Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-10-09

such before. lie could cure this one.
Besides. he couldn't spare Silver, the
best horse on his team.
But the inspector often heard such
pleas.
"YOu drivers" said he. would keep
q horse going until he dropped through
the collar. To hear you talk any one
would think there wasn't another horse
in the department. What do you care
90 long as you get another grayr
Very much did Lannigan care. but
he found difficulty In putting his senti-
ments into words. Besides, Of what
use was 1t to talk to blind fool who
could say that one gray horse was as
good as another. Hence Lannigan only
looked sheepish and kept his tongue
between his teeth until the door closed
behind the inspector. Then he banged
q hamlike fist into broad palm and
relieved his feelings In language both
forceful and picturesque. This failed
to mend matters. 80 Lannigan, putting
an arm around the old gray's neck,
told Silver all about 1t. Probably Sill.
yer misunderstood, for he responded
by reaching over Lannigan's shoulder
and chewing the big mans leather belt.
Only when Lannigan fed to him six
red apples and IN extra quart Of oats
did Silver mlstrust that something un-
usual was going to happen. Next morn.
ing, sure enough. it did happen.
Some say Lannigan wept. AS to that
none might be sure, for he sat facing
the wall in corner Of the bunk room.
No misunderstanding could there have
been about his remarks. muttered
though they were. They were uncom-
plimcntary to all veterinary inspectors
In general and most pointedly uncOm
plimentary to one In particular. Below
they were lending Old Silver away to
the hospital.
Perhaps 1t was that Sllver's milk leg
was stubborn in yielding to treatment.
Perhaps the folks ut the horse hospital
deemed 1t unwise to spend time ana
effort OH horse Of his age. At any
rate, after less than weeks stay, lie
was cast into oblivion. They took
away the leaden number medal which
for more than ten years he had worn
on a strap around his neck, and they
turned him over to sales stable as
carelessly as q battalion chief would
toss away q half smoked cigar.
cto III la f, n
horse destinies are shutiied by reckless
and unthinking hands. Also It's doors
open ON the four corners Of the worlds
crossed highways. You might go from
there to find your work waiting be-
tween the shafts Of bakers cart just
around the corner, or you might be
sent across seas to die miserably of
tsetse stings on the South African
veldt.
Neither Of these things happened to
Silver. 1t occurred that his arrival ut
the sales stable was coincident with
rush order from the street cleaning de-
partment. So there he went. Fate, II
seemed, had marked him for municipal
service.
There was no delay about his initia'
ton. Into his fore hOofs they branded
this shameful inscription: ID. s. e. OBJ.
On his back they flung forty pound
single harness with a dirty piece of
canvas as blanket. They hooked him
to an iron dump cart, and then, with
q heavy lashed whip, they hailed him
forth at $50 a. M. to begin the inglo-
rious work of removing refuse from
the city streets.
Perhaps you think Old Silver could
not feel the disgrace, the ignOminy, OF
It all. Could you have seen the low
cred head, the'limp hung tail. the dull
ed eyes and the dispirited sag OF his
quarters you would have thought diff
ferently.
It Is one thing to jump hook and
ladder truck up Broadway to the re-
lief Of fire threatened block and quite
another to plod humbly along the curb
from ash can to ash can. How Silver
did hate those cans! Each one should
have been for him q signal to stop. but
1t was not. In consequence he was
yanked to a halt every two minutes.
Sometimes he would crane his neck
and look mournfully around at the un-
slightly leg which he had come to un-
derstand was the cause Of all his mis-
cry. There would come into his great
eyes a look Of such pitiful melancholy
that one might almost fancy tears roll
Ing out. Then he would be reused by
an exasperated driver, who jerked
cruelty on the lines and used bis whip
as II 1t had been fail.
When the cart was full Silver must
drag 1t half across the city to the river
front and up steep runway, from the
ton of which Its contents were dumped
into the filthy scows that waited be-
low. At the end of each monOtonous,
wearlsome day he logged stif'ly to the
uninviting stables. where he was rough
" ushered into dark. damp stall.
To another horse, unused to any
thing better. the life would not have
seemed hard. OF oats and hay there
were fair quantities. and there was
more or less hasty grooming. But to
Silver, accustomed to such little amen
tiles Us friendly pats from men and the
comradeship of his fellow workers. 1t
was like q bad dream. lie WAS not
even cheered by tie fact that his leg,
Intelligently treated hy the stable boss,
was growing better. What did that
matter? Had he not lost his caste?
Express and drly horses. the very ones
that had once scurried into side streets
Mt sound of his hoOis now insolently
crowded him to the curb. When he
had been on the truck Silver had yield
ed the right Of way to none. He had
lel,l his head high. Nov he lodged
pnd waited. he wore blild bride, and
he wished neither to see nor TO he seen.