THE STICK OF THE LASH WHIP. 275 



THE STICK OF THE LASH WHIP. 



The stick of a single lash, pair-horse, tandem or four-in- 

 hand whip is usually made of holly, as yew and blackthorn, 

 though tougher, are more apt to warp. The stick should be 

 strong without being stiff, and pliable without being weak. 

 From the butt to the quill the wood should gradually taper 

 and when held at the ferrule (i. e., the metal band above the 

 hand-piece) or at the point where the ferrule is usually 

 placed the whip should be so nicely balanced that when 

 held either above or below this part it feels less handy. For 

 all vehicles such as the brougham, etc., to which horses are 

 close hitched, the length of the stick should be about five feet 

 long measured from the butt to the end of the quill. This 

 measurement does not include the sticks of tandem and four- 

 in-hand whips. The sticks of whips for phaetons, pair-horse, 

 run-abouts and similar carriages should be about five feet six 

 inches. 



At one time a craze prevailed for whips with a crooked 

 stick in imitation of that of Tom Henessey's famous dog- 

 leg coaching whip, but lately there has been a sensible re- 

 version to the non-sporting straight stick for non-sporting 

 vehicles. Every coachman who considered himself "any- 

 thing of a swell " insisted on the use of " a dog-leg," no mat- 

 ter what type of vehicle he drove. The hand-piece is either 

 covered with pigskin, the upper and lower ends of which 

 are held by plain metal mounts, or the wood is relieved by 

 part of the bark being left. This latter form is called a rab- 

 bit-bitten hand-piece. A whip for all driving purposes except- 

 ing tandem and four-in-hand may be embellished with as 

 many knots on the stick as pleases the owner's fancy ; but 

 the appearance of the stick is best when the knots gradually 



