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.

[Illustration]

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