When I saw this old horse collar hanging in an abandoned barn, it conjured up all the richness of past eras.  All of those little straps and buckles would be common knowledge to the men and boys who hitched up “Old Nellie” to whatever she had to pull.  They are meaningless to most of us today.  The collar was probably hung on the peg with a view to repairing it someday.  That day never came.  The barn swallow, however, is still as active in this new world as it was in the old, flitting by the collar that his ancestor would have seen in use. - Robert Bateman