Chapter VIII: Dick Taming the Horse

"I AM disappointed," said Mr. Stuart coming into the house one warm day the following spring. "Mr. Fuller has sold his oxen, and can't plough my land this year."

"Let me plough the garden, father," exclaimed Dick. "I'm sure old Charley and I can do it."

"You," repeated the minister smiling. "I think that would be an odd sight."

"May I try, father? It wont do any hurt for me to try."

A few days later Mr. Stuart was returning from a call on a sick parishioner, when he saw a number of men standing near the wall which separated his garden from the main road. Wondering what had called the people together, he hurried toward them.

Standing in the midst of the ploughed ground was Dick talking to old Charley, who it seemed had been inclined to be refractory, and who had been dealt with after the Rarey fashion.

This method of taming refractory horses was much talked of at the time, and though Dick had never seen it actually put in force, he had seen and studied the illustrations in a popular pictorial.

Accordingly when Charley was fastened to the plough; and when after being politely requested to move along, he did not budge an inch, but only looked around at his young master with disdain, Richard thought it a good opportunity to show him that he must submit.

When Mr. Stuart came in sight, he had been thrown to his knees twice by the wonder working strap, and now seemed quite subdued.

After patting his head and speaking a few encouraging words, Dick once more fastened the chains to his harness, and the old fellow walked off as steadily as one could desire; the spectators meanwhile shouting and clapping their hands.

"A smart chap, your son is, Parson," remarked one stout farmer laughing. "'Twas as good as a show to see him manage the dumb creature."

"I'm afraid Dick will get hurt some of these days," said his father, "he is so fearless."

Having proved conclusively that he could plough the garden, Dick plead with his father to allow him to hire another horse and plough the field for corn and potatoes.

"The very idea is absurd, Richard, very few men can drive a pair of horses, and plough at the same time."

"You thought I couldn't plough with one horse," urged the boy glancing archly in his father's face. "I wish you'd let me try. I saw how Mr. Kingsbury managed. He put the reins round his neck. Charley goes as steady as an old sheep; and if I can hire Mr. Fuller's one day I aren't afraid to try."

"Well," was the reluctant reply.

"I wish father'd sell Old Charley and get a better horse," Dick went on, when the gentleman had left the room. "He's such an awkward looking creature. He never goes out of the gate head first unless he goes backward."

"That is because he likes to see what is going on behind him," suggested his mother laughing.

"Charley is a good creature," added Mr. Stuart returning. "He has served well in his day and generation. I couldn't get another that would stand as he does. Why he'd stand at the gate of one of my parishioners all day if I wished it."

"But we want a horse to go, father, and not to stand. Charley stops short when we come to a hill. I'm curing him of it, though."

Dick went the same evening to engage Mr. Fuller's horse, and the next morning his mother heard him going softly down the stairs a few minutes after four.

At half past five a gentleman, just arrived from New York by the express train, was hurrying to his home a short distance beyond the minister's house, when he saw a novel sight.

He waited until the horses had reached the wall close to the road, watching with a pleased curiosity the ingenuity of the child who was working them.

"How do you do, Richard?" he asked. "It seems to me you have a new method of ploughing. You do not work on the ten hour system, I see."

Dick tossed back his curls. He wanted to wipe the perspiration from his face, but his hands were too dirty. "I like farming," he said with a merry laugh; "but I never knew before why farmers wiped their faces on their shirt sleeves," suiting the action to the words. "Father thought it was absurd for me to try," he went on; "I want to show him I can plough with a span and without a driver too."

Richard pulled the rein as it hung about his neck and the horses started on the next furrow. Though he had no idea at the time that the gentleman watching him had any thing more than mere curiosity, yet subsequent events proved that this morning's work had a great effect on his future life.