'Nimrod ' 



road, not one of which could then be passed without 

 a call. 



Still our old-fashioned coachman was a scientific man in 

 his calling — more so, perhaps, than by far the greater part 

 of his brethren of the present day, in as much as his energies 

 and skill were more frequently put to the test. He had 

 heavy loads, bad roads, and weary horses to deal with, 

 neither was any part of his harness to be depended on, upon 

 a pinch. Then the box he sat upon was worse than Pan- 

 dora'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. 

 In short, he could do what coachmen of the present day 



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