HIS ONLY FAULT. 393 



away from Toledo, let me advise you to never carry a 

 whip in the socket or strike him with one." 



Naturally I asked him why he made such a re- 

 mark, as he had assured me that the horse was true 

 and kind in harness. 



"Do you want to know?" said he. 



"I certainly do/' said I. 



"Well, then, stranger, if you want to know, and 

 you do not care to ask any one in Toledo, I will tell 

 you confidentially ; If you hit him he'll balk and stay 

 in his tracks from sun rise to sunset," and with that 

 he left me. 



Now that was a nice state of affairs, but I made 

 up my mind to keep Tom whether he balked or not, 

 and started east with him on the off side, while my 

 whip with the lash rolled round the stalk was strap- 

 ped on the top of the wagon where I could not get it 

 if I wanted to. 



As I drove over the roads near the southern shore 

 of Lake Erie through Oak Harbor, Sandusky, and 

 the other towns, I did a very fair business for Sep- 

 tember and exchanged the nigh horse of my team 

 several times, but no one could show me a horse or a 

 pair of horses that I would think of taking in trade 

 for Tom. He and I took to each other and the longer 

 I had him, the better I liked him- From morning 

 until night he was right up on the bit and became so 

 free that I believe he pulled about all of the load, as 

 in those days I always saw to it that there was a 

 strong pair of straps from the double whifHetree to 

 the axle and equally strong straps on the neck yoke. 

 No poles falling down or saw toothed pairs would 

 satisfy me when driving a wagon on the road. 



