The Wichita daily eagle., 1901-06-28
Nv OATH TO A cAR HORSE.

MY OATH TO A CAB HORSE.
One morning I stood on the edge Of the
curbstone. Just in front Of me stood
hack with a big gray horse hitched TO IL
He threw his head from side TO side and
then looked up in my face and deliber-
ately winked at me.
You old white-haired rascal" 7 said
under my breath You do that again.
and I'll call q policeman. How dare you
stand and wink at a defenseless woman
in that fashion,
a ripple climbed slowly up his spinal
column, and he actually smiled while he
slowly shut and opened his right eye
twice.
Just then I heard grun whisper right
near my elbow Say it said. 'yoD
wouldn't tell a policeman on a poor old
chap. would you?
turned around to see who It was.
There was no one in sight. was begin
ming to get scared. Mercy sakes. must
be crazy. thought I surely heard some
one speak
That's what you did" said the voice
again, and this time I could see that it
came from the horse.
"Well. if that horse hasn't swallowed
a graphophone or maybe he has eaten
the driver He surely has got some
thing inside him that talks I said TO
myself
Amt swallowed nothing but saw-dust
for two days. growled the horse.
"Oh, you poor thing!
You are the only person I have ever
met whose brain I could communicate
with. have been looking for such a per-
son for years"
Say, would you mind telling me what
those things are crawling UP your
back?"
Sure" replied my conversational
equine. Those are thoughts on the way
to my brain-a telephone message. as it
were, coming from your brain. Ny tail
is the switch" And he laughed a hoarse
horse laugh.
Trying to be funny in your old age" :"
said L
'"wen, If I couldn't be funnier than
some folks are I'd go eat myself. be re-
torted and, continuing. said: Nov, there
is that fool OF a driver. Some day III
fix him. Just wait till I get my left hind
foot in the right position. I'll make a
Spaniard out Of him all right. Just
look at my mouth where he has yanked
at the bit"-opening his mouth and show
ing me a raw red cut at each corner
waves you see on my back are my ribs.
Of course, I can't see myself, as my
dressing case hasn't any mirror IN IL. 4"
And he gave a slight cough.
I told him he was looking bang up,
his tail was six feet long and his eye
q beautiful pancy blue. You should have
seen that horse stretch his neck TO
view himself in the shop window oppo-
site
Come, now" says I what 90 you
want, anyway-want ton OF hay, bar
rel of cats or a bucket Of wauer?'
Stop cried the horse, while a big
tear dropped on TO the cobbiestones. i
feel as if I could eat 4 house and lot,
but I have more important things 70 talk
about while the current it on. / can eat
later, providing can get anything that is
digestible. What is troubling me lately is
these buggies and carriages and cabs
and dray wagons that go without a
horse"
you mean automobiles" I ventured
to suggest.
"es, them's what mean, CT all hate
full things ever saw. Why, the other
day one came up near me, and was
looking 1t over when the sassy thing
squeaked out 'ta-ta, bonesP But do you
know, I have had a presentiment for a
long time that something was going TO
happen?''
something does happen every day, )"
said I. trying to cheer him up.
Yes, I know and he smiled through
his tears-'but ] feel that the days OF
my race are numbered. Man is ever
tickle; he clamors for something new,
and he viii eagerly leave his old friend,
tried and true, for this accursed machine,
and we will be left to a horrible fate. on,
1t IS hardi" And his frame shook with
sobs.
After wiping or his briny tears on my
brand new $40 muff he continued:
Il want you 10 promise me that so long
as you live you VIII never, never ride IN
one Of those horrible things And he
looked plea dinghy in my face.
His quivering voice and trembling lids,
as the pearly tears rolled down his
cheeks, touched my heart. I then and
there did enter in to a solemn compact
with a gray cab horse that so long as
I live 1 VIII never step foot In any sort
of a horseless vehicle.
Just then the driver came out and
grasped the lines. The horse made one
frantic effort to speak, but the current
was broken. A dead calm rested on his
back Quickly the light of intelligence
died out Of his eyes, his head dropped
dejectedly. and at the drivers summons
TO Get up, Lazyi" common gray horse
hitohed 70 a weather-beaten cab, moved
slowly down the street