THE INFLUENCE OF THE OWNER. 3 



servants. The carriages and horses may look well on the 

 road, due, not to any respect for the owner, but to the ser- 

 vant's fear of unfavorable personal comment. This appre- 

 hension does not always exist, and cannot therefore be 

 depended upon to keep indifferent servants up to even a 

 superficial performance of their duties. 



At home the coachman has too frequently no incentive 

 offered to exert himself; the owner seldom enters the stable, 

 and when he does so the chances are that through his silence, 

 enforced by ignorance, he unwittingly sanctions much that is 

 wrong. The author once asked a man why he was not doing 

 better work for his employer, to which he replied, " Well, sir, 

 there ain't no use sittin' up all night cleaning harness when the 

 folks don't care whether it's done or not, nor gittin'up afore the 

 crack of dawn to have the stable clean and tidy when nobody 

 never sees it." From which characteristic argument an expla- 

 nation may be found for many instances of bad workmanship. 



Much good and no little pleasure can be derived from 

 daily visits to the stable. If a person is not at the moment 

 fond of horses, the natural love of animals gradually develops, 

 and the owner then becomes desirous of making his stable a 

 model one, and of maintaining it in good form by having 

 the very best of all that is required. 



As the reader has in all likelihood not as yet become 

 imbued with sufficient enthusiasm to be in sympathy with 

 these extreme views, and is still standing on the threshold 

 of his stable debating whether it is " wise or otherwise 

 than wise" to enlighten himself concerning so many 

 details, and thereby become conscious of troubles that 

 lurk within , let us suppose that, for the moment, the 

 beginner decides to let well enough alone and returns to his 



