In Clover
☑ANY are the who is feeding it from her hat is careful beautiful to keep at a very respectful distance. scenes to be The mother Horse looks as if she felt a witnessed in great interest in what is going on, and is the country, and very much pleased at the attention which all young people is shown to her little one. The child is are fond of coun- probably as happy as the Colt; it takes a try life. There great pleasure in giving the young animal is something something to eat. Soon, however, the about a young Colt will be so large that it will scarcely Colt which is not be a pet, yet will never be so large nor so only interesting old as to have no claim for attention and but captivating. kindness on the part of thelittle child and The world is new those who are older than herself.
Now that we are speaking of Horses, let me tell you something about the eleand strange to it; it is full of life, fun and frolic; it is gentle as a kitten, and is not likely to harm any one, although you will gant steeds of Arabia. There they are see from the engraving that the little girl found in their highest perfection, as little (263) degenerated in their race or powers as the gold, and then steadfastly at his Mare, lion or tiger. To the Arabs they are as heaved a deep sigh: "To whom is it" he dear as their own children; and the con- exclaimed, "that I am going to yield thee stant intercourse, arising from living in the up; to Europeans! who will tie thee close, same tent with their owner and his family who will beat thee, who will render thee creates a familiarity that could not other- miserable! Return with me, my beauty! wise be effected, and a tractability that my jewel! and rejoice the hearts of my arises only from the kindest usage. They children!" As he pronounced the last are the fleetest animals of the desert, and words, he sprang upon her back, and was are so well trained as to stop in their out of sight almost in a moment. What course by the slightest check of the rider. an amiable and affecting sensibility in a man, who, in the midst of distress, could The Arab's Love for His Horse.
Unaccustomed to the spur, the least prefer all the disasters attendant on povtouch with the foot sets them again in erty, rather than surrender the animal motion; and so obedient are they to the that he had long fostered in his tent, and rider's will, as to be directed in their had been the child of his bosom, to what course merely by the motion of a switch. he supposed inevitable misery! The temp- Their constant food, except in spring, tation even of riches, and a relief from when they get a little grass, is barley; poverty, had not sufficient allurements to and this they are suffered to eat only dur- induce him to so cruel an act. ing the night. The Arab, his wife and Great Endurance. children, always lie in the same apart- The Horses of the Bedouin Arabs, ment with the Mare and Colt, who, instead whose lives are spent in traversing the of injuring, suffer the children to rest on scorching sands, are able, notwithstanding their bodies and necks, without in the the fervency of the sun, and the suffocatleast incommoding them; the gentle ani- ing heat of the soil over which they pass, mals even seem afraid to move, lest they to travel for three days without drinking, should hurt them. The Arabs never beat and are contented with a few handfuls of nor correct their horses, but always treat dried beans, given once in twenty four them with the utmost kindness. hours. From the hardness of their labor The whole stock of a poor Arabian of and diet, they are, of course, very lean; the desert consisted of a Mare; this the yet have incomparable vigor and courage. French Consul at Saïd offered to purchase In Norway, where most of the roads with an intention to send her to Louis the are impassable for carriages, the Horses Fourteenth. The Arab, pressed by want, are remarkably sure-footed; they skip hesitated a long time, but at length con- along over the stones and are always full sented, on receiving a considerable sum of spirit. When they go up and down a of money, which he named. The Consul steep cliff, on stones like steps, they first wrote to France for permission to close gently tread with one foot, to try if the the bargain, and having obtained it, sent stone be firm; and in this they must be immediately to the Arab the information. left entirely to their own management, or The man, so poor as to possess only a the best rider in the world would run the miserable rag, as a covering for his body, arrived with his magnificent courser.
