t would be an easy matter for any one to mount upon their backs or ride
them? _T._--By no means; I think that they would kick and prance to
that degree that they would throw any person down. _Mr B._--And yet your
little horse very frequently takes you upon his back, and carries you
very safely between this and your father's house. _T._--That is because
he is used to it. _Mr B._--But he was not always used to it; he was once
a colt, and then he ran about as wild and unrestrained as any of those
upon the common. _T._--Yes, sir. _Mr B._--How came he then to be so
altered as to submit to bear you upon his back? _T._--I do not know,
unless it was by feeding him. _Mr B._--That is one method; but that is
not all; they first accustom the colt, who naturally follows his mother,
to come into the stable with her; then they stroke him and feed him till
he gradually becomes gentle, and will suffer himself to be handled; then
they take an opportunity of putting a halter upon his head, and accustom
him to stand quietly in the stable, and to be tied to the manger. Thus
they gradually proceed from one thing to another, till they teach him to
bear the bridle and the saddle, and to be commanded by his rider. This
may very properly be called the _education_ of an animal, since by these
means he is obliged to acquire habits which he would never have learned
had he been left to himself. Now, I knew that the poor bear had been
frequently beaten and very ill-used, in order to make him submit to be
led about with a string, and exhibited as a sight. I knew that he had
been accustomed to submit to man, and to tremble at the sound of the
human voice, and I depended upon the force of these impressions for
making him submit without resistance to the authority I assumed over
him. You saw I was not deceived in my opinion, and by these means I
probably prevented the mischief that he might otherwise have done to
some of those women or children.

As Mr Barlow was talking in this manner, he perceived that Tommy's arm
was bloody; and inquiring into the reason, he heard the history of his
adventure with the monkey. Mr Barlow then looked at the wound, which he
found of no great consequence, and told Tommy that he was sorry for his
accident, and imagined that he was now too courageous to be daunted by a
trifling hurt. Tommy assured him he was, and proceeded to ask some
questions concerning the nature of the monkey, which Mr Barlow answered
in the following man