Page:Horses and roads.djvu/215

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THE PUBLIC ON ASPHALTE.
199

harm the foot which He has designed with his omniscience and omnipotence to grapple with everything that can possibly spring up on the surface of the earth.

Modern writers on the horse (asphalte is only a modern introduction) have been for some time, and significantly enough, much at variance as to the virtues or defects of this material, according to the different lights under which they looked at it; even when all of them were ignorant that the unshod foot was the proper one to deal with it successfully under all circumstances.

In June 1878, in one contemporary we read:—‘Asphalte pavement appears to be on its trial. As we briefly mentioned last week, the R. S. P. C. A. has volunteered to assist those who do not approve of these pavements, and to “unite with any respectable agency for the purpose of mitigating the evil complained of.” Respecting this voluntary effort, Mr. Gerard F. Cobb, of Trinity College, Cambridge, requests the society “to carry out its own acknowledged objects, and to regard the question entirely from the horse’s point of view, but in all its bearings. I know, if I were a horse, what I should say, viz., that I would gladly incur the risk of an occasional downfall (which, after all, is less than what I am exposed to on the granite) for the sake of the unparalleled ease and comfort with which it enables me to perform my daily tasks.” Mr. Cobb also suggests that “If the Society meddles at all in this matter, I would venture to suggest that its efforts