t evenings, Saturday
afternoons and Sundays. Take care of it among yourselves, and I hope you
all may have many pleasant rides. There isn't a team in the country gets
more grooming than those colts, and not a man has been known to
overdrive them. I never see anything like it, those hired men at Herne's
live and act as if they were members of some gentlemen's club. They
always wash their hands in warm water in the winter, and are particular
about keeping their finger-nails clean. On Sundays to see those men
dressed up, you would think they had never seen dirt. You don't see
Herne's men on a Sunday morning spending their time in washing overalls,
shirts, and socks. Herne keeps a Chinaman to do that in the week day.
Why, if I was to go and offer one of those men a steady job at ten
dollars a month more than Herne pays, he would turn his nose up at me.
You can't get a man to leave; they stick to him closer than a brother.
He has ten standing applicants to fill the next vacancy he may have. And
did you ever see a place where men worked so orderly, harmoniously, and
thoroughly as they do on the Herne ranch? You don't see any of the trees
in his orchard barked through having careless, mad teamsters while
harrowing and cultivating. Herne's horses, harness, and machinery look
better and last more than twice as long, because the men take great
interest in caring for them. It's not all go out of pocket with Herne in
what he does for his men. Some pretty big returns come back."

"Yes," said Mrs. Holbrooke, "Lena Herne told me that her brother and
herself were sitting on the porch one evening, and she was talking to
Charles about the men and what he had done for them, when he said,
'Lena, I would not give up the love and respect which these men have for
me, and I for them, and the quiet, peaceful understanding that exists
between us, for all the ranches in the county.' She said that she and
her brother very often spent their evenings with the men in games,
singing and a general social time, and there are lots of young people in
the neighborhood that call on them to play croquet and lawn-tennis of a
Saturday afternoon or to spend a pleasant evening. Just think,"
continued Mrs. Holbrooke, "those men at Herne's only work five and a
half days in the week, and those days are short ones. I tell you,
Holbrooke, those men have a far better time than you do, though you own
a ranch and they don't; you are a slave compared to them."

"Some of