242 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 



eighteen quarts, which is excessive. In Chicago, it 

 would seem, the fire horses do more work than is re- 

 quired in Boston. Ten companies in the heart of 

 that city average thirty-six runs per month ; whereas 

 in Boston the average varies, according to the situa- 

 tion, from eight or ten to twenty-five runs per month. 

 In the suburbs many companies do not go out more 

 than once a week, on the average. The hour for bed- 

 ding down varies from half past five to eight p. m., at 

 the discretion of the driver. It would be better to 

 make this duty obligatory at the earlier hour, and 

 better yet if the bedding were left under the horses 

 by day as well as by night, especially in the case of 

 those companies which do the most work. The more 

 a horse lies down, the longer his legs and feet are 

 likely to endure ; and by the supply of a soft and 

 perpetual couch he can often be induced to lengthen 

 his hours of repose. 



At eight p. m., it is the custom all over the city to 

 call the horses out and harness them to the engine, 

 and at this time visitors are apt to drop in. Both 

 firemen and horses are always well known in the vi- 

 cinity, and many civilities pass between the neighbors 

 and the occupants, human and equine, of the engine- 

 houses. The children especially are friends with the 

 horses, calling them by their names, and often treat- 

 ing them to candy and other luxuries. In fact, when- 

 ever a fire-engine horse is introduced to a stranger, he 

 expects to receive some dainty, and will poke his nose 

 in the visitor's hands and pockets ; nor is he easily 

 discouraged by failure to find anything, being evi- 

 dently convinced that nobody would be quite so mean 

 as to enter his stable without bringing at least a lump 

 of sugar or the fraction of an apple. 



