The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1880-09-03
Horses That Can Count.

There is not much stimulus TO mental
activity III life of plodding on q street
car track, and yet instances are known
where horses have taken a lively interest
In the road, the method of carrying on
the business, and especially that portion
of it which involves their time and labor
They have thought it all out, and have
actually been able to tell the number of
trips assigned for their days labor and
when it ends. When horse is able to
tell how much work is required Of him
each day, and when his day ends, the
achievement passes beyond the range of
mere animal instinct and attains the
plume of reason and intelligence. Horse
car drivers tell marvellous stories of the
intelligence displayed by the animals
under their charge. A driver on one of
the Fourteenth-street cars is strongly of
the opinion that horses know how to
count. If this rather unusual statement
is questioned, the driver simply Says
'Well, if they don't, how are you going
to explain this?" and then he goes on to
say that each car makes nineteen trips Il
day. There are four horses used three
making five trips and one four trips. At
the end of each trip the car is driven in
to the stables and then turned upon the
turning table. After the car is turned
the horses are changed if it is the proper
time, before the car starts back on the
trip. The horses will make the four
trips going III and out of the stables
without any difficulty. At the end of the
fifth trip, if for any reason it is necessary
to send the car back, it is almost impos-
sible to get the horse out of the stable.
He holds back, resists, and it requires
the united exertions of several men be-
fore the animal can be induced to move
The horse has kept strict count of the
trips, and knows that he has finished his
days work and ought to go to his stall
The same thing occurs if the attempt is
made to make the horse that has only
four trips take an additional one. With
the drivers and stable-men, who fire.
quently witness such exhibitions, there
is a firm belief in the mathematical
abilities of the horse. The street-car
men also tell an interesting yarn about
the hill horse that works ON the hill be-
tween New York avenue and II street
His time for stopping work is very irreS-
ular, and he is sometimes taken to the
stables with one car and sometimes with
another. But the horse knows perfectly
well when it is the intention to take him
to the stable, and when he comes to the
top of the hill, instead of stopping he
starts off on run. If the time for his
going home was at all regular tlfis singu-
lar intelligence might be explained, but
whether it is early or late the horse
knows when he is going home. Until
that time he plods along steadily, and
has never been known TO make a mistake.
One Of the drivers explains it by the fact
that the boy who has the horse in charge
usually sits on the dashboard, with feet
on the outside, while going up the hill.
But when the boy is going all the way to
the stables he gets all the way i'll the front
platform. The horse sees that the boy
has drawn his legs in instead of dangling
them on the outside, and by the inductive
process of reasoning he concludes that
il is time for him to go home He accord
ingly goes. Another horse always SHES
when he passes a certain corner after
dark, because some fouror five years ago
he was frightened ut that place. = IVaSh-
jHgton Post.