Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1906-09-06

ks4zSy SumptuouS, man-made cil1IS
around which commerce heaps its Fun
DIV tides, you will find, unhandsomely
housed on a side street, a hook and
ladder company known unofiicially and
intimately throughout the department
as the Gray Horse truck.
Much like a big family is fire COM
pany. 1t has seasons of good fortune,
when there are neither sick leaves nor
hospital cases to report; and it has pc
RODS of misfortune, when trouble and
disaster stalk abruptly through the
ranks Gray Horse truck company is
no exception. Calm prosperity it has
enjoyed, and of swift, unexpected trag-
edy it has had full measure. Yet its
longest mourning and most sincere was
when it lost Old Silver.
Although some of the men of Gray
Horse truck had seen more than ten
years continuous service in the house.
not one could remember time when
Old Silver had not been on the nigh
side of the poles. Mikes. and Petes and
Jims there had been without number.
Some were good and some We're bad,
some had lasted years and some only
months, some had been kind and some
ugly, some stupid and some clever; but
there had been but one Silver, who
had combined all their good traits as
well as many of their bad ones.
Horses and men, Silver had seen
them come and go. He had seen pro-
bationers rise step by step to battalion
and deputy chiefs, win shields and pro-
motion. or meet the sudden fate that is
their lot. All that time Silver's name
board had swung over his old stall,
and when the truck went out Silver
was to be found in his old place on
the left Of the poles. Driver succeeded
driver, but one and all they found Sill
yer first under the harness when sta
ton hit first to jump forward when
the big doors rolled back and always
as ready to do his bit on long run as
he was to demand his four quarts when
feeding time came.
Before the days of the training sta
BILE, where now they try out new mate
rial, Silver came into the service. That
excellent institution, therefore, can
not claim the credit of his selection.
Perhaps he was chosen by some shrewd
old captain who knew a fire horse
when he saw one even in the raw; per-
haps it was only happy chance which
put him in the business. At any rate,
his training was the work of mas
ter hand.
Silver was not one of the fretting
kind, SO at the age of fifteen he was
apple round, his legs were straight and
springy and his eyes as full and bright
as those of a schoolboy at circus.
The dapples on his gray TANKS were as
distinct as the under markings on old
velours, while his tail had the crisp
whiteness of polished steel bit on
frosty morning Unless you had seen
how shallow were his molar cups or
noted the length of his bride teeth
would you have guessed him not more
than six.
As for the education of Silver, its
scope and completeness, no outsider
would have given credence to the half
of it. When Lannigan had driven the
truck for three years and had been
cronies with Silver for nearly five it
was his habit to say wonderingly:
"He beats me, Old Silver does. l
git onto some new wrinkle of his ey-
cry day. No, faint no sorter use to
tell his tricks; you wouldn't believe,
nor would / an | hadn't seen with
my two eyes"
In the way of mischief Silver was
star performer. What other fire horse
ever mastered the intricacies of the
automatic halter release? It was Sill
yer, too, that picked from the cap
tain's hip pocket neatly folded paper
and chewed the same with malicious
enthusiasm. The folded paper hap
pened to be the company's annual re-
port, in the writing of which the cap
tain had spent many weary hours.
Other things besides mischief, how
ever, had Silver learned. Chief of
these was to start with the jigger.
Sleeping or waking, lying or standing,
the summons that stirred the men from
snoring ease to tense, rapid action
never failed to find Silver alert. AS
the halter shank slipped through the
bit ring that same instant found Silver
gathered for the rush through the long
narrow lane leading from his open
stall to the poles, above which, like
great couchant spiders, waited the
harnesses pendant on the hanger rods.
1t was unwise to be in Silver's way
when that little brazen voice was sum
moning him to duty. More than one
man OF Gray Horse truck found that
out
Once under the harness Silver was
like carved statue until the trip strap
had been pulled, the collar fastened and
the reins snapped in. Then he wanted
to poke the poles through the doors,
so eager was be to be off. 1t was no
fault of Silyer's that his team could
not make a two second hitch
With the first strain at the traces his
Impotence died out. A sixty foot truck
starts with more or less reluctance Be