254 ROAD, TRACK, AND STABLE. 
I believe, they are disposed of at auction; and inas- 
much as a certain distinction attaches to them even in 
decrepitude, they always bring a little more than they 
are worth as beasts of burden. At most, however, 
they sell for a song. Broken down horses are bought 
by poor men; they have scanty fare, little or no cloth- 
ing, hard boards to le on, and, commonly, severe toil 
to endure. 
The cast-off fire horse must sadly miss his good oats 
and hay, his clean, warm stable and comfortable bed, 
his elaborate grooming and gentle treatment, his com- 
panions, brute and human, the caresses and sweet- 
meats to which he was daily treated. Removed from 
all these luxuries, his life broken up by a sudden and 
painful revulsion, we may be sure that the equine 
veteran, who spent his best years in helping to save 
our property from destruction, must very shortly 
present a spectacle of misery and despair. The 
next bony animal that the reader sees pulling a 
tip-cart may be a once proud and petted fire horse, 
for whom the only possible boon is now the axe of 
the knacker. 
