in early, with a great deal of cold and wet. There was snow,
or sleet, or rain almost every day for weeks, changing only for keen
driving winds or sharp frosts. The horses all felt it very much. When
it is a dry cold a couple of good thick rugs will keep the warmth in us;
but when it is soaking rain they soon get wet through and are no good.
Some of the drivers had a waterproof cover to throw over, which was a
fine thing; but some of the men were so poor that they could not protect
either themselves or their horses, and many of them suffered very much
that winter. When we horses had worked half the day we went to our dry
stables, and could rest, while they had to sit on their boxes, sometimes
staying out as late as one or two o'clock in the morning if they had a
party to wait for.

When the streets were slippery with frost or snow that was the worst of
all for us horses. One mile of such traveling, with a weight to draw
and no firm footing, would take more out of us than four on a good
road; every nerve and muscle of our bodies is on the strain to keep our
balance; and, added to this, the fear of falling is more exhausting than
anything else. If the roads are very bad indeed our shoes are roughed,
but that makes us feel nervous at first.

When the weather was very bad many of the men would go and sit in the
tavern close by, and get some one to watch for them; but they often
lost a fare in that way, and could not, as Jerry said, be there without
spending money. He never went to the Rising Sun; there was a coffee-shop
near, where he now and then went, or he bought of an old man, who came
to our rank with tins of hot coffee and pies. It was his opinion that
spirits and beer made a man colder afterward, and that dry clothes, good
food, cheerfulness, and a comfortable wife at home, were the best things
to keep a cabman warm. Polly always supplied him with something to eat
when he could not get home, and sometimes he would see little Dolly
peeping from the corner of the street, to make sure if "father" was on
the stand. If she saw him she would run off at full speed and soon come
back with something in a tin or basket, some hot soup or pudding Polly
had ready. It was wonderful how such a little thing could get safely
across the street, often thronged with horses and carriages; but she was
a brave little maid, and felt it quite an honor to bring "father's first
course", as he used to call it. She was a general favorite on the