3S0 GROOMS. 



"treats" and gratuities, is tlie general tax on all the bills wliicli hia 

 master pays. 



Of the oats, many grooms claim a partner's share. On the services, 

 all exert the larger right. Nay, even fashion, perverse and capricious to 

 other people, seems to pander to the wishes of the stable. The animal 

 delights in *a, flowing mane and tail, which not only beautify the creat- 

 ure, but serve to guide the motions, to fan the body, and to flap away 

 the insects. The groom, however, regards the long horse hair as his 

 property, and, to aid his views, there exists an instrument the use of 

 which is to extract the equine adornment without exciting suspicion. 

 Few gentlemen's horses appear with the mane or the tail in a natural 

 condition, and genteel prejudice sneers at the profusion on which tribute 

 has not been levied. Thus, while the quadruped lives, it breathes to 

 enrich him who is engaged to tend the animal. 



Nothing can enter the door on which an acknowledgment is not 

 demanded, while nothing can le^ve the premises which is not regarded 

 as the groom's lawful perquisite. The first maxim commences with the 

 newly -purchased animal; the last terminated with the carcass which 

 was drawn out of the stable. 



For the servant's shortcoming, however, the master is to blame. It 

 is neither morally right nor socially just to debase a man by exposing 

 him, for the sake of convenience, to the certainty of enervation, while 

 you place him in a situation of trust and of authority. Perhaps few of 

 human kind are fitted to uprightly support the double responsibihty ; 

 but, certainly, he commits a sin who invests another with such powers 

 and then turns poor frailty into an exhausting atmosphere, removed from 

 the possibility of supervision, and exposed to those temptations, while 

 the employer's act has deprived his menial of the energy requisite for 

 successful resistance. 



The groom, for the convenience of the master, is forced to stand where 

 man is not fit to be placed. He is despotic over the lives which cannot 

 complain; he is the occupant of a home which is incompatible with 

 health; he has property at his command, which it is impossible to 

 check; with much idle time, he is surrounded by the examples and by 

 the temptations of vice. His wages, however, are barely sufficient for 

 the most rigid economy. The money he receives is certainly not fitted 

 to satisfy the demands of the smallest extravagance. What justification 

 can be urged in behalf of that educated gentleman who bribes an uned- 

 ucated dependent to occupy so corruptive a position ? 



From the disinclination of employers to adequately discharge their 

 duties, assuredly spring the many vices which beset the majority of 

 London stables. In the country, where things are managed with less 



