When she saw him at the gate, she would neigh with joy, and trot up to him. We were all fond of him, and my mother loved him very much. He gave us good food, good lodging, and kind words he spoke as kindly to us as he did to his little children. Her name was Duchess, but he often called her Pet. I knew she was a wise old horse, and our master thought a great deal of her. I hope you will grow up gentle and good, and never learn bad ways do your work with a good will, lift your feet up well when you trot, and never bite or kick even in play." I have never forgotten my mother's advice. Your grandmother had the sweetest temper of any horse I ever knew, and I think you have never seen me kick or bite. You have been well bred and well born your father has a great name in these parts, and your grandfather won the cup two years at the Newmarket races. The colts who live here are very good colts, but they are carthorse colts and, of course, they have not learned manners. One day, when there was a good deal of kicking, my mother whinnied to me to come to her, and then she said: "I wish you to pay attention to what I am going to say to you.
Sometimes we had rather rough play, for they would frequently bite and kick as well as gallop. I used to run with them, and had great fun we used to gallop all together round and round the field, as hard as we could go. They were older than I was some were nearly as large as grown-up horses.
There were six young colts in the meadow besides me. As soon as I was old enough to eat grass, my mother used to go out to work in the daytime and come back in the evening. When it was hot we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees, and when it was cold we had a nice warm shed near the plantation. In the daytime I ran by her side, and at night I lay down close by her.
While I was young I lived upon my mother's milk, as I could not eat grass. At the top of the meadow was a plantation of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a steep bank.
Over the hedge on one side we looked into a plowed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master's house, which stood by the roadside. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water lilies grew at the deep end. My Early Home The first place that I can well remember was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it.
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