42 THROUGH STABLE AND SADDLE-ROOM. 



side, as also to give it a more finished appearance. 

 In a good brush this backing is generally screwed 

 on ; in an inferior article it is glued, and here, at 

 once, there is a marked difference, as where the 

 latter may, and will, probably, soon come off, the 

 former will, or should, remain on as long as the 

 bristles last. Now, if he will again turn the brush 

 over and examine the tufts of bristles, he will see 

 that each bristle is equally good. Let him now take 

 an inferior brush and make a similar inspection, and 

 he will see that in the centre of each tuft the 

 bristles are inferior to those outside the tuft — in 

 fact, that the tufts are adulterated ; and so it goes 

 on with those still more inferior, until he will find 

 in the worst kind scarcely any bristles at all, but 

 all rubbish. Some years ago I was talking on the 

 subject of brush-making to a blind lad who was 

 a protege of my family, and who earned his living 

 by brush-making, and he explained to me that the 

 blind could not adulterate brushes. They could, 

 he said, make brushes of altogether bad, or alto- 

 gether good material ; but they could not manage 

 to arrange the bad in the centre of the o^ood so as 

 not to be at once apparent. I used to employ him 

 to make my horse-brushes, and some of my brother 

 officers also gave him orders, and very good they 

 were. The)' were, perhaps, not so elaborately 



