Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 21, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 8 June 1894 — STARTING A BALKY HORSE. [ARTICLE]

STARTING A BALKY HORSE.

Tta Pot Hl* Finger m vhe AnU m*l’a Ear with Immediate Efleet. A colored man had just delivered a trunk from a one-horse wagon on N street, Washington, the other afternoon. Whel he came out of the bouse and climbed to his seat he bade the horse shake himself. Tbe animal apparently did not understand what was said, for his only movement was to place his feet more firmly on the pavement and give his tail a slight tremor. The driver repeated the command, at the same time adding emphasis to his words by a quick- stroke of the whip. It was to no purpose, the horse had balked. The blows fell thick and fast on the beast's back, but the horse had apparently come to stay. The man climled down from his seat and began work on the other end of the obstinate creature by pulling at the bridle and speaking heavily loaded sentences into the auricular receptacles of tbe horse. The only effect noticed by the News man was that the horse pressed its feet so closely to the cobble stones that it almost crushed its shoes. Many were the modes of moving his horseship advanced by the bystanders. At last some one suggested that a fire built on the pavement beneath the animal would be calculated to make him move. It was to be tried as a last resort. A bunch of shavings and some small sticks were placed under the horse, and the driver was just going to apply a match to the pile that was intended to melt the animal into action when a stranger who had been noticed joining the crowd a few minutes before stepped up. The newcomer's browned face and bands, stout boots and broad hat suggested that he had come from the rural districts. “Hold on there,” he said to the driver as he stepped out into the street, “that ain’t the way. You climb back into yer wagin an’ I’ll start the creatcher. ” The negro did so. “I ken start ’im” said the man as he stepped to the horse's head and began patting him on the neck. Then, without further words, he thrust his finger in the animal’s ear and pulled gently. The horse shook his head once or twice in a vain attempt to get away and then started to move off. As it trotted away around the corner the farmer was heard to exclaim: “Begosh, that moves’em every time.”