When I say domestic, I mean such as we are used to see in our houses, streets, and fields. Lions, tigers, elephants, and such as are shut up in caravans, or only taken about for a show, do not belong to these; though I am not sure that I shall not have a word or two to say about bears and monkeys. I want to amuse you, my young friends, and to make you think a little too; for all the good things given us of God become more valuable to us when we think about them in a right way. Jack knew this: he used to rub his forehead with his fingers’ ends, shake his head wisely, and spell, “Very good think.” I hope you will judge the same; and when you have come to the end of my little book, be able to say you have had a “very good think” too.
Chapter II. The Horse.
The great mistake that people seem to me to make about animals is this: they fancy that they must be frightened into obedience, and kept from disobeying their masters by being made afraid of punishment. I dare say that animals, like human beings, often need correction; but two things are necessary to make such correction useful. One is, not to punish them too severely, which only hardens them in rebellion; the other is, never to hurt them at all except for a real fault—something that they know to be a fault, and know that they will be punished for doing. Otherwise, the poor beast, not knowing when or why it may be beaten, gets confused and foolish, and does wrong, as any boy might do, from being in a great fright. The truth is, that the animals are very sensible, and very willing to do their best. They are fond of being praised and rewarded; they become very much attached to those who treat them kindly; and when they are so attached, they are very happy, and show off all the fine qualities that make them both valuable and entertaining. I am going to tell you some stories about my own favourites; and, to prevent your thinking that they were different from others of the same kind, I shall begin by letting you into the secret of making them so knowing.
First, I tried to find out their habits; and I will tell you what they are. All very young animals like to sleep a good deal, and to be let alone. It both frightens and hurts them to be pulled about, and makes them fretful and ill-tempered; spoils their growth, and prevents their loving you. A puppy or a kitten is very fond of play, and will jump and bounce about with you for a long while; but the moment they begin to get tired, they should be left alone, to rest as much as they like. You may suppose, that if, when you are comfortably going to sleep at night, a rough-handed man were to come and shake you, and bawl out in your ears, and wake you continually, you would soon become fretful and ill too, and feverish, and be very glad to get out of the way of such a tormentor. So my rule is, when creatures are young, to let them have as much sleep as they will. It may sometimes prevent their being playthings when you want them; but it will be made up in their health, and good-temper, and gratitude to you.
Next, all creatures like liberty: a horse or a dog is never so happy as when bounding across the fields in perfect freedom. Why does chaining or tying up a dog make him savage? Because he then looks on mankind as his enemies, and fancies that everybody he meets is going to take away his liberty. My dogs have known as little about chains as possible: two of them had been used to be tied up before I had them, and I never could break them of being savage. As to beating it out of them, it would be like putting on coals to keep a fire from burning. That, you know, makes the fire look dull for a little while; but the moment you stir it, up it blazes, much higher and brighter than if no coals had been put on. I knew a horse that was not naturally good-tempered, and bad usage had made him much worse: he was then bought by a gentleman, who gave him enough of the whip, and spur, and sharp iron bit to cure him, if that could have done it; but it only made him cunning and revengeful. Poor beast! a little patient kindness would have gone much farther. I will tell you an instance of this.
Once I had a mare, and such a beautiful creature she was! She lived on a sort of farm, where they had not put her to work, and where the children had been used to play with her. She was hardly full grown. I lived then in a house with very low windows, and the pretty mare was grazing on the outside. One warm day, the windows were all open, and I was sitting at work, when she popped her beautiful head and neck in at the one nearest to me. I gave her a bit of bread that was lying by me, and told her to go away; but she would not. I said to myself, “Why should I drive her away? God made the animals to be loving and confiding towards man; and if this lonely creature wants me to be a friend to her, why should I not? The Bible says, ‘A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast;’ and what is life to a poor animal that has no hereafter to look to, if its life be without comforts?” So I put down my work, and went and rubbed her forehead, stroked her long white face, patted her shining neck, and talked to her. After this when I was alone at my morning work, she was sure to put her head in at one of the windows, to ask, in her dumb way, to be petted; and many an apple, many a handful of oats, did she get by coming there. She would soon listen for my footstep about the house, and I seldom could look out from any window without seeing her under it, or before it. She would also follow me like a dog when I walked in the grounds where she grazed.
One day, a gentleman’s groom undertook to ride her; but he began by whipping and by jerking the bridle, which is a very cruel thing. My mare did not like this; and as he went on doing it, she lost her patience; and after a long trial as to who should be master, she threw him over her head, and trotted home to her stable. He was not hurt, but very much mortified, being a soldier, and a great horseman; and he told his master that she was the most vicious beast in the world, not safe for anybody to ride. I did not like my pretty mare to get such a bad name: so I told my own groom to put on the side saddle, and I asked the gentleman to mount his fine English horse, and to ride out, and see if she were not easily managed. We had a long ride over mountains, and through little streams, and crossing deep torrents by the unsteady bridges made of trunks of trees, and he said he never saw an animal so full of spirit and good-temper as my mare. I never touched her with the whip, but spoke gently to her; and I can truly say, that for the year and a half of my riding her every day, she never brought me into danger, nor ever disobeyed me. You may say, “But this was a particular sort of horse, not like others.” I have only to answer you, that the bad, vicious horse I spoke of before, was bred in the same place, lived in the same stable, and the only difference between them was the different usage that they had received.