Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1898-11-10
NOSTALGIA IN HORSES.
The Faithful Animal Gets Just a.
Homesick as the Sol. q
der Boys.

. 81 - < b ..-
der Boys.
sand those volunteers remarked
the man with the ponderous diamond
horseshoe embedded in his bosom,
! are not the. only warriors that pine
away and die from nostalgia. Horses
are far more susceptible to the dis
ease than men=-that is, they were so
in the Civil war. and I don't see any
reoson to: suppose, that their te1npera-
ments have changed. since then.
i"'"Of course, when. a poor, four-legged
brute, with no should straps, comes
down with nostalgia the doctors. don't
dignity it with such a dude diagnosis.
They simply report that such and
such horses in such and such troop!
are off their feed and let it go at
that. But it is precisely the same
thing, the disorder: develops in pre-
cisely the same mann r and the equine
victims of it manifest identically the
same symptoms, and, what is more,
the chances of their dying from it
are Infinitely greater than are those
Of soldier, simply because it is i'm
possible to bolster up their courage
by telling them they are going home
soon. That is the only medicine that
will keep the disease in check, and, of
course, you can't: administer it to a
horse unless you speak it's language.
And when you come to think about
it, the man with the ponderous dia-
mond horseshoe continued, 'the prev
alence of the disease among army
horses is the most reasonable thing
in the world. AS is, the case with the
volunteers, a great majority of the
war horses come from the country.
They were bred and raised in the
country, and until they were drafted
into the service they spent all their
days in the restfui quiet of the farm.
The government prefers to buy coun-
try horses both for political reasons
and because the animals. are more
likely to be free from the pavement
soreness and other disorders which
aff1ict city horses. It also has it's buy
ers select animals pretty well along
In years-anywhere from five to nine
years old: 80 ,-..,.,r e.. ~, .- .,
when these rustic beasts are torn
suddenly from their rural homes and
plunged into the hustle and confusion
Of camp life it affects them Just as
it does their masters who have enlist
ed. Most natural thing in the world
that it should, because both have been
brought up in the same way. You
to11 ~, =, So, l>..l
horse, and they would go through. a
50-yeari war with never a touch OF
nostalgia. -... e.. -
Gloss of appetite is the first symp-
tom of equine Inconsistencies. Heroes
that at home were the most hearty
feeders become dainty and particular,
and refuse to look at anything Of
fered to them. Then they become
restless and nervous, pound their feet
to, pieces, if you don't watch them,
and from sweet-tempered,. honest
workers they become ornery and
sulky rogues, unfit for everything. 1t
doesn't take long to kill them off
less time than it does to do for a SOL
der. Two weeks will fix them general
ly. Working without nourishment is
as disastrous as fighting on an empty
stomach, and the beasts soon contract
cold or fever, and either die or
are killed.
"Out of consignment of 200 horses
sent to the army corps with which I
was stationed in Tennessee, more than
one-third of them became absolutely
useless from sheer homesickness in
less than month. Twenty or thirty
died and the rest we disposed of as
best we could.
"Another circumstance which pro-
duces equine nostalgia among army
horses is the fact that great ma
jority of them have been separated
from a mate, with whom they have
been accustomed to work for years.
The moment they realize their part
ner is missing, they go into the most
abject mourning, and refuse to be
reconciled. Time and time again I
have seen horses literally grieve them
selves to death in an army camp be-
cause their mate was separated from
them. M & E,t
There may be such a thing as mule
nostalgia, but I never saw any army
mule that did not have sand enough
to keep it to himself.' IN. Y. Press.
Electricity In India.
The world moves in India, as else
where. Who would suppose that cleo
tricity would be used by native Hin
docs in elephant catching? At a re-