THE DIFFERENCE IN HORSES.
There has been a great change in livery horses within the last twenty
years. Years ago, if a young fellow wanted to take his girl out riding,
and expected to enjoy himself, he had to hire an old horse, the worst in
the livery stable, that would drive itself, or he never could get his arm
around his girl to save him. If he took a decent looking team, to put on
style, he had to hang on to the lines with both hands, and if he even took
his eyes off the team to look at the suffering girl beside him, with his
mouth, the chances were that the team would jump over a ditch, or run
away, at the concussion. Riding out with girls was shorn of much of its
pleasure in those days.
We knew a young man that was going to put one arm around his girl if he
did not lay up a cent, and it cost him over three hundred dollars. The
team ran away, the buggy was wrecked, one horse was killed, the girl had
her hind leg broken, and the girl's father kicked the young man all over
the orchard, and broke the mainspring of his watch.
It got so that the livery rig a young man drove was an index to his
thoughts. If he had a stylish team that was right up on the bit, and full
of vinegar, and he braced himself and pulled for all that was out, and the
girl sat back in the corner of the buggy, looking as though she should
faint away if a horse got his tail over a line, then people said that
couple was all right, and there was no danger that they would be on
familiar terms.
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