200 THE POCKET AND THE STUD. 



folly and affectation pays too much, and he who 

 from parsimony pays too little, will both suffer in 

 some way for it ; the first by being ridiculed, the 

 latter by having his horses more or less neglected : 

 the medium will generally produce a proper line 

 of conduct in those to whom it is applied. 



There are many persons who are great advocates 

 for the abolition of all douceurs to servants. I 

 am not ; and can only say if a livery-stable-keeper 

 were to propose as a rule of his yard that no fees 

 or rewards were to be given to his men, his would 

 be the last stable I would send my horses to. True 

 I could, and most certainly should, under the rose, 

 break through his novel, and to some persons 

 perhaps tempting, regulation ; but I should be 

 quite sure it would not be the best sort of stable- 

 men he would get under such a system, and with 

 horses, ignorance is as bad as roguery, in many 

 cases much worse ; a rogue we may in most cases 

 guard against, but a fool we cannot, as we never 

 can guess what he may take into his head to do ; 

 u clever rogue can be bribed into doing a little 

 extra for us ; so indeed may the fool — if he knows 

 how ; if, however, he does the extra service wrong 

 we are in a worse predicament than ever, and if a 

 situation is such that a man can derive no advan- 

 tage by strenuously striving to please, we may 

 fairly reckon on meeting a very sorry workman, for 

 none but such would fill it. 



