FIRE HORSES. 233 
wonderful speed; but, unfortunately, the near horse 
had a habit of balking on the threshold of the engine- 
house, when harnessed for a fire, which so delayed 
the apparatus that his subsequent speed did not make 
up for the time lost, and he was retired to private 
life. 
One of the best, oldest, and lightest engine horses 
in Boston is also built on this model. He is a rather 
plain brown fellow, weighing only about 1,175 pounds, 
with a strong, short back, splendid shoulder, and stout 
limbs, with big knees and short cannon-bones. His 
expression is extremely gentle and intelligent. At 
present he serves as the off horse on a chemical en- 
gine, his mate being a handsome dapple gray, with 
white flowing tail. The brown horse is reckoned by 
the enginemen to be twenty-two years old, having 
been in the service for many years. I suspect that 
there is some exaggeration in this statement, but he 
is certainly an old horse. His mate is ten, and con- 
siderably larger, but the two step well together, and 
make a fast team. Their driver assured me that he 
had once given the protective company a fair beat- 
ing in a race to a fire. 
Of the gray horse, a good, and I believe, on investi- 
gation, a true story is told. In the same building 
with the chemical engine is an ordinary steam-en- 
gine, the two “houses” being connected by hallways. 
At one time the gray horse was transferred to the 
other engine, and put in one of the stalls behind it. 
In the middle of the first night after this change had 
been made, an alarm of fire was sounded. The steam- 
enginemen tumbled out of bed, rushed down to the 
engine floor, and found one horse standing in his 
