HAY IN LOFTS. 77 



thus much on the subject of boys, from having 

 seen the dire results of persons, from a mistaken 

 idea of economy in point of wages, employing 

 them in situations of trust ; boys are useful and 

 clever; industrious ones will stand nearly in the 

 place of a man in some situations, but they should 

 be only used as tools in the hands and under the 

 observance of a first-rate workman. 



There are many objections, though not, perhaps, 

 of any very serious character, to keeping hay in 

 a loft : one that is frequently made I consider a 

 very futile one, which is, that the exhalation 

 arising from the horses and the stable renders the 

 hay bad to eat. In reply to this, I should say, 

 that any moderately good stable is so ceiled that 

 little of this exhalation would reach it, and it 

 must be very badly ventilated if it would do much 

 harm in this way : if it did, and the horses got 

 amiss, I should accuse the stable of the mischief, 

 not the hay. But the objections I make to the 

 thing are these. Throwing down the hay is apt 

 to get the seeds into the horses' ears and eyes. 

 The opening of trap-doors, and, above all, letting 

 them slam down, often alarms timid horses. If there 

 are no doors, cats amuse themselves by jumping 

 up and down ; and, as their amorous dalliance 

 begins in strains not the softest or most harmo- 

 nious to any ears but their own, so it often leads 

 to fierce pursuit ; and, though I highly applaud 



