CHAPTER IX.

A NOTE ON THE HORN.

Many guards on the day coaches carried key bugles, on which some of them were able to play exceedingly well, and helped to while away many a half hour on the journey; but on the mails and night coaches, the former especially, straight horns were employed. Formerly these were all made of tin, hence the "yard of tin," but in later years a good many copper or brass ones came into use, and a few, in quite late years, adopted a twisted horn without keys, much like the infantry field bugle used in the army.

These horns, of whichever sort, were generally efficacious in warning carts, carriages, or other vehicles to get out of the way, but were of little avail against the worst obstruction met with on the roads. At that time all the sheep, cattle and pigs which travelled from one part of the country to another were obliged to make use of the highways, and though the drovers were possessed of marvellous skill in avoiding the turnpike roads on account of the tolls, nevertheless large droves and flocks were not unfrequently met with, and were the cause of considerable delay, and also sometimes of altercation. I was once forcing my way through a large drove of cattle, rather more unceremoniously than the drover approved of, when he threw his heavy stick at my head, and only narrowly missed it; and here perhaps it will not be out of place to introduce a few cases which exhibit the danger incurred by coaches from the presence of cattle and sheep, whether in droves and flocks or straying on the roads.

On November 7th, 1789, the Preston and Carlisle mail, after changing horses at Garstang, when about three miles on the road to Preston, in crossing a bridge over the Lancaster and Preston canal, encountered some drove cattle in the road, when the coach was coming down the bridge, which is a declivity, and the coachman pulled his horses too much to the off-side of the road to avoid the cattle, and the off wheels ran up the bank and upset the coach. Nobody seems to have been injured.

A curious accident happened to the Devonport mail _en route_ to Bath, on November 7th, 1839. The guard's report says: "A short distance from New House, a bullock straying on the road became frightened at the light of the lamps, and attempted to leap the hedge, but falling back against the leaders, the horses all sprung across the road, and running the coach into the hedge, threw the coachman off the box, and the wheels passed over him." He, the guard, then proceeds to say that he only lost one hour and a half's time, but gives no account of what became of the coachman. His whole thoughts appear to have been concentrated on his business, and he reminds one of the anecdote about the trainer and the old woman.

As a string of race-horses were out at exercise one morning, one of them bolted and came into collision with some obstacle which threw him down, seriously injuring him, and killing the lad who was riding him. The unfortunate lad was soon removed, and the trainer was lamenting over the horse when he was accosted by an old woman, who happened to be passing by at the time, and began to condole with him on the accident. He replied, "Ah! it is a bad job, indeed, I am afraid he will never be able to run for another race;" but, says she, "How's the poor boy?" "Oh! drat the boy, he's dead," was the answer.

Sheep were sometimes the cause of accidents. On January 10th, 1840, when the London and Hull mail was within a mile of Peterborough, the horses shied at a flock of sheep, and ran the coach into a ditch six feet deep, overturning it, and causing three hours' loss of time.

And now, having indulged in a stave on the guards' horns, perhaps the coachmen's whips may feel themselves neglected if I have no word to say about them, and on this subject it must be admitted that rather different opinions prevailed. _Tot homines tot sententiæ._ Some preferred, I think most professionals did, a stiff crop and a light thong, but others, especially amateurs, were in favour of a supple stick with a heavier thong. The latter are no doubt easier to manage in a high wind, and can also be caught up with greater facility; but, in my humble opinion, the former are far preferable for general use, a supple stick and a heavy thong being insufferable in wet weather.

In the selection of a whip it is easy to observe whether the person selecting is an old hand or not. If he is he will pick out a crop without knots, or with as few as possible, whereas the tyro is nearly sure to take the knotty one. The large knots, of course, tend to keep the thong, when caught, from slipping down towards the hand, but it ought to be caught tight enough to stay in its proper place without them, and sticks always break first at the knots.

Some people are now in favour of long crops. I fancy a cricketer might as well demand a bat of extra length. In old days W. and T. Ward, who were by odds the best whipmakers, never thought of turning out whips with crops of greater length than five feet two or three inches to the holder, and most were not quite so long. Beyond this length it becomes almost impossible to obtain a good balance. A very long stick must be top heavy, and I will defy anyone to use a long top heavy whip as effectually as one that is of a more handy length.

Even when the cattle were good, and but little whip was required, thongs soon became rotten from the sweat of the horses and the rain, and to avoid the frequent necessity for new ones, what were called "three quarters and middles" were made, which coachmen were generally able to splice on for themselves. Thongs also wear out more quickly if they are not kept supple, for which purpose a dressing of two-thirds hog's lard and one-third bees wax will be found very efficacious.