The age-herald., 1902-05-11

New York. May 9.--Barring the weather, which might have been worse and yet al- lowed room for improvement, the out of door season was ushered In very grandiy. When climbed up on the coach il the morning felt a little stiff in my bones. I said 1t was due to rheumatism and the confounded chill March weather In May, but Willie Jay said ''No. Dietrich my boy, 1t is age and liver" Well, may be he is right. Jay, you know, is just as young today as he was twenty years ago, when Jim Bonnet, Willie Douglas, Fred. Bronson Jay and myself, started coach ing in this town by importing the yellow bodied Tally-ho and Fownes to teach us to drive. We used to lace at the Knickerbocker Club-which was named after neon the corner of Twenty Eighth street and Fifth avenue, and dine on club nights at the Brunswick hotel.
 Wei, never mind about those days Jay says these are better and Willie knows. The Colonel has kept abreast of the times. His contemporaries ale dead but he is nothing if not perennially contem- poraneous. I could not help thinking though of the old chaps who made the coaching club when I saw the eleven drags, shining In hues of maroon ana crimson and yellow, driven from the Ma!l to the top of the m ounc at the north end of Central park, where the review took place. There was never seen better il- lustration that the slories oe coaching have not departed. Societr- was on bcN seats and coach tups. and society waited too in victorias and staphopcs, phactons and automobiles to see tie brilliant turn outs Although the skies were lowering and the women shlvered lest their spring hats would make them look absucd in a downpour of rain; and the men teit a lit tie whisky woul1 prove a boon, Hll went well.
 The hour set for tne start of the rars@e was eleven o'cl >ci-. We got off on the minute Colonel Jay drove his dark green and yellow coacn, drawn by bay leaders and gray and chestnut whcelers Others followed, and soon the road at the entrance of Eighth avenue and Fifty ninth street echoed with the rush of wheels and the beat of hoofs.
 One by one the vehicles swept before the reviewing officer. The public was enthusiastic in it's appreciation. Next to
  parade in the public estimation. Some like circus elephants better than society Hons. There Is no accounting for tastes The bright running gear, the shining bodies, the sleek-coated horses, the TO- settes and flowers, the faultless livery Of the grooms in the rumbles, all these were mere details. The real treat is to see us sitting up on top looking our best, as though unconscious that we, while play
 I,t1 fnts proval against the charms of the lady with the iron jaw, the whiskered Amazon, and the tattooed man.
 Colonel Jay had before his rifle green and primrose coach finely balanced road that was just in harmony with the smart appearance of the vehicle. There's a bit of thoroughbred blood in the lead CTS of that team" remarked bystander with an eye for horsefiesh. The wheel CTS were gray and chestnut put up like a pair of welter hunters, that looked powerful enough to pull the coach alone.
 Harry Payne Whitney drove four bays, every one of which was a noted show horse and the winner of many prizes on the tanbark. His dashing leaders were Rushnght and Lenox, and his sturdy Wheelers were Aspiration and American Star, two of the four having been re- gently purchased from w. L. Elkins, of Philadelphia. MT. Whitney had a maroon and black coach of rich and tasteful col orlng the gear being striped with deep ca mine.
 Alfred Gwynne Vanderbilt drove four slashing chestnut horses, of the true road coach type, to a maroon and black coach, with a touch of bright carmine on the gear.
 Robert l.. Gerry's coach was almost identical with that of Mir Vanderbilt in color and his four glossy-coated, rose wood bay horses were of almost the same shade as the coach.
 James Henry Smith had one of the handsomest coaches in the line-a dark blue vehicle His four big horses-a pair of chestnuts in the wheel and a roan and chestnut in the lead-looked fully up to their work, to say the least.
 Reginald w. Rives had show team be- fore his picturesque blue and "ed English coach. The cross-matched wheelers were a strapping bay and gray, and the lead