234 FAULTS INSEPARABLE FROM STABLES. 



Thus, men take much care of that species of property which, being 

 damaged, can be repaired for money ; but they treat with neglect, and 

 thrust into unwholesome corners, that life which, when injured, not 

 all the wealth accumulated upon this globe could restore to soundness. 

 With the inanimate, there is nothing to remove the full force of blame, 

 which man must accept as his fault alone. The deterioration of such 

 articles, when it occurs, cannot be laid to the charge of any other living 

 being. This renders man more careful of such things. With life, there 

 is always something which can be made to take the weight of culpability 

 from the master's shoulders. The horse was obstinate ; it had a bad 

 temper ; it possessed a vile mouth ; it bolted ; it refused ; it shied ; it 

 reared ; it jibbed ; it kicked, or, in some way, it resolved not to do its 

 duty. The dumb creature can make no answer to the accusation ; and 

 human nature is readily convinced of its impartiality when its errors 

 have been mainly cast upon another life. 



The builder is, of course, governed by the architect ; the architect is 

 anxious to exhibit plans which shall elicit the approval of the proprietor. 

 So, in the end, those arrangements, upon which the well-being and the 

 health of many lives must depend, rest upon the caprice of an elderly 

 gentleman, who now, for the first time in his life, may give serious 

 thought to such a subject. However, this is the rule, whether a house 

 is intended for a family residence or is erec'ied as a speculation : the 

 stables almost invariably occupy the space which is left after every other 

 want is satisfied. 



When picturing one, the author designs to portray most modern 

 stables: very few of which are erected after maturer considerations 

 than the imaginary elderly gentleman has bestowed upon his contem- 

 plated "out-houses." Proverbially, according to this world's usages, the 

 submissive are the abused; it would indeed be difficult to discover a 

 more perfect type of absolute submission than is exemplified in the 

 powerful body of a domesticated horse. Are we, therefore, to conclude 

 that in this attribute lies the reason why it is the most ill-treated, the 

 worst-nourished, and the meanest-lodged of the many inhabitant? upon 

 this earth ? 



However, that the writer may not be accused of drawing on his fancy, 

 or of representing as actualities things which have no existence in fact, 

 he will, where reference is necessary, quote from the pages of a work 

 on " Stable Economy," written by Professor Stewart, of Glasgow. This 

 book, when a pupil at the Royal Yeterinary College of London, was 

 purchased by the author, he being induced to procure it by the high 

 character which it bore among the members of his profession. There- 

 fore it is selected as an authority upon the subject of which it treats; 



