Chorus Of Whips

Nogeant, the thrifty little town on the river Marae, in France, seems destined to become famous for the oddest contests enacted in modern times. Not long ago the public place of the municipality was the scène of a race of cripples, and a few days later a barrelrolling contest was inaugurated, In which some of the most prominent citizens participated. The other day the town was treated to the unique spectacle of a whipcracking contest, with about flfty contestants. The whips were, In class A, the usual driver's whips, and in class B, the so-called perplgnan, much resembling the long whips used by the umbermen in Northern Minnesota and Wisconsin on their log slelghs. At least thirty different kinds of cracking sounds can be made by these whips in the hands of an expert, and the prizes were distributed to those who produced the most of these sounds in rapid succession. The judges laid considerable emphasls in thls odd contest ou the kind of crackings which would stir a horse most without injurïng him. In conclusión, all the drivers cracked their whips in chorus, which had the effect of an ear-deafenng cannonade. A drlver by the name of Lermlssion received the flrst prize. This man can :andle the whip in so masterly a manner that he is able to crack the "Marsellaise" and familiar French songs out of it.