Savannah courier. (Savannah, Tenn.) 1885-1979, 1892-11-17
AMATEUR COACHING.
Is tho Wealthy Promoter of IL Mostly I
Nhnm?

IL tho Wealthy Promo of IL Mostly
Sham7
"Why should man have passion 10
become an omnibus driver?n was the
question asked in our hearing apropos
Of the coaches now running out of Bos-
ton under manage ment Of persons not
obliged to mount the box for living
We shall not attempt TO answer this
apparently simple query, for to do so
would require an analysis of the depths
Of human nature; but we may be able
to throw out few hints toward a solu-
ton of the problem A man might be
hippomauiac OF the most absolute
kind and yet ha We no desire to become
stage-coachmln. TO drive over the
the same road every day, to be afflicted
with the company of utterly conven-
tional people, of socially ambitious"
people, of gamblers, chat. ercrs, morose,
mad, frivolous, fulsome o. ill-tempered
passengers; in short, TO be at the mercy
of anybody who has s. VIII erewith to
pay his way-willing to endure all this
requires something more than u mere
love o. horschesh.
Is the motive to be found In that same
instinct which makes children play "at
horses" or ''as soldiers?' Are fathers
of families, men with gray hair in their
heads, men who take thems lives seri-
ously, persons of consideration, prom
irent citizens" Headers in society,"
are they playing gigantic and costly
game of malze-belicve when they be-
come amateur coachmen? We sincere.
ly hope not and yet there are many
signs which point in this direction. In
England certainly, and we believe in
the United States also, vidclicet, in
Boston, the amateur coachman accepts
n fee. The guard, moreover, is, we are
informed, a wonderful piece of make
believe. He wears, it seems, kind of
royal livery, he performs with rare art
upon wind instrument and he looks
like, in fact is, real Englishman.
What does this functionary think of it
all? Does he laugh in his sleeve? Does
he-in his secluded position at the rear
of the coach-laugh openly? Does he
never put his finger to his nose? When
the coach rolls by some bona iide work
men, road repairers, farm hands, what
not, who pause from their labors mo-
ment to watch the glittering vision,
does the guard tip them wink, as
much as to say, "You are earning youI
living; am earning my living; but this
man on the box is sham?" When the
guard wakes old and fat he will prob
ably write on his recollections for pub
LEGATION in n Sunday newspaper; and
then coachy will be able to see himself
as that other follow now sees him.
Perhaps, also, besides the fun o
making believe" the amateur coaches
have n sneaking pleasure in the public
ity of the pursuit. We happened once
to be in public place or conveyance
where a coachy and several of his inside
passengers gathered at the conclusion
of days drive and our editorial ears
though only of normal capacity-wert
invaded by the remarks of coachy ant
of his friends. Taeir remarks were t.
this effect: what do the papers say
about us? Is there anything in the Re
porter? Have you looked through thu
evening cdition?" We confess to have
been shocked and surprised by this rev
elation. II coachy had merely poeked
at the evening papers, on the sly, il
would have been an act of pardonablt
weakness, hut the frank interest taker
by coachy and by his party in what TIL;
vulgar world thought and said abou
them was almost pitiable. The idea
coachy is stalwart self-suflicient per
son, fortified by strong liquors and b.
pride. He doesn't care tuppence wha
impression he produces upon the grea
public-ignorant of horsefesh. How
ever, we would not make too much o
this incident. Perhaps on this particu
lar occasion coachy was little 'off
morally. Even great men have thei
days of slackness Boston Transcript