FIRE HORSES. 233 



wonderful speed ; but, unfortunately, the near horse 

 had a habit of balking on the threshold of the engine- 

 house, when harnessed for a fire, which so delayed 

 the apparatus that his subsequent speed did not make 

 up for the time lost, and he was retired to private 

 life. 



< >ne of the best, oldest, and lightest engine horses 

 in Boston is also built on this model. He is a rather 

 plain brown fellow, weighing only about 1,175 pounds, 

 with a strong, short back, splendid shoulder, and stout 

 limbs, with big knees and short cannon-bones. His 

 expression is extremely gentle and intelligent. At 

 present he serves as the off horse on a chemical en- 

 gine, his mate being a handsome dapple gray, with 

 white flowing tail. The brown horse is reckoned by 

 the enginemen to be twenty-two years old, having 

 been in the service for many years. I suspect that 

 there is some exaggeration in this statement, but he 

 is certainly an old horse. His mate is ten, and con- 

 siderably larger, but the two step well together, and 

 make a fast team. Their driver assured me that he 

 had once given the protective company a fair beat- 

 ing in a race to a fire. 



Of the gray horse, a good, and I believe, on investi- 

 gation, a true story is told. In the same building 

 with the chemical engine is an ordinary steam-en- 

 gine, the two " houses " being connected by hallways. 

 At one time the gray horse was transferred to the 

 other engine, and put in one of the stalls behind it. 

 In the middle of the first night after this change had 

 been made, an alarm of fire was sounded. The steam- 

 enginemen tumbled out of bed, rushed down to the 

 engine floor, and found one horse standing in his 



