Arthur Scott Bailey

“ As Farmer Green led him out of the shop, and Johnnie Green led Twinkleheels, a queer look came over Twinkleheels' face.
"My goodness!" he cried. "My feet feel very strange."
"What's the matter?" Ebenezer asked him. "Surely your new shoes don't hurt you!"
"No! They don't hurt, exactly," Twinkleheels replied. "But my feet feel terribly heavy. These iron shoes aren't as comfortable to wear as I had expected." [Pg 90]
"You'll soon get used to them," said Ebenezer. "In a short time you won't know you're wearing shoes—unless you happen to lose one." ”

“ And the blacksmith wasn't hurt. He was merely disgusted.
"I declare," he said to Farmer Green, "this mare is the meanest critter that comes into my shop. She doesn't know anything except how to kick and bite. That old horse of yours is worth a dozen like her. I'd give more for his tail than I would for her."
Ebenezer tried to look unconcerned. The blacksmith had a hearty voice. Nobody in the shop could help hearing what he said. And Twinkleheels made up his mind that the blacksmith shouldn't have any reason to speak of him as he had of the silly white mare. ”

“ One day Johnnie Green was in a great hurry. He was going to ride over the hill, to play with some friends. Running [Pg 13] to the barn, he caught up Twinkleheels' halter and snatched the four-quart measure off the top of a barrel.
"I won't stop to take any oats to-day," Johnnie said to himself. "I'll fool Twinkleheels. It will be a good joke on him when he puts his nose into the measure and finds it empty."
Johnnie Green hurried to the pasture. At his first whistle Twinkleheels pricked up his ears. He had come to think only of one thing when that whistle sounded in the pasture. ”

“ Twinkleheels sniffed as he heard what Farmer Green said.
"This is all nonsense," he grumbled to the old horse Ebenezer as Johnnie led him into his stall. "Farmer Green doesn't know what he's talking about. I'm a hundred times sprier than Bright. And I'm a hundred times sprier than Broad. That makes me two hundred times sprier [Pg 63] than both of them. It's silly to put me in my stall and take them out. They won't be able to move. They'll get stuck fast in a drift, and goodness knows how we'll ever haul them out."
"I shouldn't worry about the oxen if I were you," Ebenezer replied. ”

“ The white mare that the blacksmith was shoeing looked much surprised when Twinkleheels told her he was not a colt.
"Well, well!" she cried. "A pony, eh? Who'd have thought it? Anyhow, you've never been shod in your life. I can tell that by the way you act." And she cackled in a most unpleasant fashion.
"What shall I say to her?" Twinkleheels asked Ebenezer. "She hasn't apologized to me."
"Pay no attention to her," the old horse advised him in an undertone. "She's a low bred person. I've often met her on [Pg 82] the road and she always wants to stop and talk. ”

“ Though Johnnie Green was eager to get out of doors, most of those that lived in the barn were quite content to stay there during such a storm. The old horse Ebenezer especially looked pleased.
"This will be a fine day to doze," he remarked to the pony, Twinkleheels. "Farmer Green won't make me do any work in this weather. The roads must be blocked with drifts already." ”

“ Spot lay on the barn floor, looking on while Johnnie Green harnessed Twinkleheels.
"This boy," Twinkleheels explained, "made me think he had some oats for me. He caught me unfairly." [Pg 16]
Old dog Spot grinned. "Can't you take a joke?" he asked.
"This is no joke," Twinkleheels grumbled. "Johnnie is going to drive me over the hill. They're going to have a ball game over there. And you know folks are always in a hurry when they're going to a ball game—especially boys. And they're in the most terrible hurry of all when somebody else has to get them there. ”

“ Bright and Broad can do that, too," said Twinkleheels.
"Oh! Farmer Green will have the oxen out as soon as the storm slackens," [Pg 58] old Ebenezer told him. "And no doubt you'll get outside as soon as they do, for Johnnie Green will want you to play with him in the snow or I don't know anything about boys."
"Good!" Twinkleheels exclaimed. "I hope he'll take me out. It would be great fun to toss him into a snowdrift.... But I don't see what Farmer Green wants of Bright and Broad on a day like this. They'll be slower than ever if the roads are choked with snow." ”

