214 EXTRAVAGANCE OF GROOMS. 



CHAPTER XI. 

 ADVICE TO GROOMS. 



The great failing of all grooms borders on something 

 nearly akin to extravagance, and extreme carelessness 

 as to the limits of their masters' pockets. 



I am well aware that in nine cases out of ten, the 

 urgent touting for orders by saddlers, and dealers in 

 oats, beans, hay, straw, &c., are too much for the nerves 

 of most grooms to withstand, if they have not their 

 masters' interests at heart. 



If any advice, any argument of mine can succeed in 

 partially putting an end to this wanton combination of 

 servants and tradesmen against their employers, it is 

 my duty as an honest man to urge upon grooms in 

 general the necessity of forsaking the continuance of a 

 system of dishonest pilfering, that is more heartless and 

 unjustifiable than robbery on the highway. 



I am well aware and I have repeatedly heard stud 

 grooms boast that their masters' consent to orders for 

 fodder, saddlery, &c., never once entered their heads ; 

 and that they were not going to admit of being inter- 

 fered with in the requirements of the stable ; or in 



