The Houma courier. (Houma, La.) 1878-1939, 1896-09-19
THE coon OLD DAYS
S2m 5ones REGRETS Some Of the
Results q Modern Invention


An we progress and time with it's
Inventions come ons we T leaving far
behind rs many things that were once
r41eT ssssaAss88 ard held dear by the people
We are now reading Of The horseiesa
aqe-the age when horses viii be ex-
tinct and the donkey viii cease q ex-
isk Electricity, the bicycle, the motto
cycle and the aerial machines we are
told are to take the field and occupy
the eround.- / am glad / have lived in
tho day Of horses and buggies. mules
and wagons, the old wooden plow stock.
ths old oaken bucket the old tallow
candle. To those of us whp have
CROSSED the meridian line of lite there
Are many sacred and precious memories
1eiNstcred around the things that area
passing away. The buffalo with his
companions Of the west have given
way before the tread Of civilization,
and it seems now that the horse, the
noblest animal God ever made to serve
man, that his days are also numbered.
God made the horse and man invented
the mule. for the mule is a human i'm
vention, and had it not been that God
made negroes. man never would have
invented the mule. Art and nature with
their counterparts meet in the negro
and the mule. We often quote from
the Scriptures that "a horse is a vain
thing for safety" but the faithful,
docile, honest horse serves his day and
generation with a fidelity that puts to
blush the majority Of the human race.
The horse and the dog have been our
companions and friends as good as man
ever had. The Arabian loved his horse
and made a companion of him, and all
true men + Arabians in that sense.
A man who does not love good horses
and pure women is devoid of the holier
instincts with which God crowns all
the better part of the human race. The
s~elf-sacriice of the dog, the d~isinterest-
ed friendship and kindness which he
has shown leads one sometimes to be-
lieve that there is a dog Heaven, for
Mr.. Wesley taught there was a horse
Heaven. I never go down to my lot
and look at faithful old Henry and
Dave, who have been the faithful serv-
ants Of my wife and children for more
than eight years, never hurting or
harming one of the loved ones of my
home, and I think Of the happy hours
they have spent riding behind these
faithful horses, but what l wonder if
somewhere there is not a horse Heaven,
with its EIysian fields and ripping
rills and sunny plains and shady groves,
where they win live forever, free from
the unkind, cruel deeds of man and
I baresn by the great Creator who
! nave 9 uOgs rarof4ur
true that I would like to knoSS ina
re would have q place in tbe
beyond where he could enioysIS1;1fars
Tupted canine happiness. because he
has been faithful in his time and place
The faithful horse. when you mount
MS pack to ride him or pull the lines
over him to drive him, knows his dutv
and delights in doing it. Horses have
Deen ten thousand times more kind
g mar than man has been to them
Men have killed a thousand horses
where horses have killed one man 7
expect the horses think man ais 4 vain
thing for safety" 1 have no reznaot
1or q man who win overdrive a horse
Of underfeed a horse, or in any wav
De unkind to him. Ihave never known
2 man who was cruel to his horse or
cog that did not reap a harvest of
suffering himself, for 1 know ono bov
Who built a fire in a cook stoSe and
caught his cat and put it into the oven
81 the stove and baked it to a crisp. That
hoy had one Of his eyes knocked outvitb
2 rock, one Of his legs broken. was
IearIuAly burned more than once. and
carries the marks Of many accidents
y brought pain and SUFFERING
him. Whatsoever a man sorva+6
shall he also reap" If he sovvs
cruelty towards men or animal. IL
VIII reap a harvest of pangs and mains
himself. I say again / am Glad I
lived in the day of the horse. and
M sure my day will be done before he
passes away. The greed and gen;ps
, . men may supplant the horse, retire
mule and nullify the dog, but greed
genius many a time has robbed t.
el1 while It has been robbing Others.
I would not live in a country where
here were not horses and mules n,,d
logs, and whatever may be the iunova-
ION brought on by genius and inven-
50 long as / live and the shsrir
ghi permit me I shall own a horse ami
dog and a cat and a chicken and ! /
.og and a COW. These may not only be-
property Of fhe rich, but thew Are r.
2 io'ind among the poor. The poor !
mite man with his one horse that no J
ows and drives to church and rides /.
, mill would be broken up without !
faithful animal. The king ~ his !
hariot does moi enjoy the horses Of his :
ans more than this poor man: but !
ne earthly bliss is only known by the !
q darky who has his mule and owns
: mule and loves his mule. He !
ltches his mule to one end Of the plov :
bitches himself to the other. and
lereby provides bread for the chill 8
en- Of his home. The mule seems To !
all the time that he was in I
nted especially for the eolored brother 3
works with him in the field or
him on the highway. A many
time the old colore6 brother with his
ne and children have sat down and &C
ied 1 their hearts would break III
hen the sheriff ~nr~v,1l 49, ~