38° THE FAT OF THE LAND 
from the horse his only chance of being brave; 
lack of steadiness makes him indirect and futile; 
lack of kindness frightens him into actions which 
are the result of terror at first, and which be- 
come vices only by mismanagement. By nature 
the horse is good. If he learns bad manners by 
associating with bad men, we ought to lay the 
blame where it belongs. A kind master will 
make a kind horse; and I have no respect for a 
man who has had the privilege of training a 
horse from colt-hood and has failed to turn out 
a good one. Lack of good sense, or cruelty, is 
at the root of these failures. One can forgive © 
lack of sense, for men are as God made them; 
but there is no forgiveness for the cruel: cooling 
shades and running brooks will not be prominent 
features in their ultimate landscapes. 
For harness and farm equipments, tools and 
machinery, I went to a reliable firm which made 
most and handled the rest of the things that make 
a well-equipped farm. It is best to do much of 
one’s business through one house, provided, of 
course, that the house is dependable. You be- 
come a valued customer whom it is important to 
please, you receive discounts, rebates, and conces- 
sions that are worth something, and a community 
of interest grows up that is worth much. 
My first order to this house was for three 
heavy wagons with four-inch tires, three sets of 
heavy harness, two ploughs and a subsoiler, three 
harrows (disk, spring tooth, and flat), a steel land- 
