The Worthington advance. [volume] (Worthington, Minn.) 1874-1908, 1888-01-26

The Fire Horse and tho whip.
From the New York Times.
The fremen who trained the horses
for the department have abundant
opportunities for q confirmation Of the
theory that horses reason from cause
to effect. OF ono horse in particular,
which is now in active service, many
anecdotes are current, as showing his
great intelligence and ability to mas,
ter questions for himself. The follow.
ing story was told by one Of the as.
sistaut engineers at the fire on Broad.
way:
'Jim," he said, pointing to power.
full black horse who was paving and
snorting In time with the puds from
the engine, twas q difficult horse to
train. He was slow at learning to
leave the stall and make q rush for
the pole as soon as the gong sounded.
We tried him in various ways, and
finally made him one of the quickest
horses in the service by simply feeding
him an apple as soon as he had taken
his place at tho pole. This plan
worked admirably, but the depart,
ment didn't supply unlimited apples,
80 when we thought him fully trained
the customary apple was omitted.
What did Jim do then but quietly re,
main in his stall when the alarm rang
out. The apple business was rcsorted
to again, and he was as spry as before.
Then again the apple was dispensed
with, and Jim did not bulge, but look.
ed at the men calmly, and if q horse
can wink, think any ono could see
the merry twinkle in his eye and i'm.
agine him saying. NO apple, no
move
"He was too strong and too valu.
able to lose, so the foreman rugged up
an automatic whip, which was released
at the first tap of the gong, and came
down with sharp thwack across
Jim's quarters. For two or three
days this answered every expectation,
but it was then noticed that when Jim
backed into the stall he furtively
looked behind him, and after a cogi,
tation with himself he squeezed his
body close up to the side of the stall,
SO that the lash came harmlessly
down by his side. This was not only
once, but every time he was put in his
stall, and it was clear he had beaten
the men. Well, then another plan
was adopted. The whip or lash was
strung along the side of the stall, and
when the gong sounded out it sprang,
hitting Jim a smart clip on the side.
This brought him out on a run for two
or three days, when again he got the
best of us. When he was backed in he
would just plant his body firmly
against the side of the stall, and the
gong might sound for a week and the
lash never touch him, as he held it
tight against the boards. We then
tried third and last plan of having
half dozen lashes working from the
Eong, so that however he may place
himself some of them are sure to hit
him. This has succeeded so far, but
Jim has evidently been thinking out q
plan to get the best of this, and I am
not sure he will not succeed.
During the narrative Jim stood qui.
city as if listening, and when the en-
gineer, walking by him, gave him q
friendly pat, he neighed out a whinny
Of satisfaction, acting as if he had un-
derstood every word.
Fun or the Railroad Company.
"Balky horses, you say!" remarked
a talkative passenger; Eyes I've had a
little experience with them. They are
not easy things to handle. It is mighty
hard work for a man to drive q balky
horse and be Christian at the same
time. I tried it years ago, and gave
both up as bad job. But say, did
you ever hear of man having q horse
balk on him in such a way as to mako
him laugh-to please him all over and
make him right down happy? Well,
sir, I did, and was the man. He was
a horse that I had traded forgot rid
OF a spawned, blind stagger nag that
There wasn't no use of doing anything
with him-there was nothing to do but
just sit down and wait for him to come
around. 1t generally took two hours.
One day was driving him along and
just as we got on to the railroad
track no baked. Here's q go
says I to myself; what if q train
should come along?' At first I was
afraid train would come, then after
awhile I didn't care q cuss whether
one came or not, and in about IS
minutes l was afraid one wouldn't
come. I just ached for q train to
come. I prayed for one. Sure enough,
pretty soon l saw one coming. It
made me smile. When the engineer
whistled for me to get of the track ]
laughed. And when he got q little
closer I climbed out the hind end OF the
buggy, leaned up against the fence and
prepared to enjoy the picnic. Oh, but
it was sport! That balky horse had
sworn he wouldn't go, but he went
that time. He was distributed all
along the track for twenty rods. And
the old buggy and harness-it looked
too comical. Never had such fun since
I was boy.
"Rather expensive, wasn't it?"
eyes for the railroad company. ]
sued 'em for $500, and the jury OF
farmers gave me $637.60. Oh, but it
was fun"
Extent of Human Travel.
From the Popular Science Monthly.
The movement of persons has under
tone quiet as important a growth as
that Of goods. In the "Reviewing OF
the Worlds Economy" the number OF
passengers carried by all the railroads
In all parts of the world in 1882 is
estimated at 2,40O, 100000, or an
average of 6, 500, 900 day, tho alb
kolute number of passengers carried
on steamers Is smaller; but here as
was the case with goods, they are car
ried for longer distances and more
days journeys than on railroads, so
that, estimated by the mile or day,
the amount of both freight and pas
senger work the steamers do will ad-