“ And you know very well that a horse or a pony can't be spirited without plenty of oats."
Once more the bays muttered to each [Pg 96] other in a low tone. And at last they told Twinkleheels that he was greedy.
"You don't need any oats," they said. "You have more to eat than we do, all the time."
Twinkleheels was astonished.
"I don't know what you mean," he cried. "Johnnie Green feeds me only oats and hay; and that's no more than you have."
"We don't agree with you," the bays retorted. "You have meal. And you must eat a lot of it, too."
"Never!" Twinkleheels declared. "Why do you say that?" ”

“ All our running would only make the mill turn faster."
"We can't even stand still if we want to," his mate muttered. "There's a bar that crosses the top of the tread mill, right in front of us. Farmer Green ties us to it. There we are! When he unlocks the tread mill we have to start walking or [Pg 94] we'd slide down backwards; and unless our halters broke, our necks would get a terrible stretching."
The old horse Ebenezer, who stood between Twinkleheels and the bays and couldn't miss hearing what was said, looked scornfully at the two grumblers. ”

“ This pony's too small to handle himself in these drifts. I wouldn't try to put even a full-sized horse through them. It takes oxen in such going. They're slow; but they're strong and sure-footed, too. And they can go where horses couldn't do anything but flounder and probably cut themselves with their own feet. That's why we always [Pg 69] use Bright and Broad to gather sap in the sugar-bush."
"I'll put Twinkleheels in the barn again," said Johnnie. "Then I'll come back on foot and help you." ”

“ Broken necks are very slow to mend."
So Johnnie Green had to give up his plan, for the time being. He made up his mind, however, that when he was grown up he would learn to ride standing up—and turn somersaults in the air off a horse's back. But now he knew that he must content himself with less risky sports.
Something happened one day that caused Johnnie to admit to himself the wisdom of his father's advice. He was riding Twinkleheels along the road, bareback, after a heavy rain. And the first thing that Johnnie knew he was sitting almost on Twinkleheels' tail. ”

“ The bays glanced at each other.
"You can't always tell by a person's looks what he can do," one of them remarked. "Let Bright and Broad choose the race course and they'd leave you behind."
"Nonsense!" Twinkleheels cried. "They couldn't beat anybody unless it's Timothy Turtle, who lives over in Black Creek."
The bays winked at each other over the low partition that separated their stalls.
"Maybe you'll find out that you're [Pg 54] wrong," they told Twinkleheels. "Maybe you'll learn that Bright and Broad are faster than you think they are. ”

“ Ebenezer replied. "You didn't ask me when I had my first shoes. You asked me when I first visited a smithy. At the age of two months I jogged alongside my mother when she went to be shod. I must have been about three years old when the blacksmith nailed my first shoes to my feet."
Twinkleheels gave Ebenezer an uneasy glance.
"Does it hurt," he asked, "when they drive the nails into your hoofs?"
"Oh, no!" Ebenezer assured him. "To be sure, a careless blacksmith could prick [Pg 74] you. But Farmer Green always takes us to the best one he can find." ”

“ Twinkleheels remarked to the Muley Cow, who was chewing her cud and looking on.
"He doesn't get up the right way," said the Muley Cow. "When rising from the ground one should stand on his hind feet first."
"I don't agree with you," Twinkleheels told her. "Ebenezer uses the right method. But he's terribly poky about it. You can almost hear his joints creak."
The Muley Cow was somewhat offended.
"I've known Ebenezer a great many years," she snapped. "I don't care to [Pg 43] hear a young upstart—a mere pony—make fun of him." ”

“ XIX
THRASHING TIME
The pair of bays were feeling grumpy. Thrashing time had come. And they knew that they would have to spend long hours in the tread mill out in the field, where the oats were stacked. ”

“ Though they had already eaten theirs, they accepted Mrs. Green's invitation to sit at the table and have some griddlecakes and maple syrup. "If you boys are [Pg 29] going to pick currants you'll want a good, big breakfast," she told them. ”

“ Then they started off.
"We're going to the village to get some [Pg 76] new shoes," Twinkleheels called to old dog Spot. "Why don't you come, too?"
"I would," Spot barked, "but I always follow right behind the buggy ”