GROOMS. 335 



always foul, and during the night it generally reeks with impurity. The 

 food and the drink of the animal are simple in the extreme. Its limbs, 

 while in the stall, are motionless. No wonder, therefore, if sudden ac- 

 tion and the inhalation of untainted atmosphere act in a strange manner 

 upon a sensitive and delicately-organized body. The creature's senses 

 are not to be measured by human perceptions ; neither are its acts to be 

 accounted for by appealing to the conduct of its master. We must 

 reason temperately, and accept the mute behavior as strongest evidence. 

 Then, all horsemen must have remarked the excited caperings which 

 signalize the first release of the horse from its unwholesome abode. 

 During such a time the saddle cannot be a desirable seat ; neither can 

 we assert how soon the quadruped is free from its excitement, nor what 

 circumstances may induce a renewal of the extraordinary exhibition. 



The next thing to be desired is, that those persons who do not employ 

 a stud groom should find some one to represent this important func- 

 tionary. Where groom and coachman are kept, it is easy to invest the 

 coachman with authority ; for the servant is always a severe task-master 

 to his fellow. When groom and coachman are united; the proprietor 

 should pay more than visits of ceremony, at regular periods, to his 

 stables. 



Grooms, however, dislike to be overlooked. They constantly assert a 

 stable is "no place for a gentleman;" and aping outward respect, they 

 manage to render this opinion influential. When the proprietor appears 

 in the stable, all work ceases. The groom stiffens with the most rigid 

 propriety. Under a pretense of duty, he dogs his employer's steps. 

 He answers in monosyllables, and in a low voice. The face grows un- 

 pleasant in the blankness of its expression. He will not talk; he will 

 not work ; he will only watcfi his master, with an air partly of offense, 

 partly of mystery. The gentleman soon grows uncomfortable ; and there 

 is small cause for surprise should the proprietor, having been thus 

 treated, be in no hurry to repeat the visit. 



The stable is then relinquished entirely to the servant. There, the 

 man fears no eye observing his actions ; and he knows there is no tongue 

 to report his behavior. Before an uneducated individual is thus left in 

 unchecked authority, it were well to think if his surroundings are of a 

 character which neither passion nor malice could convert into instruments 

 of danger. 



The attention should be seriously given to the banishment of steel 

 from every tool employed about the horses. Those who are not in the 

 secrets of such matters cannot imagine how many injuries, which are 

 reported and accepted as "accidents," are really wounds willfully inflicted 

 Quring moments of irritation. 



