The sun., 1895-02-03
THE STYLE NET YORKER RIDE IN.
Faults that Critics May Discover In Horses,
Carriages, and Drivers.

Faults that Critics May Discover In Horses,
Carriages, and Drivers.
Any student of the town that will watch Fifth
avenue for an hour on half dozen bright days
in succession will get a fair average impression
of the state and style in which New Workers.
ride. 1t is an easy matter to pick the ordinary
hired conveyance from the press of coaches, but
but not easy to distinguish with certainty the
coach got up to look like private carriage and
hired by the month or tho year. Every one rec
ognizes ut glance those pirates of the street
that cruise about day and night with rakish
air. in shabby guise, smacking Of vice
and repreheusIbie gaycty. The best OF the
carriages hired by the mon.a the
year almost defy detection. The coach may have
coat of arms; the waterproof blankets OF the
horses may bear modestly executed initials: tho
coachman himself may be irreproachab!y clad
in the livery OF his temporary master. while the
horses may have exactly the proper style. The
thing that oftenest betrays the equipage is the
coachman's stealthy nod of recognition in re-
sponse to the wink of some old crony on the box
of shabby hired coach. 1t is an act of treachery
that the master could hardly forgive.
One may depend horse to maintain the
dignity of any place to which he may be elo-
waited; but, after all, n cOachman is but human,
and of him hardly much is to be ex pected. IL
is hard to distinguish between the better class
of regularly licensed coaches, treadinG to all
points and to be hired by whoever has the money
for a ride. and the poorer sort OF rented eQui-
pages. The horses of the latter lack style, and
the coachmen wear their liverics with manifest
discomfort. Perhaps tho Indifference of the
horses to the whip in the case of the former is
the best indication on the subject
New Workers are. on the whole not preten-
tious in the matter of equpage. Many are con-
tent with single horse and most dispense with
waite and rented carriages have two horses and
II coachman. There must be less than 30 per
cent. with both coachman and footman. There
are few really beautiful teams thoroughly well
matched In color. size. and action. Seventy-tivo
bays, and more than so per cent. are rather
light IN weight. The true coach horse. IA large,
heavy animal Of good style and moderate gait,
OF horset1esh, and too many seem To have been
bought REGARDLESS of the rule that horse to be
man can span from his flying rib TO his
hip bone. There are good many hollow sides
style under the whip, as II they had memories
OF drudgery when the whip was used to urge,
rate private team seldom uses the whip save for
the latter pgrpost and the lash l produces IN that
equine dignity with "a return 10 good behavior,
The air OF untiagging spirit and constant fresh |
ness belongs only to the horse that is kept eIelu-
OF the comparatively few handsome and
well-matched teams. many are driven by coach
are few poor drivers in the streets Of New \ ork !
simply because tho dangers of the streets ex-
clude unskilled men. No man intrusts his horse |
to an ignorant driver, and hence the number |
of accidents is small But IL is rare 10 find |
pertinent in the moment of difficulty. The |
taultless cOaChman sitting beside fault
less footman and driving faultless |
team is an extremely raro combination. |
Even the best private COachmen in New York !
sometimes commit the objectionable sin of dis |
playing human emotion on tho coach box, and
II too often happens that otherwise irTeproach- |
with their foOtmen such sigma OF intelligence as |
may be conveyed by the side of one red, smooth |
shaven face 10 that OF another. The cockade In |
Great Britain worn by the cOachmRn of "A man
holding the Queens commission Is rare in New
York, One old retired army surgeon OF this |
town Inns his cOachman wear "A kade.
Nlnety-nine per cent, OF all COHChmen, save
smooth shaVen or wear only a tutt near each
ear, One does, however see occasionally what |
seems 10 be a private cOachmAn with a nous
tache some OF the few negro coaChmen wear |
mOustaches The genuinely black Coachman is |
rare, ana eVep the mulattO Is not common. |
Engllshmen, lrishmen, and SCOtChmen. though |
the later are scarce, make up ths bulk Of the |
cans among them, and most OF these are col |
ored men, Drivers are usually we'll paid as |
wages go. Almost any sort of man that |
can be trusted 10 drive two horses In The streets
OF New York, II they are only drAy horses |
earns from $40 TO Slb week. and some receive |
more. The private coachman gets from $50 to |
so month with his clothing, and his perqui- |
corps of servants must submit TO the scandal |
OF commons from tradesmen TO the men and |
women below stairs. The coachmanis a commits
Sions are often handsome.