had never had an accident; I ought to have said, no serious casualty, 

 never having upset or injured any one; but I have had many trifling 

 mishaps, such as running foul of a waggon in a fog, having my whole 

 team down in slippery weather ; on many occasions I have had a wheel 

 come off, but still nothing that could fairly be termed a bad accident. 



During the last twenty-five years I have been engaged keeping livery 

 stables and breaking horses to harness, and in that period I have had some 

 very narrow escapes. In one instance, the box of a new double break 

 came off and pitched me astride across the pole between two young 

 horses ; I once had the top of the pole come off when driving two high- 

 couraged horses ; a horse set to kicking, and ran away with me in single 

 harness. As I was of course pulling at him very hard, my feet went 

 through the bottom of the dog-cart, he kicking furiously all the time. 

 Fortunately I escaped with only a few bruises. On another occasion, in 

 single harness, a mare began kicking, and, before I could get her head 

 up, she ran against the area railings of a house in Princess Square, 

 Plymouth, broke both shafts, and split the break into matches ; myself 

 and man nearly went through the kitchen window, into the arms of the 

 cook ; she did not, however, ask us to stop and dine. 



I could mention many little events of a similar kind, and consider 

 myself very fortunate in having never had anything more serious than a 

 sprained ankle or wrist during my tolerably long career. I will now 

 commence my instructions. 



