THE CHARACTER OF STABLE SERVANTS. 361 



an indulgent or indifferent master the laughing stock of the 

 community, will be acting for his own best interests. It is to 

 a servant's credit if he is respectful in his manner and does 

 his work well for a master who is ignorant regarding stable 

 matters, though it is to the coachman's or groom's advan- 

 tage to seek another position where his services will be ap- 

 preciated and his master be a person whom he can respect. 

 A good servant can always secure a place, while inferior 

 ones are compelled to accept half wages in order to keep 

 body and soul together. 



If an owner wishes to know what his servant's character 

 is, let him judge it when least expected, and it is better to 

 make the opportunity at once than to wait for a chance 

 one to indicate the character of the servant. The possessions 

 intrusted to a servant's care are of such a perishable and 

 costly nature that it is folly for the owner to be in doubt. A 

 rascal in livery is neither different nor less objectionable than 

 in any other walk in life. One may test the character of a 

 new servant by directing the latter to drive him to the ofiBce 

 or the railwav station, here dismissinor his own carriasfe and 

 calling a public one. The reader may, if he has been unfor- 

 tunate in his selection, witness, at various points between the 

 office or the station and his residence, some very painful 

 revelations. If more masters made it a matter of interest to 

 know how their servants acted at all times, their neighbors 

 and friends would be spared much of the annoyance caused 

 by the servant's misconduct. How often one sees a carriage 

 load of rollicking servants, who have been sent to church by 

 a considerate master, disgracing the Sabbath, their master 

 and themselves ; or the pitiful sight presented by a pair of 

 well bred horses, covered with lather, standino- in front of a 



