“That must be so,” said I, “or you could not be sure of being free from accidents. But tell us, Thorwald, how it happens that we have not seen others enjoying this delightful mode of traveling.”
“It is not very singular that you have not seen any horses before,” said Thorwald. “They have been entirely superseded in all kinds of business, you remember, by mechanical power, and even for pleasure-riding most people are too tender of heart to enjoy using them. They fear the horses will be fatigued, and they do not like to see them straining themselves in dragging a heavy load, when there is a force that has no feeling ready to do it a great deal better.
“But you can see these horses are not working very hard, and it is a good thing for us sometimes to give up a little sentiment. There is some danger that our sympathies may carry us too far. For instance, it is probably a real kindness to these horses to give them a little work, if we are only careful not to render their service galling to them; and yet there are many people who never drive, on account of the feeling they have for the beasts.”
“It would be a good thing if we had more of that sentiment on the earth,” said the doctor.
{Illustration: “THE HORSES ARE BORN TAME"}
CHAPTER XXXIV. THE EMANCIPATION OF MAN.
After an exhilarating ride, in which the doctor and I, certainly, were not troubled by any over-sensitiveness in regard to such robust horses, we returned to the house and soon found ourselves seated in the music room listening to one of their famous dramatists reciting his own words through the phonograph. Next we had some music, and then a poem, from the same prolific instrument.
When this entertainment was over, and after lunch, Zenith, at our urgent request, seconded by Thorwald’s solicitation, resumed her narrative.