ut as he stood chewing the hay
Again he wondered and wondered again
Why nobody needed him,
Why nobody wished to drive.

For almost every day
Old Tom would harness him up
To a dear little, neat little, sweet little carriage
And down the alley they'd go and around to the front of the house.
And there he'd stand and wait, this dear, this steady old horse,
Flicking the flies with his tail,
Till the door of the house would open wide
And out would come his mistress dear with the baby in her arms,
And running along beside
Would come her little boy, the little boy he loved so well,
Who gave him sugar from his hand and patted his nose and neck.
And into the carriage they all would get,
His mistress and baby and little boy.
And Tom would tighten the reins a bit
And off down the street they'd go,
Clopperty, clopperty, clopperty, clop.
When he was out on the streets,--
This dear old, steady old horse,--
He knew just what to do, when to go and when to stand still.
And when with clang! clang! clang!
Fire engines shrieked down the street
He'd stand as still as a rock
So his mistress and her baby were never frightened a bit!
And the little boy laughed and watched and laughed!
And when the great policeman, so big in the middle of the street,
Held up his hand,
The old horse stopped
But watched him close
For the first wave of the hand that would tell him to go ahead.
Always the first to stop,
Always the first to go,
The old horse loved the streets.

Now he wanted the streets.
And while he stood and chewed his hay and wondered what was wrong,
Suddenly there came a rumble
Of noises all a-jumble,
A quaking and a shaking
A terrifying tremble
Making the old horse quiver and stand still!
It came from the alley,
His own peaceful alley
Where he knew every horse, every coach, every wagon!
Bump, thump, like a lump of lead jolting,
Bang, whang, like a steam engine bolting,
Down it came crashing
Down it came smashing,
Till it stopped with a snort at his own stable door!
The old horse pulled at his halter
And strained to look round at the door.
Out of the tail of his eye he could see
The doors, the doors to his very own barn,
Swing wide under the crane where they hoisted the hay.
And there in the alley, oh what did he see
This old horse with his terrified eye?