168 THE WISDOM OF COACHMAKERS. 



friction would be greater than any skin could bear, 

 It may be said our forefathers used them to their 

 carriages : they did ; but those venerated gentlemen 

 never heard of ten miles an hour. The friction on a 

 locomotive destined to move a plough three miles an 

 hour would not cause much wear and tear: it becomes 

 somewhat different with one going fifty. 



If used for gigs (where these collars answer very 

 well for fast -going and light vehicles) care must be 

 taken the bar is left full motion, so that the ends to 

 which the traces go may advance and recede several 

 inches. Now here is an error daily made by the best 

 coachmakers, and which not one owner of a gig in a 

 hundred ever thinks of rectifying. Why was a 

 movable bar first used to a gig in lieu of the old 

 small trace-hook fixed inside the shaft ? It adds 

 nothing to the neat appearance of the carriage, adds 

 a trifle of weight, and moreover generally becomes 

 soiled by the horse, and then has a dirty look. Its 

 introduction arose from a wish to avoid any un- 

 pleasant motion being given to the carriage by the 

 alternate advance of the horse's shoulders, to give 

 those shoulders more freedom of action, and conse- 

 quently to lessen the probability of galling them ; and 

 so it would if it were permitted to act like the swing- 

 bar of a leader: but coachmakers in their wisdom 

 first fix it to the cross-bar by a strong leather, six 

 inches wide, so as to render it a fixture ; and then, 

 from fear there should be any chance of its only utility 

 taking place, they add two more straps near each 

 end, so that it is just as immovable as the splinter-bar 

 of a four-wheeled carriage, consequently would be far 

 better removed altogether out of the way ; for, as it 

 is, it is merely an inconvenience: but many such 



