Semi-weekly herald., 1909-12-16
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1's' FOOD. 80
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Hads daaF ol5 sIscE Beauty ses,|
d saentRsA eaHtdAe tESYfopsgh ~ Sa.n horse q ~
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tunits Of sG5saafdqn hs hSs.;!fs III t tdsys /.
rss'fal paddock aHql,,.!!lh,es aHql, !!heras. writins
his autobiography, hui ratlier,. AIMS
sewell must needs have added n chap.
ter telling of Black Beauty's ultimate
end--a chapter which would have
caused sorrow to the millions of read.
ers who have loved that horse and
which would have made the book un-
acceptable 10 children. I, however,
write these few paragraphs almost Of
necessity, so stirred was by existing
conditions Of a horse traffic In Europe
Press articles in SCOTLAND this sum
mer were teeuing srffh remonstrance,
as one would expect from land
whose very name Is the embodiment
Of all the noble qualities. Yet one of
these very qualities 10 thrift. and rhrift
pressed by a hard season drives many
a good man to acts he would not sane
tion in better times. Such an act is
the selling Of a horse, faithful through
all his years. but now beyond the point
of effective service Oh. that the
Scotch farmer would spend car
fridge In preference 10 receiving a few
shillings. or even coupls oi pounds.
in exchange for his horae which. once
sold. ioins the road with others TO
be driven to the nearest station,
whence by rail- to Grangemouth or
Leith!
Arrived at Edinburgh. i made for
LeIth. its shipping port. and ;hsse saw
for myself the second stagn OF The re-
voting trafac-tho leading OF these
poor. worn-out beasts upon trans ports
bound for the continent. Repsesenta.
tives OF the Society for the PFavon-
lion OF Cruelty to Animnls were on
deck TO see that the handling was rea-
sonably decent and that there was
fair provision of fodder veterinary
inspectors examined each horse to de-
eide whether or not he could stand the
voyage. for almost the sole condition
of shipment is that the horse Is able
to walk off The barge INTO the yards
at port of destination. che North sea
gives them many a rough passage and
at times from eight to dozen are
slung to the waves.
In 1908 some two thousand horses
OF this sort were shipped from Leith
TO the Flemish ports lacked time
to make a crossing with them. but
met an incoming barge ut the other
end, and sorry indeed was the sight
Witnessed, The eyes OF the horses
are sunken, their ears lie bnck-al-
ways sign of extreme fatigue-their
necks are drawn, and their heads hang
heavily whenever the leaders per-
force stop ON the road for rest.
Though they were thin ct the start,
The past fortnight hus stretched the
skin even tighter over their bony
frames. No longer Is there spring In
their step. but one hocf drass woarily
after the other Add 10 this frequent
bruises and an occasional ankle cash
made by the shoe opposite when the
ship lurched suddenly, and you. too
may sec what | have called a SORRY
sight
The journey has been hard one
Before II began these horses had earn
ed at least a quiet death. Then why
this shipment, with its soul,harrowing
Accomplishments? Che reader must
already have inferred the answer
These animals are destined for hui
man consumption,
One finds on the breakfast table In
even the first class hotels in Belgium
and the Netherlands suspiclousIy
large quantity of bolognas differing In
shape. color. and season. but made
from much the same stock. Dried
beer in great hanks Is second ey-
efy-day Item of fare. In France the
law requires definite statement OF
the stock and only such shops as hang
gllded horse's head above their win
dows may sell horse flesh for human
food The seventy shops IN the Latin
quarters of Paris conforming to this
requirement evidence the great qcan-
titles eaten by the poorer peopla in
the French capital
The practice is thus seen to be very
general. Little thinls tie pcog man
on the continent OF how slight must be
the nutritive properties d the flesh of
worn-out horses: llttle thinks ne OF
the tolls through which these horsea
pass between some distant stable and
a continental slaughter house
Were reform in ihe,raaders pawer
/ would most assuredy conclude with
an appeal matched IN Strength with
my adherence fer this trafdce and
akin in spifit'io my fealings Of indig-
nation for the ingYates Of whatever
land who first cell the horses- long
years their faithful and wiillns cry.
anis-and thereby make iae continual
tion of the traffic possible.