THE ETHICS OF HORSE-KEEPING. 19 
window. Whenever a stranger stepped into his stall 
he would give a snort and back into the farthest cor- 
ner.” Splan, with some difficulty, obtained the ser- 
vices of a quiet, faithful “rubber” or groom called 
“Dave.” Dave procured a dog as additional com- 
pany for Johnston, and these three remained insep- 
arable through the period of Johnston’s training. It 
was a matter of course that the groom should sleep 
in the stall, but he never left it, day or night, having 
all his meals brought there. Under this treatment 
Johnston rapidly improved. He became less ner- 
vous, ate better, and in the event lowered the pacing 
record to 2.061, a mark which has not yet been sur- 
passed upon a regulation track. 
There remains only one branch of the subject which 
I feel bound to consider, namely, the duty of the 
owner toward the horse that has grown old and in- 
firm in his service. I say little about the man who 
employs horses in the course of his business; let him 
settle the matter with his own conscience, though I 
cannot refrain from the obvious remark, that whereas 
it might be a poor man’s duty to sell his superannu- 
ated beast for what he would bring, lest his family 
should suffer, so it would be the rich man’s duty to 
dispose of his work horses ina different manner. But 
as regards horses bought and used for pleasure this 
general rule seems to me undeniable, that the owner 
is morally bound to protect them from cruelty when 
they become old or broken down. He may do it by 
killing them, or otherwise, as he sees fit. But how 
seldom is this duty performed! It is neglected, pos- 
sibly, more from thoughtlessness than from intention. 
A span of carriage horses, we will say, after some 
