Read "The Young Horse" by Lois Bates.
Edgar was riding in the train with his mother one day. He sat next the window, as children like to do, so that he could see all that was going on. How the train speeds along! now passing through a tunnel, then out again into the sunshine; next it goes over a long row of arches built across a valley, and called a viaduct. "How high up we seem to be," said Edgar; "see, mother, the river is down there ever so far below!" Now they are passing through fields again, and there, looking over the hedge, is a beautiful young horse. But as the train whirls by, the horse runs off and scampers round and round the field. Edgar watched him as long as he could see, and then he said: "What a lovely horse, mother! how I should like to ride him!"
"The horse is of no use for riding yet, Edgar," said his mother.
"Why?" asked Edgar.
"Because he has not yet learnt to obey a rider," replied she; "the horse has to wear bit and bridle before he can be of use, and to learn by them to be controlled. A horse that could not be managed would run away with you."
Bad tempers and bad habits are like wild horses: they take us where they will, and get us into sad trouble if we do not bridle them, so we must take care not to let the temper be master, but bridle it just as the horse-trainer bridles the horse.
"I should think the horse does not like the bit and bridle at first," said Edgar.
"Very likely not," replied his mother; "but he would not be the useful, patient animal that he is if he did not learn to."
Match each theme from the story with the evidence from the text that supports it.
Term Definition
Controlling one's temper is a skill developed over time. A) "A horse that could not be managed would run away with you."
Don't rush into a situation without thinking it through. B) "… but he would not be the useful, patient animal that he is if he did not learn to."
Controlling one's temper is a skill developed over time. A) "A horse that could not be managed would run away with you."
Don't rush into a situation without thinking it through. B) "… but he would not be the useful, patient animal that he is if he did not learn to."