Another stirring sight 

 no longer to be seen is 

 the horse-drawn fire- 

 engine that went career- 

 ing through the streets 

 at break-neck speed, 

 whooped on by small 

 boys. 



Famed in song and verse and story as a mighty man, the smith was once an essential character 

 of the English scene. Now, alas! he is rarely encountered, a fact which runs parallel to the 

 diminishing use of the horse. 



'What more exciting than the roar of the blast', wrote Stanley Baldwin in The English 

 Heritage; 'and even now I can still feel the thrill which stirred my small heart when I was 

 allowed to work the big bellows . . . How exciting, too, the smell of the smithy! The curious 

 acrid smell of water thrown on the red hot iron, the warm steam of the cart horses, the 



burning hoof when the 

 shoe was being fitted. 

 And how I admired 

 when the smith himself 

 hit the shoe by accident 

 against his palm and 

 nothing happened but 

 the sizzling noise of 

 burnt horn and an ex- 

 clamation of justifiable 

 dissatisfaction at his 

 own clumsy workman- 

 ship. How I longed to 

 have a homy hand!' 



