6 THE OWNER MUST BECOME MASTER. 



innumerable costly possessions to servants of unknown 

 ability is without parallel. Hundreds and often thousands 

 of dollars' worth of property are needlessly destroyed by a 

 few acts of neglect or improper care. A two-hundred-dollar 

 watch can only be regulated by such and such a man, but its 

 owner turns a $i,ooo pair of horses over to the care of a 

 drunkard. A ten-dollar check is carefully locked up, while 

 a ^1,500 carriage is allowed to rot in a damp carriage house. 



Those who are about to become masters of their own 

 establishments should start out with the idea clearly fixed in 

 their minds that the complications which John or James pre- 

 sents to thwart his employer's entrance on sacred ground are 

 the fruits either of stupidity or of bad training. For the 

 moment ignore them and get working the more important 

 inner wheels of the machine, and afterwards give the details 

 your attention. Practical common sense accompanied by 

 systematic work and the enforcement of absolute obedience to 

 orders are the chief principles to be observed in good stable 

 management. In your cleaning "a new broom" may be 

 found necessary or conducive to the success of the new 

 regime. If John or James cannot accommodate himself to 

 the changed conditions, another man should be installed, as 

 an inferior or surly servant can make the task hard enough 

 to discourage even an experienced hand. Beginning with 

 the time of feeding and the amount of food, then with the 

 blanketino;, grroomino- and exercising^, the care of the car- 

 riages, harness, etc., should be brought under your ovv^n 

 supervision. 



Charles Brinley, in his valuable little book, " The Pocket 

 and the Stud," says, regarding the management of the stable 

 by a woman : — 



