FIRE HORSES. 289 



gam has proved a good one for the city. Old as he 

 is, being sixteen or seventeen years at least, he is 

 thought to have made the best run of his life a few 

 weeks ago, galloping all the way to the fire, a distance 

 of a mile or more. A little blood trickled from his 

 nostrils when he pulled up behind the engine, but 

 otherwise he seemed none the worse for the immense 

 exertion. 



Another big horse, of the greyhound type already 

 described, — that is, having long hind legs and stand- 

 ing higher at the rump than at the withers, — was 

 four months in learning the business. He is a gray, 

 with a long, rather coarse head, and small " mouse " 

 ears out of proportion to his size, for he weighs 1,380 

 pounds ; but this evidently mongrel beast is not al- 

 together devoid of intelligence, being steady enough 

 on the street to serve as a leader when three horses 

 are used, and on one occasion, when the whiffletree 

 fell on his legs, he refrained from running away. 

 This horse is used with a ladder truck, and his edu- 

 cation was finally accomplished by fencing in his 

 path from the stall to the pole with ladders, a method 

 often employed. 



Sometimes it is not want of mind, but nervousness, 

 which makes a lire horse slow to learn the trade, just 

 as some nervous children have difficulty in applying 

 their minds. Such was the case with Peter, a well- 

 bred black horse, used for many years in Boston with 

 a ladder truck. Peter was a noble, strong, spirited 

 animal, and, once taught, he became as prompt and 

 trustworthy as any horse in the department. On one 

 occasion, shortly after his purchase, Peter, exasper- 

 ated by the schooling, broke away from his instructors, 



