COACHING DAYS AND WAYS 



a pinch. Then the box he sat upon was worse 

 than Pandora's, with all the evils it contained, for 

 even hope appeared to have deserted it. It rested 

 on the bed of the axletree, and shook the frame 

 to atoms ; but when prayers were put up to have 

 it altered, the proprietors said, ** No ; the rascal 

 will always be asleep if we place his box on the 

 springs." If among all these difficulties, then, he, 

 by degrees, became a drunkard, who can wonder 

 at his becoming so ? But he was a coachman. He 

 could fetch the last ounce out of a wheel-horse by 

 the use of his double thong or his ** apprentice," 

 and the point of his lash told terribly upon his 

 leaders. He likewise applied it scientifically, it was 

 directed under the bar to the flank, and after the 

 third hit he brought it up to his hand by the draw, 

 so that it never got entangled in the pole-chains, or 

 in any part of the harness. He could untie a knot 

 with his teeth and tie another with his tongue, as 

 well as he could with his hands ; and if his thong 

 broke off" in the middle, he could splice it with 

 dexterity and even with neatness as his coach was 

 proceeding on its journey. It short, he could do 

 what coachmen of the present day cannot do, because 



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