8 THE KEEPER'S BOOK 



to improve his knowledge and his capacity for work* 

 Remuneration for labour is conducted on all too stereo- 

 typed lines : the efficient keeper is generally paid the 

 same wage as the inefficient. There is too little recog- 

 nition of superiority and too little condemnation of the 

 reverse ; and this being the case, the result is obvious. 

 The keeper has little stimulus to improvement, outside 

 his own personal self-respect, and in consequence the 

 standard of general efficiency is kept lower than it 

 should be. 



Much of the inefficiency of the keeper is also due to 

 the ignorance or indifference of the master. Want of 

 supervision from either of these causes is certain to lead 

 to slackness, and this is bound to lead also to deteriora- 

 tion of sport. But it must be pointed out that, if the 

 ignorance or carelessness of a master may account for a 

 keeper's slackness and inefficiency, it does not excuse 

 it. Even taking the master on the highest plane, he 

 can seldom be more than a very good amateur. The 

 keeper is, or ought to be, a specialist. Within the 

 limits of his duties, a keeper should know all that is to 

 be known, and, in the majority of cases, should know 

 infinitely more than his master. Not only should he 

 be independent of any chance instruction from his em- 

 ployer, but he should be in the position when called 

 upon to do so, to give advice and convey information at 

 all points. In fact, the highest state of perfection can 

 only be reached if a keeper bases his knowledge and his 

 work on the possibility of his master being an absolute 



