Morning journal and courier., 1880-08-20
Price Four Cents.

l day, and that was the last ever saw of eith- 1 CT the bugler or the horse. I never knew what became of them, but 1t was generally thought that the bugler had run away with ! the horse or the horse had run away with the bugler and that they had gone over to the enemy"
 1 ''Is stallion, Q gelding, or amare the best ] war horse, General?" 'FOh stallion is the best He has more courage and more en- duranee. Why, remember in the old army | long before the war, when it was not thought
 to be the decent thing for an army officer to
 ride mare. It was formerly the practice
 of all warlike nations to mount their cavalry on stations, but in later days if they can't ! get stallion they will stride mule Mexi- co IS full of good horses now. I'll tell you | where the Mexicans got them. You know | that nearly all the French army in Algiers | was sent to Mexico to sustain Bazaine and Maximilian, cavalry the principal arm. Every man was mounted on a fine stallion Well, when Maximilian collapsed (through | Gems. Sherman, Grant, Sheridan, and some | others-Tl tell you about it some day) and ! the French troops were ordered back to France, it would not have paid to take the | horses along and so they were sold for what \ they would fetch, and the breed of horses in ! Mexico is from the Algerian stallions'' ''How about France and England? Do they use stallions now? 'No; they mount what | and France all the time. But England has | some grand horses. But to come back, D said ' he, turning suddenly, ''to the question of \ horses in the army; do you remember the | horse Custer rode at the great review here at | the close of the war? No? We'll sir. he was grand horse. His name was Don | Juan. n
 Do you really think he ran away with | Custer on that occasion, or was it one of Gus | ter's tricks ?'' q don't know anything about ' AI~oA I,,xT r L. ! horse under knight or lady than Don Juan. He was thoroughbred bay from Kentucky, I think, and had been trained for the turf don't know what became of him"
 ''How many horses did you own at time l during the war ?" stOh, sometimes I had five or six or seven at the iveliest period You see, when we were making those long scouts we would wear out horse. Custer for instance. While an aide-de-camp on my staff he sometimes rode the same horse a hundred miles in 30 and 35 hours. For I week the horse would not be fit to use. Oh, yes, in answer to a question, we could stand | it better than the poor beasts. That's where human endurance comes in. But tell you we had some pretty rough times"
 ''How was Custer p ''He was a splendid lender, and when he was upon my staff he | did some wonderfully brilliant things. The | trouble with Custer was that he would not \ see that his whole force was available. He 1 would rush in and lead regiment in charge | and let a whole brigade look at him." | 'What was he on your staff ?' 'He was 1 Captain A. D. O., but had him promoted to | Brigadier- General. He would have licked ! the Indians the Little Big Horn if he had kept his command together"
 ; l remember that in the army of the Poto- mac, where l served as file closer in the ! rear rank until knocked over with a piece of shell at Antietam, Gen. PIeasanton was regarded as the best horseman in the ar rychOI haY ,.& Lo--z O | the war broke out he was Colonel of the Sec | ond Dragons, graduate of West Point, and had been officer in the Mexican war At that time, as he is yet, he slight, 1.-the and graceful. He was about 35 years old, and had scarcely been off horse since he left West Point with Hancock in 1S44. However, there was no harm in the question, so I ask ed him who of the Generals was the best rid CT in the army. ''Well, " said he, q hardly know. Custer was a splendid horseman- l fearless, graceful, and dashing. He would I ride anything, and was without fear He was very tall, and looked well on a big horse Grant was good rider, though not a grace full one. Hancock rode very well. He, Hooker and Burnside were the handsomest { men on horseback I ever saw They were all little too conscious, perhaps, but they were certainly superb Mcclellan looked well on horseback if he didn't ride too large I horse. You know he is built somewhat I like the first Napoleon-long body and short legs. Hancock is little that way toon 'Who of the Generals was the worst rid err" "Oh, that's hardly fair and nobody could answer that question any more than the other. Gen. Meade was a poor horse man for instance, he rode with martingales and was careful always to have a steady horse, while some of us younger officers were glad to get the the most vicious and fiery horses we could find. It was by many re- garded as something worth bragging about tT, hoI hofG hot yOI1Il EI r nd erybody but his owner. I often rode with Gen. Meade and often annoyed him by jump ing fences, logs, ditches and what not, instead of going round them. Well, he was not as young as I was by twelve or fifteen years and he was very near-sighted, which was of it. self 8 sufficient reason for prudence. After all, D continued Gen. Pleasonton, thinking moment, ''horses are much like men. There
 are men who, without being towards have
 not the nerve to go into battle. Everybody who has been in battle will tell you that It
 is so with some horses. They haven't the
 nerve to go into fight. I have seen horses
 that would go through anything to get away
 from battle field. They would commit sui
 eide by jumping down precipice or before a
 locomotive. But to come back to tho start
 ing point, horse can stand a good deal of
 hard work and small forage if he is taken
 care of. Not half the people who have for
 tunes invested in horses know how to take
 care of them. They never stop to think
 what is the sensible thing to do. horse is
 just like a man or a watch. If you take care
 of him he will last you long time. But you
 can spoil him very easily. Give the most val
 uable horse in the world to a fool who is in-
 capable of loving him, and he will spoil him
 in a day"
 AWater Snakes Singular Journey.
 [From the Washington Star.l
 This morning 6 group of interested
 spectators assembled around man-trap near
 the foot of Eleventh and Water streets,
 southwest, to witness the struggles of water
 moccasin in wriggling through finger hole
 in the cast iron man-trap cover. The reptile
 finally emerged to the street and was killed.
 It measured two feet in length, and in
 thickness was much larger than the hole
 through which it crept. What astonished the
 boys was how it ascended the man-hole, which is about two feet in diameter and ten feet deep, to the sewer top, and when it arrived at the cover how it could reach the centre of it and squeeze through the small hole there.
 AFew Serious Questions.
 In view of the many exalted and patriotic achievements of the Republican party, and the general wisdom of their administration, the control of the government ought not to be taken out of their hands and passed over to the Democrats unless there is some power ful and controlling reason for making the