The Appeal. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn. ;) 1889-19??, 1900-08-11

lariat You lay right down on the buffalo
grass. roll your blanket about you, and not
RATHER would ever touch you If you lay
your lariat in circle about you. You'll be
perfectly safe. Snakes queer varmints-
Well, I've got to be wiggling for a train. So
Aong-''-Boston Correspondence New York Sun
CHARMS OF AUT0MOBILING.
Why the Motor Carriage Is Getting
So Strong a Hold.
The motor car unquestionably exercises an
extraordinary charm upon those who come
within it's 'sphere Of influence It is worth
while, then, to say word or two in expana-
ton of that charm, and to make the public
realize that the motor-car enthusiast is not
mere crank swayed merely by fashion and
city. but has reasons for the faith that is in
him.
The essential and controlling charm of the
horseless carriage is that it increases ones
freedom Of action and reduces the friction Of
life. A metaphysician might describe it
forming part of a reaction toward Individual
ism and simplicity of action engendered by the,
temporary triumph of collectivism as applied
to transport. The railway train is necessarily
collectivist. A passenger train starts and
reaches its destination owing to the combined
volition Of large number of people who want
to travel from, let us say, Bath to London, or
between places along the Great Western rail-
way. But in order to satisfy those vollttonl
and make them executive they have 20 be mar
shalled and organized, ana in sense
shackled. A railway train, with its guards and
drivers, and fixed places Of stoppage. is crea-
ture of strict rules, and those who travel in it
must temporarily surrender their private
wishes, or a part of them, in order to cooper
ate with others. The man who takes out his,
motor car and drives it along the road is, as it
We're, freeholder, with all the freeholder's
limitations and weakness and isolation. STILL
the charm of freedom remains, and allows him
to start when he likes, stop when he likes and
be Independent Of his fellows This charm of
course, belongs also in theory to any carriage
70 LOW h,,1;
t1ce 1t does not operate in such cases except
over very short distances. The lust of time
saving Is too powerful and gives the advantage
to the train. No horse can go at the rate of
twelve miles hour for three consecutive
hours, and at the end of the three hours be-
ready and able to go for another three or
eight or ten hours. 1t is It's tirelessness which
makes the motor car quite different mode OF
transport from horse and gives it its superior
1ty. In the case of motor car you have a
method OF moving from place to place az tire
less as train. one which for short Journeys
and cross journeys Is as quick the train and
yet one which is individualistic ard indepen-
dent.
In the abstract this explanation Of the charm
Of the motor may sound fantastic and real,
but put a concrete case of a person living
either in the town or in the country and it can
easily be proved. Let suppose A to live in
the country and be anxious to make cross
country journey to place some thirty miles
off. Unless he is very exceptionally placed he
will, to accomplish that journey, have first to
drive to his local station, and then to take
his ticket and go a journey which will very
likely take him an hour and halfs travelling,
and half an hours waiting at functions, and
then another drive from the railway station of
arrival to the house he wants to visit. In all
probability the whole journey by train
will take him at least three hours, and will
require to be taken at one time, and one time
only, in the day. and must, therefore, cause!
hin. a good deal Of trouble. friction and an
ncyance. He could not possibly avoid this
worry by using horse carriage for no horse
:ould go sixty miles in day without injury
IT, however, he has a motor car he can do the
journey in two hours and half, and be able
to start when he pleases and return when he
pleases. Who can deny that such freedom has
charm? The reason for this charm may be-
explained yet in another way. Though the
country is covered by network of railways.
do not. unless stationmasters. live.
on the railways. The road is, it were, the
first wife of man, and though some sixty years
ago he took a wife home he never dis
carded the first, and she has in reality always
remained nearest to him and has always held
his home. Nothing take that away from
her. We live on the roads and they are part
Of and parcel of our daily bread We look
down the road for the home-comer or the new
conner. Our gates open on the road. The ROAD
is always with us. But the motor car belongs
to the road and makes us free Of it and able'
10 it for our pleasure or our convenience
or profit. in a way which we could not
attain before. Or, to be more correct. the
motor car has restored the road to US. Whllf
railway travelling was SO UNNECESSARILY qulcka
and easier than road travelling, we were forcet
to give up the pleasure our fathers had taken
in the road, for mankind in general cannot or
will not lose time. Now, however, the ROAD.
has been revived To 90 back to our metaphor.
the motor has given the road crown OF
price that has once again made her find favor
in the eyes Of her lord and master Inc seconni
wife has come to look old-fashioned and dull,
and the first wife, never really rejected, re-
news her charms. Especially Is this the case
in a country like England, where the roads
are veritable storehouses OF emotional force
The English roads are like wood-frnged riv-
ers that run twisting and turning through their
villages and towns. No one can travel down
upon a hundred beautiful and unexpected
things and seeing those things in the best pos
sible way and as they ought to be seen. When
we scenery from the railways, or, at. any
rate, the near-at-hand scenery, we are, as IL
were, looking at the brocade OF the landscape
on the wrong side. We see the pattern awrY
and upside down. We cut across the roads, not
wind down them, We see the old church OF
the old manor house not in a picture composed
by centuries Of usage and of kindly human
courtesies. Things seen from the railway ara=
for the most part set on wrong, face the
wrong way, and, as 1t were, grate on the sen.
sitive ear with a slightly mercantile accent
The coal shed or the chimney OF the heating
apparatus is turned toward US In the train.
and not the best line. of gables or the old lycha
seen by the users Of the road, but not in the
same profusion as they VIII now be owing to-
the use of motor cars To put 1t plainly, the
dweller In country district, even when he,
uses a bicycle, does not really know the roads
for more than radius of fifteen miles from
his horne. With motor he will have q
knowledgable road radius Of at least thirty
miles. The person who does not bicycle has, OF
course, an smaller radius. Ten miles there
7nd miles back is generally the driving
limit.
Cat we must not be content to deal only within
the charm Of the motor by reason of the-
freedom of movement which it confers. The
motor carist''-to u-e a hideous but co::ve.:--
tcEt wo-c-has to consider which form OF car.
Doth as regards shape and method of propui--
son. confers the charm in the greatest perfec--
ton, and on this we would say a word or two.
Opinions will, of course, differ, but we believe;
that the most useful shape Is that Of the vic
toria. A victoria with good hood, a little-,
seat for two, gives almost all that can be de-
sired of comfort and practical convenience The
owner can, when he likes, sit on the box and
Griye himself. When he is tired of that, or too
busy, he can sit inside at his ease, and is able.
to get in and out with the rapidity only posi-
bic in victoria. But granted the victoria Is.
the best all-round shape what is the best
method of propulsion? He would be bold
man who would venture to try to decide such o.
question ff-hand; but this much may be said.
If the storage of electricity could be made
easier and quicker and generally improved
electricity would. without question: be the ideal
driving force. car Charged with electricity
can be driven by a child There is practically.
nothing to get out Of order go wrong. A
Woodworking goblin has been imprisoned In
tie accumulstors, and for the nu1Eber OF rniles~
which he IL condemned to serve the car IL.
bound e run. Nothing = eaker than 70 drive
- 1.aaxsa. 49,
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