FIRE HORSES. 239 
gain has proved a good one for the city. Old as he 
is, being sixteen or seventeen years at least, he is 
thought to have made the best run of his life a few 
weeks ago, galloping all the way to the fire, a distance 
of a mile or more. A little blood trickled from his 
nostrils when he pulled up behind the engine, but 
otherwise he seemed none the worse for the immense 
exertion. 
Another big horse, of the greyhound type already 
described, — that is, having long hind legs and stand- 
ing higher at the rump than at the withers, — was 
four months in learning the business. He is a gray, 
with a long, rather coarse head, and small “mouse”’ 
ears out of proportion to his size, for he weighs 1,380 
pounds; but this evidently mongrel beast is not al- 
together devoid of intelligence, being steady enough 
on the street to serve as a leader when three horses 
are used, and on one occasion, when the whiffletree 
fell on his legs, he refrained from running away. 
This horse is used with a ladder truck, and his edu- 
cation was finally accomplished by fencing in his 
path from the stall to the pole with ladders, a method 
often employed. 
Sometimes it is not want of int but nervousness, 
which makes a fire horse slow to learn the trade, just 
as some nervous children have difficulty in applying 
their minds. Such was the case with Peter, a well- 
bred black horse, used for many years in Boston with 
a ladder truck. Peter was a noble, strong, spirited 
animal, and, once taught, he became as prompt and 
trustworthy as any horse in the department. On one 
occasion, shortly after his purchase, Peter, exasper- 
ated by the schooling, broke away from his instructors, 
