Keeping One Horse 367 



a dollar, but the time it requires to return an equiva- 

 lent for it. Any sound lad of fourteen is perfectly 

 able to care for the horse, two or three carriages, 

 etc., which comprise the average stable of the man 

 of moderate means, and he will be all the better, 

 physically, and more capable, mentally, for the 

 chance. The writer, as a lad, for several years, cared 

 for the family stable during all the time its horses 

 were in use — about six months annually — and 

 although he had generally four horses, as many 

 carriages, harnesses, saddles, etc., in daily use, he 

 found it no task to keep them in first-class condition, 

 and the stable, etc., always neat and clean. It seems 

 hard sometimes to miss a baseball game, or a fishing 

 or swimming expedition, but this is true only at 

 first, and the discipline is wholesome. 



Of course all reasonable conveniences will be pro- 

 vided in such a stable, as detailed in the chapter on 

 stable outfit, and ordinary ingenuity will suggest 

 many labour-saving devices not usually found in 

 such establishinents. -Handiness of necessities 



