p'iled horse,' Jonathan Goslee, the minister's hired man,
said, 'though you can't make parson think so. He's dead sure to run
ag'in. A horse knows when he's got the upper hand, jest as well as a
child, and he'll watch his chance to try it over ag'in, you see if he
don't.'

"But the next time Peter shied and tried to run, it was the minister
who got the upper hand; and when the short excitement was over, and the
horse quiet and subdued, he was driven back to within a few paces of the
object of his fright. A neighbor was called to stand at his head, while
his master took down the flaming yellow placard that had caused all the
trouble, and slowly and cautiously brought it to him, that he might see,
smell, and touch it, talking soothingly to him and petting and caressing
him. When he had become accustomed to its appearance, and had learned by
experience that it was harmless, it was nailed to the tree again and
Peter passed it the second time without trouble.

"'If I'd owned the horse,' the minister's helper said, when he told this
story, 'I s'pose I should have _licked_ him by,--but I guess, in the
long run, parson's way was best.'

"This was one of many lessons Peter received to correct his only serious
fault. He was willing and swift, intelligent and kind, but so nervous
and timid, and made so frantic by his fear of any unknown object, that
he was constantly putting the minister's life and limbs in jeopardy. But
he had a wise, patient teacher, and he was apt to learn.

"My grandmother was fond of telling some of the means adopted to bring
about the cure;--how one day after Peter had shied at sight of a
wheelbarrow, the parson trundled the obnoxious object about the yard for
half an hour in view of the stable window, then emptied a measure of
oats in it, and opened the stable door; how the horse trotted round and
round, drawing each time a little nearer, then came close, snorted and
wheeled,--his master standing by encouraging him by hand and
voice,--until, unable longer to resist the tempting bait, he put his
pink nose to the pile and ate first timidly, then with confidence. After
that, the old lady said, Peter felt a particular regard for wheelbarrows
in general, hoping in each one he happened to pass to find another
toothsome meal.

"He suffered at first agonies of terror at sight of the long line of
waving, flapping garments he had to pass every Monday in his passage
from the big gate to the stable; but, through t