THE IRISH HORSE AND THE CHILD. 81

brook close by early one morning during winter to drink.
The water was frozen, and the horse stamped away with his
fore-feet, but was unable to break the ice. He waited quietly
till his neighbour came down, and then the two, standing side
by side, and striking with their hoofs together, broke through
the ice, and were thus enabled to reach the water.

What one person alone cannot do, two may do working
heartily together. We shall find no lack of thick ice to break
through. The thickest, perhaps, is the icy deadness of cold,
stubborn hearts to what is right and good. Let us beware
that our hearts do not freeze, and let us take care to keep
them warm by exercising them in services of love and kind-
ness.

 

THE IRISH HORSE AND THE CHILD.

Mrs. F
horses. Some horses in the county of Limerick, which were

 

mentions a striking instance of the wisdom of

feeding in a field, broke bounds like a band of unruly school-
boys, and scrambling through a gap which they had made in
a fence, found themselves in a narrow lane. Along the quiet
by-road they galloped helter-skelter, at full speed, snorting
and tossing their manes in the full enjoyment of their freedom,
but greatly to the terror of a party of children who were
playing in the lane. As the horses were seen tearing wildly
along, the children scrambled up the bank into the hedge,
and buried themselves in the bushes, regardless of thorns—
with the exception of one poor little thing, who, too small to
run, fell down on its face, and lay crying loudly in the middle
of the narrow way.