THE HORSE. 39 



his obeisance in such an irresistible manner that 

 Bridget would be completely captivated; and 

 the dainty bits were passed through the win- 

 dow in such quantities and were swallowed with 

 such avidity that the lady of the house had to 

 interfere and restrict the donations to two cakes 

 daily. 



Fay had been taught to shake hands with 

 his admirers, and this trick was called his " word 

 of honor ; " he had his likes and dislikes, and 

 would positively refuse to honor some people 

 with a hand-shake. If these slighted individ- 

 uals insisted upon riding him, he made them 

 so uncomfortable by the roughness of his gaits 

 that they never cared to repeat the experiment. 

 But the favored ones, whom he had received 

 into his good graces and to whom he had given 

 his " word of honor," he would carry safely 

 anywhere, at his lightest and easiest gait. Fay 

 never went back on his word, which is more 

 than can be said of some human beings. 



The great difficulty in training a horse for a 

 lady's use is to get him well placed on his 

 haunches. In Fay's case this was accomplished 

 by teaching him to place his fore-feet upon a 

 stout inverted tub, about two feet high. When 

 he offered his " hand " for a shake, some one 

 pushed forward the tub, upon which his " foot" 



