• GROOMS. 355 



everything which concerns the horse. In every essential of the many 

 circumstances which surround all animals, they will not quietly permit 

 their knowledge to be questioned. But with regard to that particular 

 sphere which it is their duty to be acquainted with, they ape an inno- 

 cence which, in its excess of wonder, amounts to the possible extent ol 

 impudence. 



The groom prides himself on the power of being " close, -'^ but he 

 exhibits this attainment chiefly to his master, and principally at his 

 employer's cost. Let anything be broken in the stable, and it only 

 excites the groom's surprise. He knows nothing about it. If a horse 

 is seriously injured, the man who looks after the animal hails the event 

 as an "accident:" is perplexed by its occurrence, and never has the 

 remotest idea how it could have happened. Should anything be miss- 

 ing, the servant recognizes its absence with astonishment, and remem- 

 bers to have recently seen it ; but cannot imagine where or how it ha? 

 departed 1 



On the other hand, his knowledge masters impossibilities. He can 

 make any lame horse go sound ; he can induce prime condition in less 

 than a week ; he can cure glanders ; he can render the most savage 

 horse as tame as a lap-dog; he knows how to plan a stable; how to 

 make harness look well and last long ; understands carriages ; and, in 

 short, is a perfect proficient in everybody's business, though he never 

 knew anything that immediately concerns his own immediate depart- 

 ment. 



The reader will have drawn the inference from the above fact that a 

 groom is never to be believed. The author laments he cannot gainsay 

 such a conclusion. The master will only be misled by following his 

 servant's teaching. Domestics of all descriptions are to be employed ; 

 theirs is no office of instruction. Yet grooms deal largely in advice, 

 and always have an opinion ready to be advanced. The gentleman will 

 gain who can afford to discard such pretensions. Keep the stable-man 

 entirely to his duties. Never allow him to exceed these. Never permit 

 him to quit his legitimate sphere ; for, in any other province, he is the 

 very dearest assistant that money could possibly procure. 



In conclusion, never permit the London groom, save at certain unem- 

 ployed and stated periods, to engage in household duties. 



He speedily grows to be worthless in both occupations, when his 

 labor equally concerns the home and the stable. The horse is the 

 excuse, when any domestic order is not fulfilled ; the house is his justi- 

 fication, whenever complaint is made that the quadruped, the vehicle, or 

 the harness exhibits evidences of neglect. This is one of the reasons 

 why so many disgraceful single horse "turn outs" may be beheld 



