Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations
History
Ten Thousand Wonderful Things: Comprising whatever is marvellous and rare, curious, eccentric and extraordinary in all ages and nations
Curiosities and wonders; Encyclopedias and dictionaries; Folklore
A horse having been turned into a field by its owner, Mr. Joseph Lane,
of Fascombe, in the parish of Ashelworth, was missed therefrom the
next morning, and the usual inquiries set afoot, as to what could have
become of him. He had, it seems, been shod (all fours) a few days
before, and _as usual_ got pinched in a foot. Feeling, no doubt, a
lively sense of proper shoeing, and desirous of relieving the cause of
pain, he contrived to unhang the gate of his pasture with his mouth,
and make the best of his way to the smithy, a distance of a mile and a
half from Fascombe, waiting respectfully at the door until the bungling
_artist_ got up. The smith relates that he found him there at opening
his shed; that the horse advanced to the forge and held up his ailing
foot; and that he himself, upon examination, discovered the injury,
took off the shoe, and replaced it more carefully, which having done,
the sagacious creature set off at a merry pace homewards. Soon after,
Mr. Lane's servants passed by the forge in quest of the animal, and
upon inquiry, received for answer--"Oh, he has been here and got shod,
and is gone home again."
MAN WITHOUT HANDS.
The following account is extracted from a letter sent to the Rev. Mr.
Wesley by a person named Walton, dated Bristol, October 14, 1788:--
"I went with a friend to visit this man, who highly entertained us at
breakfast, by putting his half-naked foot upon the table as he sat,
and carrying his tea and toast between his great and second toe to
his mouth, with as much facility as if his foot had been a hand, and
his toes fingers. I put half a sheet of paper upon the floor, with a
pen and ink-horn: he threw off his shoes as he sat, took the ink-horn
in the toes of his left foot, and held the pen in those of his right.
He then wrote three lines, as well as most ordinary writers, and as
swiftly. He writes out all his own bills, and other accounts. He then
showed how he shaves himself with a razor in his toes, and how he combs
his own hair. He can dress and undress himself, except buttoning his
clothes. He feeds himself, and can bring both his meat or his broth to
his mouth, by holding the fork or spoon in his toes. He cleans his own
shoes; can clean the knives, light the fire, and do almost every other
domestic business as well as any other man. He can make his hen-coops.
He is a farmer by occupation; he can milk his own cows with his toes,
and cut his own hay, bind it up in bundles, and carry it about the
field for his cattle. Last winter he had eight heifers constantly to
fodder. The last summer he made all his own hay-ricks. He can do all
the business of the hay-field (except mowing), as fast and as well,
with only his feet, as others can with rakes and forks. He goes to the
field and catches his horse; he saddles and bridles him with his feet
and toes. If he has a sheep among his flock that ails anything, he can
separate it from the rest, drive it into a corner, and catch it when
nobody else can.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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