360 HORSE DEALERS. 



ing is supposed to have commenced. All breeders are anxious to sell 

 to these notorieties. Private views are proffered and accepted ; sales or 

 exchangesr' are made, and business may be verj brisk, days prior to the 

 fair beginning. In short, too many gentlemen visit the gathering for 

 amusement. The farmer cannot by outward signs distinguish such from 

 the would-be purchaser; whereas the dealer always means buying. 

 This constitutes the purpose of his visit. His time and money are 

 wasted, if he travels far and makes no purchase. The certainty about 

 his intentions, as well as the prospect of securing a future customer, 

 insures him the first offer from all who have colts for sale. 



The legitimate horse dealers are, as a body, most honorable and highly 

 respectable men. They are not all profoundly educated, though there 

 are among them exceptions even in this respect; but in their* business 

 with mankind, no class is more undervalued ; no class is more exposed 

 to annoyance; and no class can display a finer sense of probity. - There 

 is, perhaps, only one failing that could be justly maintained against the 

 entire body : that one may not be denied, although it is easily excused. 

 They are habitual liars ! In the way of trade, no horse dealer can 

 speak the truth concerning any animal he may possess. All such creat- 

 ures are without fault, trick, or blemish ! The whole stud are spotless 

 pictures ! Each and every one must be perfect 1 



It' can-not be imagined that honest people delight in needless lies. 

 The violation of a moral obligation can afford no gratification to an 

 honorable mind ; but when a large body of men exemplify any one par- 

 ticular failing, it may be reasonably concluded that the pressure of society 

 has induced the deficiency which we, who are removed from the crowd, 

 must not too severely stigmatize. The public well know that a faultless 

 horse — one perfect in form and pace — which can do everything and can 

 carry anything — a creature without a "vice," and free from' blemish — is 

 a species of sphinx, which the oldest equestrian has never looked upon. 

 Yet no one ever enters a dealer's yard, except he be hunting after, this 

 impossible perfection. Were the willing customer met with candor; 

 were the tradesman to show his stock, and truthfully to catalogue the 

 defects of each, — who, to reward veracity, would purchase the confessedly 

 faulty articles ? No one 1 Therefore the public force thQ dealer in horses 

 to abjure truth, when they unite and they insist he shall possess creatures 

 which in this world are known to be positively unattainable ! 



Society is clearly answerable for the dealer's misstatements, since men 

 will only visit him on certain terms, which declare he shall lie to live, 

 or he may tell tlie truth afld starve. His customers tacitly unite to en- 

 tangle the man in a web of falsehoods ; while not one of these persons, 

 even the most credulous, believes a syllable of the needless assertions t^. 



