OWNERS AT FAULT. 315 



not serve the long apprenticeship which is necessary for those 

 who become masters of their calHng. At present the large 

 demand for stable servants who can lay claim to any prior 

 experience with horses offers opportunities for haw-bucks 

 and strappers to command wages to which only men of ability 

 should be entitled. As long as the master remains ignorant, 

 the servant will continue incompetent ; the task of raising the 

 standard, therefore, falls upon the employer and the period- 

 icals devoted to the interests of the horse. 



Mr. F. J. Morgan, writing under the pseudonym of " Pe- 

 lagius," expresses himself regarding the inability of the aver- 

 age coachman as follows : 



" A profession, it appears to me, requiring no previous knowledge or 

 education or recommendation as to capability. A man has only to put on a 

 pair of tight trousers, touch his hat quickly every time he is spoken to, and 

 he is able to get a situation. Ladies especially are apt to waive taking up a 

 character if any difficulties are put in their way, such as ' their late master 

 being abroad,' etc., providing the man is clean in appearance and civil 

 spoken. ... In nine cases out of ten of the carriages we see the horses are 

 wrongly put to. Either their traces want taking up or letting out a hole or 

 two. The bearing-rein is too short and the crupper too long, bringing the 

 pad halfway up the horse's neck ; or you see the pole pieces too short, 

 bringing the points of the shoulders against the pole, which soon makes 

 them sore and then the horses pull away from each other. This bad habit 

 is always caused, in the first onset, by stupidity and want of common sense. 

 I don't think there is one man or woman in forty who keeps a carriage 

 who would get into it if he or she were aware of the ignorance of their 

 coachmen and the consequent number of risks taken in each drive. The 

 'confidence trick gentleman' is always severely dealt with, but he is not 

 nearly so dangerous a person as a coachman who knows nothing of his 

 profession. To be a coachman it is not only necessary that he should have 

 sufficient sagacity to steer clear of anything passing. This part of the per- 

 formance is merely instinct, such as one pig would display if he met another 

 pig." — " How to buy a Horse,''' p. 6j. 



