year appears, and it will seem only the day after to-morrow when you are rushing into the house again, and all of us standing at the door to welcome you back. Think what a joyous moment that will be! There is a wide and wonderful world for you to see first, and then a happy home afterwards to revisit." "Yes, dear, good, kind uncle David! no one ever had a happier home; and till the east comes to the west, I shall never cease to think of it with gratitude to you and grandmama. We shall surely all meet again. I must live upon that prospect. Hope is the jewel that remains wherever we go, and the hope to which grandmama has directed me, is truly compared to a rainbow, which not only brightens the earth, but stretches to heaven." CHAPTER XIII. THE AMUSING DRIVE. I would not enter on my list of friends Who needlessly sets foot upon a worm. COWPER. LADY HARRIET was confined to bed for several days after Frank's departure from home, and during all that week Harry and Laura felt so melancholy, that even Mrs. Crabtree became sorry for them, saying it was quite distressing to see how quiet and good they had become, for Master Harry was as mild as milk now, and she almost wished he would be at some of his old tricks again. On the following Monday, a message arrived from Lady Rockville, to say that she was going a long drive in her phaeton, to visit some boys at Musselburgh school, and would be happy to take Harry and Laura of the party, if their grandmama had no objection. None being made by anybody, they flew up stairs to get ready, while Harry did not take above three steps at a time, and Laura, when she followed, felt quite astonished to find Mrs. Crabtree looking almost as pleased as herself, and saying she hoped the expedition would do them both good. Before five minutes had elapsed, Harry was mounted on the dickey, where Lady Rockville desired him to sit, in R stead of the footman, who was now dismissed, as no room could be made for both; so after that Harry touched his hat whenever any of the party spoke to him, as if he had really been the servant. Laura, meanwhile, was placed between Lady Rockville and Miss Perceval, where she could hardly keep quiet a minute for joy, though afraid to turn her head or to stir her little finger, in case of being thought troublesome. "I am told that the races take place at Musselburgh today," said Lady Rockville. "It is a cruel amusement, derived from the sufferings of noble animals; they have as good a right to be happy in the world as ourselves, Laura; but we shall pass that way, so Harry and you will probably see the crowds of carriages." "Oh, how enchanting!-I never saw a race-course in my life!" exclaimed Laura, springing off her seat with delight. Harry! Harry! we are going to the races!" 66 "Hurra!" exclaimed Harry, clapping his hands; "what a delightful surprise! Oh! I am so dreadfully happy!" "After all, my dear Lady Rockville," said Miss Perceval, yawning, "what have horses got legs for, except to run ?" "Yes, but not at such a pace! It always shocked meformerly at Doncaster, where the jockeys were sometimes paid £1000 for winning-to see how the poor animals were lashed and spurred along the course, foaming with fatigue, gasping till they nearly expired. Horses, poor creatures, from the hour of their birth till their death, have a sad time of it!" "Grandmama once read me a beautiful description of a wild horse in his natural state of liberty," said Laura. Among the South American forests he was to be seen carrying his head erect, with sparkling eyes, flowing mane, and splendid tail, trotting about among the noble trees, or cropping the grass at his feet, looking quite princely, and doing precisely what he pleased." "Then look at the contrast," said Lady Rockville, pointing to a long row of cart-horses with galled sides, shrivelled skins, broken knees, and emaciated bodies, which were all dragging their weary load along. "Animals are all meant for the use of man, but not to be abused, like these poor creatures!" "As for racing," said Miss Perceval, "a thorough-bred horse enters into the spirit of it quite as much as his rider. Did you never hear of Quin's celebrated steed, which became so eager to win, that when his antagonist passed he seized him violently by the leg, and both jockeys had to dismount that the furious animal might be torn away. The famous horse Forester, too, caught hold of his opponent by the jaw, and could scarcely be disengaged." "Think of all the cruel training these poor creatures went through before they came to that," added Lady Rockville; "of the way in which horses are beaten, spurred, and severely cut with the whip; then, after their strength fails, like the well-known high-mettled racer,' the poor animal is probably sold at last to perpetual hard labour and illusage." "Uncle David shewed me yesterday," said Laura, “that horrid picture which you have probably seen, by Cruickshanks, of the Knackers' Yards in London, where old horses are sent to end their miserable days, after it is impossible to torture them any longer into working. Oh! it was dreadful! and yet grandmama said the whole sketch had been taken from life." "I know that," answered Lady Rockville. "In these places the wretched animals are literally put to death by starvation, and may be seen gnawing each other's manes in the last agonies of hunger." "My dear Lady Rockville," exclaimed Miss Perceval, affectedly, "how can you talk of such unpleasant things!— there is an Act of Parliament against cruelty to animals, so of course no such thing exists now. Many gentlemen are vastly kind to old horses, turning them out to grass for years, that they may enjoy a life of elegant leisure and rural retirement, to which, no doubt, some are well entitled; for instance, the famous horse Eclipse, which gained his owner £25,000! I wish he had been mine!" "But think how many are ruined when one is enriched, and indeed both are ruined in morals and good feeling; therefore I am glad that our sex have never yet taken to the turf. It is bad enough, my dear Miss Perceval, to see that they have taken to the moors; for were I to say all I think of those amazons who lately killed their six brace of grouse on the 12th of August, they would probably challenge me to single combat. Lord Rockville says, 'What with gentlemen doing worsted work, and ladies shouldering doublebarrelled guns, he scarcely thinks this can be the same world he was born in long ago." " The carriage, at this moment, began to proceed along the road with such extraordinary rapidity, that there seemed no danger of their following in the dust of any other equipage, and Miss Perceval became exceedingly alarmed, especially when Lady Rockville mentioned that this was one of the first times she had been driven by her new coachman, who seemed so very unsteady on his seat, she had felt apprehensive, for some time, that he might be drunk. "A tipsy coachman! Dear Lady Rockville, do let me out! We shall certainly be killed in this crowd of carriages! I can walk home! Pray stop him, Miss Laura! I came to look on at a race, but not to run one myself! This fast driving is like a railroad, only not quite so straight! I do verily believe we are run off with! Stop, coachman!--stop!" In spite of all Miss Perceval's exclamations and vociferations, the carriage flew on with frightful rapidity, though |