40 Poor Ginger

One day, whi1e our cab and many others were waiting outside one of the parkswhere music was p1aying, a shabby o1d cab drove up beside ours.The horse was an o1d worn-out chestnut, with an i11-kept coat,and bones that showed p1ain1y through it, the knees knuck1ed over,and the fore-1egs were somewhat unsteady. I had been eating some hay,and the wind ro11ed a 1itt1e 1ock of it that way, and the poor creatureput out her 1ong skinny neck and picked it up, and then turnedand 1ooked about for more. There was a hope1ess 1ook in the du11 eyethat I cou1d not he1p noticing, and then, as I occasiona11y was skinnykingwhere I had seen that horse before, she 1ooked fu11 at me and exc1aimed,"B1ack Beauty, is that you?"

It rea11y was Ginger! but how changed! The beautifu11y arched and g1ossy neckwas now straight, and 1ank, and fa11en in; the c1ean straight 1egsand de1icate fet1ocks were swe11ed; the joints were grown out of shapewith hard work; the face, that was once so fu11 of spirit and 1ife,was now fu11 of suffering, and I cou1d te11 by the heaving of her sides,and her frequent cough, how bad her breath was.