83 



DRIVING. 



THE HARNESS-ROOM. 



As with the coach-house so with the harness-room its 

 situation, size, and internal arrangements cannot always be 

 selected by the individual who happens to be its temporary 

 owner. In large country establishments, where there is plenty 

 of space, the stable offices are often satisfactory enough ; 

 but in a London mews, or in ' cribbed, cabined, and confined ' 



places, arrangements of obvious 

 advantage, not to say importance, 

 must frequently be sacrificed to 

 the exigencies of space. If, how- 

 ever, it can by any possibility be 

 avoided, the harness-room should 

 never communicate with the stable, 

 as the ammonia from the latter dulls and tarnishes all metal- 

 work which may come under influence of its fumes. Where 

 the two are found opening one into the other, it is worth while? 

 if the stable have a second entrance, to stop up the door 

 between the two ; plug up all the holes and crevices, and put 

 the coachman to the additional trouble of carrying the ' tack ' 

 round ; even if it be exposed to the rain on the way, it is the 

 lesser of two evils. 



Internally the fittings should be complete, though not 



