A WALKING DELEGATE
"I was always told s'ciety in Noo York was dreffle refined an' high-toned," said Tuck. "We 're lookin' to go there one o' these days, Nip an* me."
"Oh, you won't see no Belt business where you 'll go, miss. De man dat wants you 'll want you bad, an' he 'll summer you on Long Island er at Newport, wid a winky-pinky silver harness an' an English coachman. You 'll make a star-hitch, you an’ yer brother, miss. But I guess you won't have no nice smooth bar bit. Dey checks 'em, an dey bangs deir tails, an' dey bits 'em, de city folk, an' dey says it 's English, ye know, and dey darsen't cut a horse loose 'ca'se o' de cops. N' York 's no place fer a horse, 'less he 's on de Belt, an' can go round wid de boys. Wisht I was in de Fire Department!"
"But did you never stop to consider the degradin' servitood of it all?" said the yellow horse.
"You don't stop on the Belt, cully. You 're stopped. An' we was all in de servitood business, man an' horse, an' Jimmy dat sold de papers. Guess de passengers were n't out to grass neither, by de way dey acted. I done my turn, an' I 'm none o' Barnum's crowd; but any horse dat 's worked on de Belt four years don't train wid no simple child o' nature—not by de whole length o' N' York."
"But can it be possible that with your experience, and at your time of life, you do not believe that all horses are free and equal?" said the yellow horse.
"Not till they 're dead," Muldoon answered quietly. "An' den it depends on de gross total o' buttons an' mucilage dey gits outer youse at Barren Island."
[66]
