Black Beauty

I was sold to a grain dealer and baker, whom Jerry knew, and he thought that with him I would have good food and fair work. In the first he was quite right. If my master had always been on the premises, I do not think I would have been overloaded, but there was a foreman who was always hurrying and driving everyone, and frequently when I had quite a full load he would order something else to be taken on. My carter, whose name was Jakes, often said it was more than I ought to take, but the other always overruled him, saying that it was no use going twice when once would do and that he meant to push business forward.

Jakes, like the other carters, always had the check rein up, which prevented me from drawing easily, and by the time I had been there three or four months I found the work telling very heavily on my strength.

One day I was loaded more than usual, and part of the road went steeply uphill. I used all my strength, but I could not get on, and I was obliged to stop again and again. This did not please my driver, and he laid on the whip hard. “Get on, you lazy fellow,” he said, “or I’ll make you.”

Again I started the heavy load and struggled on a few yards; again the whip came down, and again I struggled forward. The pain of that great cart whip was sharp, but my mind was hurt quite as much as my poor sides. To be punished and abused when I was doing my very best was so hard that it took the heart out of me. A third time he was flogging me cruelly, when a lady stepped quickly up to him and said in a sweet, earnest voice:

“Oh, please do not whip your good horse any more. I am sure he is doing all he can, and the road is very steep; I am sure he is doing his best.”

“If doing his best won’t get this load up, he must do something more than his best; that’s all I know, ma’am,” said Jakes.

“But is it not a heavy load?” she said.

“Yes, yes, too heavy,” he said, “but that’s not my fault; the foreman came just as we were starting, and would have three hundredweight more put on to save himself trouble, and I must get on with it as well as I can.”

He was raising the whip again, when the lady said:

“Please stop; I think I can help you if you will let me.”

The man laughed.

“You see,” she said, “you do not give him a fair chance; he cannot use all his power with his head held back as it is with that check rein; if you would take it off, I am sure he would do better—do try it,” she said persuasively. “I would be very glad if you would.”

“Well, well,” said Jakes, with a short laugh, “anything to please a lady, of course. How far down would you like it, ma’am?”

“Quite down; give him his head altogether.”

The rein was taken off, and in a moment I put my head down to my very knees. What a comfort it was! Then I tossed it up and down several times to get the aching stiffness out of my neck.

“Poor fellow! That is what you wanted,” she said, patting and stroking me with her gentle hand, “and now, if you will speak kindly to him and lead him on, I believe he will be able to do better.”

Jakes took the rein. “Come on, Blackie.” I put down my head and threw my whole weight against the collar; I spared no strength; the load moved on, and I pulled it steadily up the hill, and then stopped to catch my breath.

The lady had walked along the footpath and now came across into the road. She stroked and patted my neck, as I had not been patted for a very long time.

“You see, he was quite willing when you gave him the chance. I am sure he is a good-tempered creature, and I dare say he has known better days. You won’t put that rein on again, will you?” she asked, because he was just about to hitch it up the old way.

“Well, ma’am, I can’t deny that having his head has helped him up the hill, and I’ll remember it another time, and thank you, ma’am. But if he went without a check rein, I would be the laughingstock of all the carters; it is the fashion, you see.”

“Is it not better,” she said, “to lead a good fashion than to follow a bad one? A great many gentlemen do not use check reins now; our carriage horses have not worn them for fifteen years, and they work with much less fatigue than those that have them. Besides,” she added in a very serious voice, “we have no right to distress any of God’s creatures without a very good reason. We call them speechless animals, and so they are, for they cannot tell us how they feel, but they do not suffer less because they have no words. But I must not detain you now; I thank you for trying my plan with your good horse, and I am sure you will find it far better than the whip. Good day.” And with another soft pat on my neck, she stepped lightly across the path, and I never saw her again.

“That was a real lady, I’ll bet,” Jakes said to himself; “she spoke just as politely as if I were a gentleman, and I’ll try her plan, uphill at any rate.” And I must say in fairness to him that he let my rein out several holes, and whenever we went uphill after that, he always gave me my head; but the heavy loads continued. Good feed and fair rest will keep up one’s strength under full work, but no horse can withstand overloading, and I was getting so thoroughly worn down from this cause that a younger horse was bought in my place. I may as well mention here what I suffered at this time from another cause. I had heard horses speak of it, but I had never experienced the evil myself: this was a badly lighted stable. There was only one very small window at the end, and the consequence was that the stalls were almost dark.

Besides the depressing effect this had on my spirits, it greatly weakened my sight, and when I was suddenly brought out of the darkness into the glare of daylight, it was very painful to my eyes. Several times I stumbled over the threshold and could scarcely see where I was going.

I believe that, had I stayed there very long, I would have become partly blind, and that would have been a great misfortune. I have heard men say that a completely blind horse is safer to drive than one that has imperfect sight, because imperfect sight generally makes a horse very timid. However, I escaped without any permanent injury to my sight and was sold to a large cab owner.