Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-03-15
GOT UP TO LOOK PRIVATE.
eQuIPAGEs FOR RICH CUSTOMERS
BY THE MONTH OR YEAR.

1
Singular Busine.s Organized to Furniah
Wealthy Families with Elegant Prfv.sa
misunderstanding About Wishing.
ton Mews- and Coaehmen.
A prosperous hveryman living on Fifth
avenue makes it bis special object to study
the desires Of those who Affect what Thack.
cray calls the coach got up to look private.
he lets out thirty such equipages BY the
month, and there are others who do quite a.
large business Of the same sort Miladiis
hired victoria, horses and coachman go with
her as her own when she leaves town for
the summer. In her absence the winter
brougham is sent to the shop for repairs, and
when it has been put in thorough order it ID
wheeled away into dark loft 10 await her
return, for the brougham is uiladi's even In
her absence and it must not be desecrated by
the transient customer. IL, however, miladi
expects to pass year in Europe repairs to
the brougham Will include the substitution Of
some other person arms on the panel
THE COST OF STYLE
OF course scores Of families that spend but
. short season in New York hire their coach
and coachman for only few months or, per-
haps, a few weeks. Private arms can scarcely
be expected on a coach taken at these terms,
although there are happy condolences where
good people with taste for heraldry have hit
upon the same arms and have succeeded OPP
portunely to another's coach. 1t happens
often that those who use handsome hired
brougham in town are content with a very
simple equipage and an unlivel Sd coachman
in the country.
IiyeryInen make u pretty penny at this
sort Of business Presentahle coach horses
can be bought at from $275 to 1925 each, while
a brougham costs 81 200 and a victoria 81 600
The brougham is kept in perfect repair for
$50 year and the victoria for 500 These
are liberal estimates At $3.50 per month the
iveryman can well afford to furnish every
thing in first rate style. OF course there is a
profit on the coachman. When the horses
lose something Of their style, say in two or
three years, and the coaches hav- been re-
paired three or four times, they are hired for
general public convenience.
They are then good for three TO five years
more. Horses for this business are seldom
bought at less than six or more than nine
years old They come from the west, where
they are bred especially for this purpose.
Style is one of the first conditions, but above
all things they must be well broken Ii they
survive four or five years of general hack
business they are sold to farmers, who pay
from $50 to $50 for such horses, and expect
TO use them from three to seven years.
Those who use the coach got up TO look
private" are not necessarily either snowy
poor or shoddy rich. The secret of the prac-
tice is in part the lack Of stable room in New
York. If an intelligent real estate dealer
were asked to instance an example of osten-
tatious wealth in this city he would probably
mention the Washington News" Not one
New Yorker in a thousand could tell what or
where this is, or these are, whichever you
prefer. OF course Washington News"
means simply Washington stables
The word news" Is intensely British in its
modern usage 1t is common name in Lon
don for stables, but probably occurs nowhere
III this country, save in the instance just
named You'll find Washington News" in
gilt letters on little blue board at the en-
trance of a broad private alley running east
and west from Fifth avenue just above Wash
ington square The news are the stables for
about dozen ultra fashionable old houses on
North Washington square Here are housed
the horses, coaches and coachmen of New
Yorks most exclusive residents. Real estate
men, who know tho value Of land in that re-
gion, look with awe upon people who deliber-
ately devote that much space to the nero
housing Of horses and coachmen. New
Workers who cannot find stable room on their
own property must keep their equipages at
boarding stables, and from the boarding
stable to the hired coach is only short step.
LIvERYMAN's EXPERIENCE.
ave don't pretend" said livery man, ito
furnish equipage that shall rival those Of
the Astors, the Vanderbilts and other million
aires, but we do say that the hired coach can
be made to look better than two-thirds of the
strictly private equipages Perhaps our
coachmen are not quite obsequious as those
that drive for the same family year in and
year out, but the fellows are civil enough.
AS for livery, we have to be careful that
everything is neat and quiet. The man
whose coach is hired does not care to attract
attention by startling livery. Green and
gold is the thing with us. Nobody is more
exacting than our customers as to the condi-
ton of carriage, horses and harness. Now
and then you see a private coach that is
manifestly the worse for wear, but we should
not dare to furnish such a carriage to any
regular customer In fact, think that in
three cases out of four the noticeably well
appointed equipage is hired. Do customers
insist upon the coat Of arnsf Hardly Few
persons in New York have the right to use
such decoration, and those who have adopt
ed them from mere vanity are usually rich
enough to have their own carriages and
stables.
YES, it must be confessed that the weak
point of our equipages is the coachman 1t
Is hard to get good men to take such places,
because the family that hires coach and
coachman in a lump isn't half as careful Of
the turnout as family that employs its own
coachman and owns its coach and horses.
Many millionaire will stay at home rather
than take out his horses in bad weather, and,
strange as it may seem. he is often consider
ate for his coachman's health and comfort.
Our customers have no such scruples They
ride early and late without regard to the
weather. This is why we find it hard to get
first rate coachmen. We are always glad to
get hold Of dismissed private coachman,
provided his offense has not been serious.
Such aanan knows how to wear livery; can
sit a box with the rigidity of pasteboard
figure, and will seldom fall short in the mat
ter of respect and obedience Rum is the
great trouble with most of these men Every
body knows that the best coachmen as is the
case with other servants, come from abroad
The native American does not take to such
occupations. The SWEETEST turnouts IN New
York seldom equal those of the British arts
tocracy, because the London coachman has
more style than the New York coachman.
Coachee in New York still retains some trace
of human feeling. New York Star