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"Black Beauty", an 1877 novel by Anna Sewell.

Sewell was disabled from her early teens and relied on horses to travel, fostering a respect for them in the process. The story of Black Beauty—a memoir of his life from colt, to taxicab horse, to retirement—broke new ground in literature as an autobiographical memoir of a horse. One of the best-selling books of all time, the novel was the forerunner of a sub-genre of children's "pony book" literature.

This is the 135th anniversary of the novel, which was first published on 24th November 1877.

The first place that I can well remember, was a large pleasant meadow with a pond of clear water in it. Some shady trees leaned over it, and rushes and water-lilies grew at the deep end. Over the hedge on one side we looked into a ploughed field, and on the other we looked over a gate at our master's house, which stood by the roadside; at the top of the meadow was a plantation of fir trees, and at the bottom a running brook overhung by a steep bank.

Whilst I was young I lived upon my mother's milk, as I could not eat grass. In the day time I ran by her side, and at night I lay down close by her. When it was hot, we used to stand by the pond in the shade of the trees, and when it was cold, we had a nice warm shed near the plantation.
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Featured December 2012