Carl Sandburg left school at the age of fourteen in 1892 to go to work. He held several jobs which required handling horses. They were the principal mode of delivery work in those days. Milk, ice and groceries were delivered to homes by horse and wagon. The drivers and teams of horses of the express companies picked up goods at the railroad yard and delivered them to businesses and factories. Horses were also used in coal mining, logging, orchards, potato growing as well as farming.

 

The Galesburg fire department used horses to haul its equipment to burning buildings. The men of the fire department took great pride in caring for and training their four-legged co-workers. Sandburg took part in this work while serving as a call man at the Prairie Street Fire Station during his student days at Lombard College.

 

At about the age of three years, little Carl tried to drive two farm horses hitched to a light wagon owned by John Kranz. Mr. and Mrs. Kranz usually went to church on Sunday with the Sandburgs. Afterward, they would share a chicken dinner in the Sandburg home. Mr. Kranz tied his team to the pump handle of the well in the backyard. The men were quick to get the toddler off the wagon and into the house.

 

At different times, Sandburg worked for several dairymen, delivering milk. Driving from the farm to town was slow enough with horses who knew the route, that he could read books and newspapers along the way.

 

Sandburg had a job one fall and winter cleaning the barn stall and feeding and currying a team of horses for Dr. Guy Longbrake. He had to spend between a half hour and an hour every morning doing the work. The doctor wanted his team and buggy to look nice in order to impress any potential patients. In wet weather Carl had to clean the mud from the horses and the buggy. He was paid $1.50 (more than $40 in today's money) a week. It was good pay.

 

For a short time, August Sandburg owned a horse named Dolly. The average work horse lived about twelve years. Dolly must have been that age or more. She may have cost $25 (more than $650 in today's money). The cost of feeding the animal, providing shelter, the necessary harness and acquiring a wagon or buggy for the animal to pull added even more expense. The horse experiment didn't last very long.

 

Buying a horse was complicated. One needed to know the age of the horse, the condition of its hooves, legs, coat, etc. Horses were also tested for their “wind,” to see if they had been worked too hard. Horses driven on brick streets for too long could have hoof problems. A prospective buyer looked at the mouth of the horse first to tell the age. Horses are born with sixteen baby teeth. As a three year old, the horse sheds two baby teeth above and below and adult teeth come in. By the age of five a horse has shed all its baby teeth. A black streak appears on the top of the adult teeth. It is called the cup. At the age of six, all the cups are perfect. By the age of eight, the cups begin to fade away. At the age of ten there are no cups left and the horse is called “smooth-mouthed.”

 

In his autobiography, Always the Young Strangers, Sandburg doesn't tell the reader how he learned to care for horses. It was more than likely just part of his experience growing up in the days of equine transportation.

 

Next week: The Marsh Horse and Mule Market, one of the largest horse dealers in the Midwest during the late 1890s and the early twentieth century.