If, as is sometimes the case, a horse be absolutely determined not to move, and defies all the usual methods of persuasion--holding up the fore-leg, tying whip-cord tightly round his ear, pushing at the wheel, etc.--but throws himself down as if purposing to remain there, nothing is left but to put a wisp of straw under him, and set it alight. This, albeit it sounds cruel, need not inflict the slightest injury--since the horse at once obeys the instinct of alarm and pain, and never forgets the experience; so that straw, without the match, will always be sufficient for the future. * * * * * The ready obedience to his rider's wishes, even when the horse's own judgment does not confirm them, is another proof of the animal's generous nature. We constantly hear of young men sowing wild oats, but the _récolte_ is seldom, if ever, sufficiently successful to enable them to feed their horses upon the produce. There is indeed a _morne_ silence in respect to the germinating of this seed, which suggests the inference that no crop can be expected till the grain has perished and the granary is bare! * * * * * A young friend of mine was driving his team through some unfinished streets in one of our favourite marine resorts. Not being much practised in the art of "pointing his leaders" in the direction which he intended to pursue, he allowed them to continue a straight course in a road which had no egress, but was blocked at the end by a dwarf wall three feet in height. A friend on the box beside him, finding he had passed the turn by which he could have got out, called to him: "Hallo! pull up, man! You can't get out, and you can't turn round." Slacking his hand and fanning his wheelers, the young Jehu quietly replied: "Never mind; they can all _jump_." And they did all jump. No refusal. The leaders got clear over without a scratch; the wheelers, having broken the pole and splinter-bar, got over the wall, but of course fell in a confused heap, and were a good deal hurt. The gentlemen on the box were shot to a considerable distance into some "ground to be let for building purposes" which lay convenient, "rubbish" being also shot there! Many of my readers may remember that during the severe frost in the year that made the fortune of Murphy's Almanac, Mr. Hunt, the successful rival of Messrs. Day and Martin in the manufacture of blacking, drove his team and drag across the Serpentine; a foolhardy feat, seeing that the Serpentine was a treacherous lake, and at that time of uncertain depth, both of mud and water. * * * * * Another instance, which illustrates forcibly the courage and obedience of the horse, may be in the reader's recollection. A gentleman drove his curricle and pair down Box Hill in Surrey, a descending declivity upon which most horses would find it difficult to stand, even without a carriage.