MRS. WEST RELATES HER DREAM.
Mrs. West, the mother of Ben West, had breakfast ready just as her
husband came in from doing the chores about the barn. After Mrs. West
had poured out two cups of Mocha and Java for her husband and herself,
Mr. West, like a good husband, had his wife help herself first and then
himself, after which he began to enjoy the good things she had prepared
for their morning meal.
He noticed that Mrs. West only sipped her coffee occasionally and did
not touch the food on her plate. Seeing in her face that something was
not quite right, he said: "What is the matter, dear, you look as if
something troubled you? Have you lost your appetite?"
His wife replied: "No, William, but I had a dream that disturbed me."
"Why, what could it be to affect you in that way?" said her husband.
"Well, I will tell you," said his wife. "I dreamt I saw our colt Prince;
he seemed as if he did not eat the grain hay you gave him. Then seeing
he did not eat the grain hay, you gave him some alfalfa hay. He did not
eat much of that either, so you thought you would give some crushed
barley. When you saw that he did not eat that, you turned him out of the
barn into your fine alfalfa pasture. He ate a little of the green feed,
but was still very restless and discontented. So you turned him out
where he could get wild feed and have plenty of chance to run. After you
turned him out he just browsed a little, and ran up the road and down
the road snorting and arching his neck very prettily; his smooth, sleek,
glossy, black coat shining in the sun made him look fine and handsome.
You could not make out what was the matter with him, for he seemed well
but was so restless; not contented in any place or liking any kind of
feed. So you thought he might be lonesome and you turned out some horses
to run with him. But he seemed to pay no attention to them, ate little
and was getting more restless and discontented all the time, not even
enjoying his freedom nor knowing what to do with it. He would every now
and then run up and down the road as if not knowing what to do with
himself.
"Once in his restless mood he went down the road, and there was a
beautiful young lady sitting near the gate leading to her house. She saw
him coming and noticed how handsome he was, and she thought how fine it
would be to have that noble looking horse to ride and keep it for her
use. So she opened the gate and came to the road and stood waiting for
the colt. When he came to where she was, he looked at her and arched his
neck, and she thought he was handsome; and smiling she went up to him
and just placed her hand on his neck and patted him: then she talked
sweetly to him and passed her hand over his face several times, and he
seemed so quiet and gentle that you would have thought that it was her
he had been wanting, and she seemed to know by intuition that she had
got him in her power; so she opened the gate and he followed her in.
Then she knew she had got him sure, and he was just what she had wanted.
She petted him a little more, then put a bridle on him and then a
saddle. Then she mounted him and off they went and you could not tell
which was the most delighted the colt or the young lady. At first she
was very good to him, and only rode him short distances and fed him
high. He was perfectly docile and she had full control over him.
Afterwards she exacted more service from him, would ride him longer
distances, and later along she not only rode him long distances but rode
him hard and fast and fed and petted him less. Sometimes the horse was
exhausted and about to give out, but in order to revive him all she had
to do was to make a little of him, talk coaxingly and pet him; and
instantly his eye would brighten, animation would come back to him, and
he would do his best to travel. But this kind of usage was telling on
the horse and he was growing poorer all the time. Still she was exacting
and demanded as much from him as ever. After awhile, he could not begin
to travel as he once did, for he was getting weaker and weaker, and even
her pettings were losing power to put life into him, for it seemed at
times as if it had all gone out of him.
"One hot day when she was riding him and he seemed very much fatigued,
they were going along the road where there was a fine rich pasture well
fenced, with some fine young horses feeding in it. When they saw Prince
and his mistress they ran round the field, then along the fence where
the road was, and every now and then would look at the poor worn-out
colt carrying his mistress. Then they would run a piece, throw up their
hind legs, toss their heads, showing how much freedom they enjoyed.
Again they would run along the fence and look at him. One of the horses
in the field said to the other, "Why, there is our old companion Prince.
I would not have known him, he looks so old and poor. How thin he has
become. Why don't he throw that woman off and be free like ourselves?
Don't you see how she is wearing him out by inches?" "Ah!" said another
horse, "He was free like ourselves at one time. There is not a horse in
this pasture that looks as handsome and fat as he did, but he could not
enjoy his freedom. He was restless, till he became a willing slave to
that woman's smiles, caresses and pettings. He won't live long; she is
too hard and makes too many demands on him. But notice even now his eye
will brighten if she pats him on his neck a little and says a few kind
sweet words to him, how he tries to go faster, but it is only for a very
few yards; then he is back again to his old gait, more tired than
before. Do you notice how fresh and fine she looks, but how poor and
worn out he is? She knew her power and has used it for her self
gratification regardless of what might become of him. Poor fool, he
could not see that her kind talk and pettings were only a means
employed to gain her end. She cared nothing for him, only as he
contributed to her pleasure; _and there are so many many more very green
colts just like him_. One day the young lady had been out with Prince on
a long hard ride, and they were coming home. Prince could hardly put one
foot before the other, so weak and tired was he. At last when she got
him to the stable he fell down and seemed to be in much pain. She called
in assistance and men came with medicine and used much of it on him, but
it was no good; he gave one look at her and died. She cried over him and
put her head on his body and said, "He was the best horse that ever was
and I will never have any other horse. I can never love another as I did
him." About a month afterwards she was seen riding on a fine young bay
colt, and both seemed just as happy as Prince and she did the first time
she rode him."
Here Mrs. West stopped.
Her husband said: "That was a very strange dream, but I don't see why
that should affect you, for I was out to the barn this morning and
Prince was all right, with a big appetite for his breakfast."
No, Mr. West could not see why that dream could make her feel sad, but
Mrs. West knew, for there was a portion of the dream she did not relate,
and that was, when Prince gave the lady a look just as he was about to
expire, that look on his face Mrs. West saw to be the look and face of
her son Ben West, and the young lady that rode him was Julia Hammond
West, his wife. A short time afterwards Mr. West saw more in his wife's
dream, for he received word stating that his son had died from exposure
in the Klondike. Mr. West saw the notice in a paper about a month later,
of the marriage of their son's wife.