Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-09-27

TO De Thought Oly Nlttl l4tS1tS w as AVtl4-
Ing to do but to stand patiently in the
glare of the sun baked freight yard,
while Tim and his helper loaded on
case after case and barrel after barrel,
then it was that Chieftain could not
help thinking about the fields Of new
grass and other things connected with
his colt days.
Sometimes when he was Flooding
doggedly over the hard pavements.
with every football Earring tired mus.
lies, he would think how nice 1t would
be. Just for a week or SO. to tread
again that yielding turf he had known
such a long. long time ago. Then per-
haps he would slacken just bit on
the traces, and Tim would give that
queer shrill chirrup of his. adding SYM
pathetically, Come, me bye; come
ahnr' Then Chieftaln would tighten
the traces in an instant giving his
whole attention to the business of
keeping them taut and of placing each
iron shod hoof just where was the
surest footing.
In this last you may imagine there is
no knack. Perhaps you think it is done
offhand. Well, it isn't. Ask any ex-
perienced draft horse used to city
trucking. He will tell you that wet
cobblestones, smoothed by much wear
and creased with street slime, cannot
be travelled heedlessly. Either the heel
or the toe calks must find crevice
somewhere. If they do not, you are
apt to go on your knees or slide on
your launches. Flat rail car tracks
give you unexpected side slips. So do
the raised rims Of manhole covers, but
when it comes to wet asphalt-your
calks will not help you there. It's just
case of nice balancing and trusting
to luck.
Much, of course, depends on the man
at the other end of the lines. In this
particular Chieftain was fortunate, for
better driver than Tim Doyle did not
handle leather for the company. Even
'sthe old man''-the stable boss-had
been known to say as much.
Chieftain had taken liking to Tim
the first day they turned out together,
when Chieftain was new to the city
and to trucking. Driver Doyle's fond
ness for Chieftain was of slower
growth. In those days there were
other claimants for Tins affections
than his horses. There was Mrs.
Doyle, for instance. Sometimes Chief
tain saw her when Tim drove the truck
anywhere in the viciRity of the fat
house in which he lived. She would
come out and look at the team, and
Tim would tell what fine horses he
had. There was young Tim, too, a
big, growing boy, who would now and
then ride on the truck with his father.
One day-it was during Chieftain's
fifth year in the service something
had happened to Mrs. Doyle. Tim had
not driven for three days that time,
and when he did come back he was a
gery sober Tim. He told Chieftain all
about it, because he had no one else to
tell. Soon after this. young Tim, who
had grown up, went away somewhere,
and from that time on the friendship
between old Tim and Chieftain became
closer than ever. Tim spent more and
more of his time at the stable until at
the end he fixed himself bunk in the
night watchman's Office and made it
his home.
So for three years or more Chieftain
had always had good night pat on the
flank from Tim, and in the morning,
after the currying and rubbing, they
had little friendly banter in the way
of love slaps from Tim and good ma
tured nosings from Chieftain. Per-
haps many of Tins condolences were
given half in jest, and perhaps Chief
tain sometimes thought that Tim was
bit slow in perception, but, all in all,
each understood the other, even better
than either realized.
OF course Chieftain could not tell
Tim of all those vague lodgings which
had to do with new grass and springy
turf, nor could he know that Tim had
similar longings. These thoughts each
kept to himself But If Chieftain was
Of Norman blood, a horse whose noble
sires had ranged pasture and paddock
free from rein or trace, Tim was q
Doyle whose father and grandfather
had lived close to the good green sod
and had done their toll in the open,
with the cool and calm of the country
to soothe and revive them.
OF such delights as these both Chief
tain and Tim had tasted scantily, hur
riedly, in youth; and for them, in the
Iapses Of the daily grind, both yearned,
each after his own fashion.
And, each in his way, Tim and Chief
tain were philosophers. AS the years
had come and gone, toll filed and UNI
eventful, the character of the man had
ripened and mellowed, the disposition
Of the horse had settled and sweet
ened.
In his early days Tim had been ready
to smash a wheel or lose one, to de-
mand right of way with profane unc-
ton and to back his word with whip,
fist or bale hook But he had learned to
yield an inch on occasion and to use
the soft word.