The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-09-25
: throat. There was a lively scrimmage

the throat. There was lively scrimmage
for moment before l succeeded in sepa-
rating the belligerents. but. fortunately.
neither was badly hurt. 1t was plain to be
seen, however, that the gray understood
perfectly the trick Dot had played upon her
and had planned her execution OF venge-
ance. [ once knew Madame TO ayenge
herself az deliberately upon hen that had
long tOrmented her at feeding time. The
mare had the range of the yard and was fed
hot mashes from an iron bucket, and this
hen used tC jump on her back. walk along
her neck aud eat from the bucket. despite
Madame's shaking and stamping Finally,
one night, the mare. after finishing her sup
per, waited her chance and turned the
bucket upside down over the hen, who was
thus kept. nearly suff0cated captive, all
night, and never troubled Madame again.
Our nearest neighbor. the owner of this
hen and whole flock Of others which be
allowed to run at large and torment the
whole neigh borhood. deeply resented my
allowing the horses to run in the yard, 20
Madame used to kill q hen occasionally
when they bothered her too much. and he
used to throw stones at the animals when
they came within range of his windows
At the same time he had standing COM
plant against the boys of the neighbour
hood, who, he declared, used to come into
the yard and throw down the wood from
the pile he used to keep neatly ranged along
should do this, but knew some one must
play the trick, as | frequently saw the pile
thrown down, and the old gentleman spent
much time in stacking 1T up again. Finally.
however, early one morning, saw to my
surprise and amusement my own pet pony,
Dot, standing by the fence, deliberately
taking up that stovewood, piece by piece.
in her teeth. and dropping it on the ground.
Why she did this could not imagine. Ii
hardly seemed possible that she could know
IA hnu m torn ant hnr
b Ut to save further trouble l kept them in
the barn after that. This was an arrange
mcpt very little to Madame'S liking, and she
developed marvellous ingenuity in untying
her halter, opening doors and gates and
letting herself out She used TO escape
some distance, coming home every morning
before feeding time. Thus she escaped de-
lection for long time, aud her escapades
were only discovered by my needing the
team at an unusually early hour 10 go on q
journey. When their early breakfast was
brought them Madame's stall was empty.
and hunting failed TO reveal her where
abouts. A few minutes before the regular
feeding time, however, she came galioping
home, and was evidently deeply chagrned
at finding herself detected. BY watching
her for few nights after that her stamp
ng-grOund was easily l0cal ed.
| said | believed horses have a certain
sense of humor. Many Of Madame's per-
fOrmances have made me think so. She
used to have way when she wanted atten-
ton land she wanted it about as often as
she thought she stood any chance of getting
it) of coming to the kitchen steps and knock
Ing with one iTOn-shod front foot This
noisy practice was not always agreeable,
and it was customary when her demands
grew too importunate to convey to her our
remOns;rance by means of the soft end OF
the Kitchen broom. She grew very wary OF
this article, but could not restrain her pro-
pensity for teasing.
On one occasion the inmates OF the house
heard her knocking, and member of the
family. going to drive her away. returned to
say that for once the mare had been
maligned; she was not the offender.
moment later the knocking was renewed.
and again the report was that 1t could
not be Madame, as she was nowhere
in sight. Scarcely were the words
spoken when a laundering knock was
heard at the door, and l went myself
to see what Ii might mean. There was not
creature in sight. Retiring quietly behind
the screen door | awaited developments
The kitchen was one-story addition to the
house. and the back steps were near one
corner of the building. AS / stood watching
saw a slender black leg and just the tip of
nose extend from around this corner. The
leg stretched forward and the ho0f was
brought down with tremendous force on
the step. Then nose and hoof disappeared.
IUTWdlu anu WIFI
ears pricked forward, intently listening for
an answer to her mysterious summons, and
if ever dumb brute laughed she did as she
caught sight of me. She was evidently
proud of her performance.
Near where / used TO live in the East. a
gentleman owned little gray pony who
was trained to carry his master TO the sta
tion every morning and return, alone, with
the buggy, At night he would go, alone. to
the train, and bring his master home. He
would never allow any one to stop him or
get into the buggy when on these solitary
trips, and was very expert in evading all
efforts of persons to stop him. On one oc-
casion a ditch was being dug across the
road. and the bars had been let down at
two points by the roadside TO allow teams to
pass by turning through an adjoining field.
The pony was driven to the station as usual
and then sent home and followed to see
what he would do. When he reached the
first opening he turned from the road
and went through all right, but as
he attempted to pass the second one the
wheels OF the buggy caught on the bars and
stopped him. He was evidently puzzled at
6rst, but having no binders on he turned
his head and after a moments study saw
what the difficulty was, backed the buggy
free, turned a little TO the left and, keeping
a lookout 10 see that the wheels did not
catch again, went slowly and carefully
through the gap and regained the road.
/ was once driving horse who picked up
a stone without my noticing it. He did not
limp, but il must have hurt him. for we
came soon after to town, and as we passed
a blacksmith shop the animal went up to
the entrance and stopped. 1t was not a
place where he had ever been sh0d. but
when the smith came out he held up his
foot for inspection and the stone was at
once apparent
Probably any one who has had much TO do
with horses can tell similar stories OF their
reasoning powers and intelligence. | know
a country physician whose practice takes
him daily TO several little towns. He has
driven an old black mare for the past fifteen
or more years, to whom, on starting
out, he will repeat the name OF the town
to which he is going. and Dolly will go
there without further guidance. At least
her admiring master claims that she will
and does, and from what l know of other
horses am prepared to believe it,
"a man don't need much more'n good
hoss-sense to take him through this world
said an old horseman to me once, but judg-
ing from the humber of total failures one
sees on every side there are a grelt many
men and women in the world who have rot
even good horse sense. Miss RUSSELL.