The morning call., 1893-12-24

hand of his old master. as he hustled
around on MS confusing route with Christ
mas stores for Others? Little danger, 1
feared, of Bang alarming his present
driver on Christmas morning with saalam
of greeting. No wonder bis new owners had
been obliged to ada a kicking strap to the
harness Of this vicious brute who, up TO
falling into thu hands of delivery wagon
driver, had never known or given unklnu
treatment
AS the car bore ne upward we passed
several of these delivery rigs from differ
ent parts of the city, the wagons piled high
with holiday goods of every sort; and.
with one exception, the numerous stop
pings and starts were but repetition OF
the scenes l had witnessed. in which my
poor old friend, Bang, was q conspicuous
actor There was the same frantic haste.
the sudden pull from sreed 10 standstlli,
! and the nerve and muscle wIenchlng start.
The one exception. which l gladly give
place to here, was The driver OF one OF TIE
! Wells-Fargo delivery wagons.
/ That man knew how to handle his horse
! he was driving but one. L left the car
and walking along, noted him while be
made three stops. His horse was trotting
comfortably along albeit with a heavy
load. when l saw the reins tighten with
steady, gentle pull. The animal slackened
speed walked step or two and came to a
stop. Out sDrang the driver with box ana
book, ran up the steps of house and de-
! livered his parcel. came down, mounted
the seat, picked up his reins, the horse
started at a walk, which, after a step or
/ two, was quickened 10 a trot The stop
was repeated at the end of the block. and
| | reached the scene just in time to see him
! come back to the wagon, give his horse IA
rub along the nose and pat on the neck
before he again sprang upon the seat and
took up the reiDs. Further Oh, in the next
block, | saw him stop again, and
he made these three balts while
butchers delivery boy was making three,
in the customary savage, pull-hauIlng
style. The marketman's horse started at
a gallop, had twice to be pulled in ana
started again before he would settle TO
! trot, a sheer loss of time and nervous and
muscular force for both horse and driver.
is, perhaps, worth while TO record too
| that the animal attached TO the market
wagon wore a kicking strap, circum-
stance not difficult 10 understand when
! one realizes the lengths OF helpless deS-
| peration to which these poor creatures
must often be driven by the harsh, IN
! reasonable treatment hey receive at their
I boy-driver's hands. It is not 10 be won
dered at that SO great a mum Der OF the
! horses seen on our streets attached to bust
ness wagons should be ornamented with
! kicking straps. which every good horse
! man regards as lasting disgrace TO horse
! and driver alike.
| There are animals that faulty training
| have rendered so vicious that this addition
| to the harness is necessary. colt should
| never De driven without one, IOT COlt
| kicks out of pure fun, and during the
! training process is apt TO do so a result
of bewiderment. confusion or fright. But
when attempting to lift behind he finds
himself prevented by the strap he soon
! comes to accept the idea that kicking is
| not possible in harness, and after a few
! lessons has no thought of ever manifestiD
! spirit in any such fashion. Later on he
may learn The possibility Of that method
| of resen Ting Ill treatment In harness, and
H. flnA 4, k0 Il s
he does not so resent abuse, but bears it
without resentment, it will be because his
spirit is broken and the life crushed out
of him.
once saw the whole process Of spelling
as nice driving animal as any one need
ever have asked Tor. She used to be
driven every morning to a certain up
country station where her owner used to
take the train for the city. II somehow
never seemed possible for that outfit 10 get
] started in time for the daily five-mifSs
drive. The road over which the trip was
made for nearly three miles parallel
| with the railroad, and it came to be Il
! regular incident of the DAYS Journey to
see the gallant little mare do the lastquar-
ter OF mile, sometimes half mile, at
| dead run, under the lash. racing the train.
She would come up, dripping wet. tn the
station usually just in time to allow the
driver to toss the rens to his companion
aud spring upon the back platform
of the last coach. Coming up every morn
| Ing on a certain train people grew very
friendly and we used TO chaff our fell
Low :tI about his ..v method Of
to kill that horse one of these
| days." said a passenger to him one
morning. "Oh. no." was the laughing re-
ply; she isn't the kind that dies easily.
She has never missed that train yet and
she never will" Then suddenly he turned
to me and asked my opinion as TO the prob
ability OF killing the mare.
You won't kill her, said. "she won't
let YOU"
"Why, how is that" he asked.
''She will turn sulky some day." wasmy
reply, land either kick or balk"
| There were number of horsemen on
the train, and they all laughed at the
idea.
''She is too old 70 learn new tricks"
said her owner, and the matter dropped
But there came a day, several months
after. and well into the summer. when one
OF the passengers, glancing from the VIII
dow OF the train at carriage in the road,
said: why. there's B. He's later than
usual this morning. He's going to miss
the train this morning sure. Why don't
he make drive for II ?"
OF course, we all looked out of the win
dow, and. sure enough, our fellow trav-
eler was driving along, the mare going at A
muslng trot, scarcely faster than walk
AS he saw us watching him be shook the
rens out, in his usual signal for her to be-
gin uer race, OUT instead OF responding she
made move as though she would sir
down in the road. He struck her with the
whip. and the last glimpse we had as the
train whirled by was pair of heels flash.
ing in the air. The little mare had both
baked and kicked. 3 missed the train
that morning, and on the following
day appeared at the station with a differ
ent horse. As matter of fact, he was
there moment or two before the train.
10 answer to our inquiries he confessed
that the mare had turned sour" as he ex
pressed 1t. and he had handed her over to
the trainer to have her new trick nipped in
the beginning. Shortly after that ceased
my daily trips by that train. and it was
not until year later that | heard
again of the pucky little mare that
mad never missed the train," and
she had never baked again, her
owner SAID. In fact, she had on that
morning merely refused to go fast. only
threatening to stop when urged, but it has
never. since that day, been safe to touch