrinklesanda postpone
ment of the cemetery CeremOnials.
My hOllow-Chested, kidney afflicted friend,
don't think ride in an electric car or on a BIZ
cycle will help you. You can get speed on the
car and speed on the bike, but there are no
flavors and ozOnes in speed. You can't get
any of the wholesome tlavors Of recreation or
an atom of lite's ozone on a car or bike. The
nerve racking car and the back racking bike
have hurt the horse market to be sure, but
Opine not permanently.
Formerly the young man, when he enter
tained his dear girl with pastoral scenes, took
her out in narrow seat buggy behind trot-
ter. Now he takes her out a-straddle of BIZ
cycle. But this will all change soon. The bi.
cycle is a cold blooded and selfish entertainer.
1t is also questionable whether it is healthful.
Good medical authority says we
shall soon have large aggravation of diseases
of the lungs, back, and kidneys, caused by too
much bicycle riding. Weak chested, bow.
legged girls and boys, with straddled gaits and
too much calf muscle. Then those afflicted
will arise in wrath and curse the day that fate
put them astride the iron wheel, with the in.
adequate seat, and bent-backed, kidney.
affected and hollow-chested young men will
stalk the earth and sigh for a trotter, for the
glow of health in the breezy, life inspiring
trotter.
Already we see signs of a revival of the more
healthful road driving in the recent horse
sales in New York. Millionaires that would
give 800, 900 for the solid liver of some poor
workman have commenced to discard their
yachts and are buying trotters. Millionaires
like the sugar king, Havemeyer, and the
Standard Oil magnate, Rockefeller, have com.
menced to buy trOtters for the road Others
will follow by the thousand. The European
field for the road driver is also much more
hopeful than year ago.
1t was the Boomers and the Vanderbilts OF
twenty years ago that set the pace for the road
drivers of the sealskin brigade of New York,
and we all remember what they did to boom
the bOulevards of all our cities, and give life
and zest to the road. They also helped every
fTst-class breeder in the land. Those days, OF
like days, will come again,
These few lines were Vyrittan IN show that