“Why, Sorrow?”
“Cause, Massa, he don’t understand one word of English, and de French he knows no libbin’ soul can understand but a Cheesencooker, yah, yah, yah! Dey called him a ‘shovel,’ and his tail a ‘queue.’ “
“What a goose you are, Sorrow,” sais I.
“Fac, Massa,” he said, “fac I do ressure you, and dey called de little piggy doctor fell over, ‘a coach.’ Dod drat my hide if they didn’t yah, yah, yah!”
“The English ought to import, Doctor,” sais I, “some of these into their country, for as to ridin’ and drivin’ there is nothin’ like them. But catch Britishers admitting there is anything good in Canada, but the office of Governor-General, the military commands, and other pieces of patronage, which they keep to themselves, and then say they have nothing left. Ah me! times is altered, as Elgin knows. The pillory and the peerage have changed places. Once, a man who did wrong was first elevated, and then pelted. A peer is now assailed with eggs, and then exalted.”
“Palmam qui meruit ferat,” said the doctor.
“Is that the Latin for how many hands high the horse is?” sais I. “Well, on an average, say fifteen, perhaps oftener less than more. It’s the old Norman horse of two centuries ago, a compound of the Flemish stock and the Barb, introduced into the Low Countries by the Spaniards. Havin’ been transported to Canada at that early period, it has remained unchanged, and now may be called a distinct breed, differing widely in many respects from those found at the present day in the locations from which they originally came. But look at the amazin’ strength of his hip, look at the lines, and anatomical formation (as you would say) of his frame, which fit him for both a saddle and a gig hoss. Look at his chest, not too wide to make him paddle in his gait, nor too narrow to limit his wind. Observe all the points of strength. Do you see the bone below the knee and the freedom of the cord there. Do you mark the eye and head of the Barb. Twig the shoulder, the identical medium for a hoss of all work, and the enormous power to shove him ahead. This fellow is a picture, and I am glad they have not mutilated or broken him. He is just the hoss I have been looking for, for our folks go in to the handle for fast trotters, and drive so much and ride so little, it ain’t easy to get the right saddle beast in our State. The Cape Breton pony is of the same breed, though poor feed, exposure to the weather, and rough usage has caused him to dwindle in size; but they are the toughest, hardiest, strongest, and most serviceable of their inches, I know anywhere.”
I always feel scared when I git on the subject of hosses for fear I should ear-wig people, so I stopt short; “And,” sais I, “Doctor, I think I have done pretty well with the talking tacks, spose you give me some of your experience in the trapping line, you must have had some strange adventures in your time.”
“Well, I have,” said he, “but I have listened with pleasure to you, for although I am not experienced in horses, performing most of my journeys on foot, I see you know what you are talking about, for I am familiar with the anatomy of the horse. My road is the trackless forest, and I am more at home there than in a city. Like you I am fond of nature, but unlike you I know little of human nature, and I would rather listen to your experience than undergo the labour of acquiring it. Man is an artificial animal, but all the inhabitants of the forest are natural. The study of their habits, propensities, and instincts is very interesting, and in this country the only one that is formidable is the bear, for he is not only strong and courageous, but he has the power to climb trees, which no other animal will attempt in pursuit of man in Nova Scotia. The bear therefore is an ugly customer, particularly the female when she has her cubs about her, and a man requires to have his wits about him when she turns the table on him and hunts him. But you know these things as well as I do, and to tell you the truth there is little or nothing that is new to be said on the subject; one bear hunt is like another. The interest of these things is not so much in their incidents or accidents, as in the mode of telling them.”
“That’s a fact,” sais I, “Doctor. But what do you suppose was the object Providence had in view in filling the world with beasts of prey? The east has its lions, tigers, and boa-constrictors; the south its panthers and catamounts; the north its bears and wolves; and the west its crocodiles and rattle-snakes. We read that dominion was given over the birds of the air, the fish of the sea, and the beast of the forest, and yet no man in a state of nature scarcely is a match for any one of these creatures; they don’t minister to his wants, and he can’t tame them to his uses.”