article,
and, if you buy it, you will become the possessor of a stick as inferior
to a blackthorn as a pewter skewer is inferior to a Damascus blade.

The best way is to send over to Kerry, Cork, or some other county in the
Emerald Isle, and ask a friend to secure the proper thing as _prepared
by the inhabitants_.

The sticks are cut out of the hedges at that time of year when the sap
is not rising; they are then carefully prepared and dried in the peat
smoke for some considerable time, the bark of course being left on and
the knobs not cut off too close; and, when ready, they are hard, tough,
and thoroughly reliable weapons.

As regards appearance, too, I think, when the hard surface of the
rich-coloured bark has been rubbed up with a little oil and a nice
silver mount fixed on the handle, no man need feel ashamed of being seen
with one of them in Piccadilly or Bond Street.

The section of these sticks is seldom a true circle, but bear in mind,
when giving your order, to ask for those which are _rather flat than
otherwise_. I mean that the section should be elliptical, and not
circular. The shape of the stick then more nearly approaches that of
the blade of a sabre, and if you understand sword exercise and make all
cuts and guards with the true edge, you are far more likely to do
effective work.

Again, the blow comes in with greater severity on account of the
curvature at either end of the major axis of the ellipse being sharper
than it is at the end of any diameter of the circle, the sectional
areas, of course, being taken as equal.

The length of the blackthorn depends on the length of the man for whom
it is intended, but always go in for a good long stick. Useful lengths
range between 2 ft. 10 in. and 3 ft., and even 3 ft. 6 in. for a very
tall man.

The blackthorn, being stiff and covered with sharp knots, is a
first-rate weapon for defence at very close quarters. When, therefore,
your efforts at distance-work have failed, and you begin to be "hemmed
in," seize the stick very firmly with both hands, and dash the point and
hilt alternately into the faces and sides of your opponents.

Always have a good ferrule at the end of your stick. An inch and a half
from an old gun barrel is the best; and do not fix it on by means of a
rivet running through the stick. Let it be fixed in its place either by
a deep dent in the side, or by cutting out two little notches and
pressing the saw-like tooth into the wood. It