CHAPTER X. 



GROOMS — THEIR PREJUDICES, THEIR INJURIES, AND THEIR DUTIES. 



Grooms, if generally the most loose of servants, are, by the middle 

 classes, morally subjected to the worst treatment of all the domestics. 

 In the larger number of the purely "grenteeZ" families, they occupy an 

 intermediate and an uncertain position. Few of them live in the house ; 

 but all of this order have household duties to perform. Very many 

 have to clean the family boots ; to rub up the mahogany ; to polish the 

 plate ; to wait at table ; and to fill those multifarious offices which every 

 woman is certain no female ought to discharge "while there is a great 

 hulking fellow on the establishment." 



The author does not altogether dissent from the somewhat coarse con- 

 viction just recorded. Where a single conveyance and one horse are 

 kept, folly alone could pretend that these can, or should, occupy the 

 entire services of a male retainer. It is far from unreasonable to im- 

 pose other duties upon the man : only the horse and the stable should 

 be allowed to have the foremost claim upon the groom's attention. 

 Whereas, at the present time, the animal is made secondary by the 

 authority of the mistress ; its attendant is too often so crippled with 

 multifarious employments that it is at chance times only an opportunity 

 is found to discharge the obhgations of the domestic's nominal office. 



In suburban villas, where only one man is kept, the groom often is 

 expected, over and above the foregoing list of duties, to keep a garden 

 in order. To be sure, the vast majority of genteel grooms understand 

 quite as much about horticulture as they really comprehend concerning 

 horses. If asked for their qualifications with respect to the latter, they 

 assume a look half insolent and half indignant before answering, " They 

 have lived 'mong osses all their lifes." The author was born in a house, 

 and he has lived among houses till his hair is white, and age has more 

 than began to tell upon his activity ; but he does not, therefore, esteem 

 himself qualified to comprehend all about those structures. 



Still the suburban groom can dig in manure ; can dibble holes into soft 

 ground, and can drop seeds therein ; can stick peas, and can top beans ; 



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