38 THE FAT OF THE LAND 



from the horse his only chance of being brave; 

 lack of steadiness makes him indirect and futile ; 

 lack of kindness frightens him into actions which 

 are the result of terror at first, and which be- 

 come vices only by mismanagement. By nature 

 the horse is good. If he learns bad manners by 

 associating with bad men, we ought to lay the 

 blame where it belongs. A kind master will 

 make a kind horse ; and I have no respect for a 

 man who has had the privilege of training a 

 horse from colt-hood and has failed to turn out 

 a good one. Lack of good sense, or cruelty, is 

 at the root of these failures. One can forgive 

 lack of sense, for men are as God made them ; 

 but there is no forgiveness for the cruel : cooling 

 shades and running brooks will not be prominent 

 features in their ultimate landscapes. 



For harness and farm equipments, tools and 

 machinery, I went to a reliable firm which made 

 most and handled the rest of the things that make 

 a well-equipped farm. It is best to do much of 

 one's business through one house, provided, of 

 course, that the house is dependable. You be- 

 come a valued customer whom it is important to 

 please, you receive discounts, rebates, and conces- 

 sions that are worth something, and a community 

 of interest grows up that is worth much. 



My first order to this house was for three 

 heavy wagons with four-inch tires, three sets of 

 heavy harness, two ploughs and a subsoiler, three 

 harrows (disk, spring tooth, and flat), a steel land- 



