146 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



CHAP. IV. 



STABLE ECONOMY. HOW TO SET ABOUT IT. "EVILS OF 



IMPROPER DIRECTIONS. THE RIGHT SORT OF INSTRUC- 

 TIONS. INGENUITY OF SERVANTS. CHOICE OF A GROOM. 



ORDINARY COST OF KEEP. TABULAR STATEMENT. 



VETERINARY SURGEONS. WHEN TO BE CONSULTED. 



ILLUSTRATIVE ANECDOTES. 



USELESS prodigality in stables seldom arises, on 

 the part of London stablemen in particular, from 

 the amiable weakness of fondness for their horses. 

 There is a kind of general, and, one would think, 

 intuitive hatred on the part of all servants or, 

 at least, of nineteen out of twenty to any tiling 

 that they conceive borders on economy, so far as 

 their employer's pocket goes, in the stable or out 

 of it. The lady of the house would find, if 

 potatoes were sixpence a pound, and bread and 

 meat unusually cheap, the demand on the potato- 

 merchant would be enormous ; but if bread hap- 

 pened to be ruinous, only hint at the vegetable 

 being used in greater proportion as a partial sub- 

 stitute, a potato would no more be eaten than a 

 sand wash-ball. 



I have had pretty much to do with stablemen 

 and boys of all sorts and grades, from the riding 

 exercise boy to the stud- groom and the wearer of 



