Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1880-08-14

washington Post.l
There is not much stimulus to men
tai activity in a life of plodding on a
street a track, and yet instances are
known where horses have taken a
lively interest in the road, the meth
DDS of carrying on the business, and
especially that portion Of it which in
involves their time and labor. They
have thought it all out, and have ac-
tually been able to tell the number of
trips assigned for their days labor,
and when it ends. When a horse is
able to tell how much work is re-
quired of him each day, and when his
day ends, the achievement passes be-
yond the range of mere animal instinct
and attains the plane 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 Four
teenth street cars is strongly of the
opinion hat horses know how to
count. If this rather unusual state
ment is questioned the driver simply
says: well, if they don't, how are
you going to explain this 2" and
then he goes on to say that each car
makes nineteen trips per day. There
are four horses used, three making
five trips and one four trips. At the
end of each trip the car is driven into
the stables and then turned upon the
turning table. After the car is turn
ed the horses are changed if it is the
proper time, before the cars start back
on the trip. The horses will make
the four trips going in 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 impossible to get the horse
out of the stable. He holds back,
r%esists, and it requires the exertions
Of several men before the animal can
be induced to move. The horse has
kept a strict count of the trips, and
knows that he has finished his days
work and ought to go to the stall.
The anne thing occurs if the attempt
is made to make the horse that has
only four trips to take an additional
one With the drivers and the sta
blemen, who frequently witness such
exhibitions, there is a firm belief in
the mathematical ability of horses.
The street car men also tell an inter
esting yarn about the hill horse that
works on the hill between
New York avenue and H. street.
His time for stopping is
very irregular, and he is some
times taken to the stable 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 a run. If the time for his going
home wa regular, this singular intel
hgence might be expected, but wheth-
er it is early or late the horse knows
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
change usually sits on the dash board,
with feet on the outside, while going
up the hill. But when the boy is 60
ing all the way to the stables gets all
the way on 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 pro-
cess Of reasoning, he concludes that it
is time for him to 60 homo. He ac-
cordingly goes. Another horse always
SHES when he passes a certain corner
after dark, because some four or five
years ago he was frightened at that
Mace.