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Illustration for The One Hoss Shay; She was a wonder, and nothing less

Datec. 1891

Illustration CitationThe One Hoss Shay with its Companion Poems How the Old Horse Won the Bet and The Broomstick Train, by Oliver Wendell Holmes (Boston and New York: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1892)

MediumWatercolor and ink on paper

Dimensionscomposition: 4 5/8 × 2 3/4 in. (11.7 × 7 cm)
sheet: 7 5/16 × 6 5/16 in. (18.6 × 16 cm)

Credit LineGift of Willard S. Morse, 1923

Object number1923-168

On View

Not on view

Label TextOliver Wendell Holmes was well known not just as a professor anatomy at Harvard but also as an author of light verse. The One Hoss Shay tells of a one hundred year old horse-drawn carriage that finally, and suddenly, breaks down. In How the Old Horse Won the Bet, a "poor forlorn old beast" amazes everyone with his speed in winning a race. The Broomstick Train attributes the flashing sparks of new electric trains to witches riding alongside them.