Wausau pilot. [volume] (Wausau, Wis.) 1896-1940, 1903-06-30
AN AMATEUR IN AN AUVU.
THE THRILLING EXPERIENCES or
HIS FIRST TRIP.

He Tried to obes Instructions But
There Were zoe Sany Levers by
Far-After a Great Many Hair
breadth Escapes He at Last Got
Safely Home.
sNow," said William, you sit there.
/ That's the steering wheel; you turn it
the way we want to go. The little
lever is the spark accelerator, that's
the throttle, and that's the gear. The
other enc is to reverse. That foot
| plate is the clutch and the next one
the brake, and the next one the cow
catcher - surely he said cow-catch-
err. I'll start the engine. The clutch
throws it in. You step on it."
BY all means" said L.
William was in front, where there
was crank, and turned it rapidly,
and Fourth of July celebration went
off under my seat. had on my best
trousers-thin ones-so naturally
sprang to my feet, and l grabbed a
lever or so to steady myself by.
1t was well did; otherwise l sure
ly would have been thrown out, for
the machine sprang forward 1t but
ted William in the tumky with its
shovel nose and bore him off, He was
perfectly safe. though, for he embrac-
ed it with all ais limbs, while, as for
me, | kept stepping on so many foot
plates and things l could hardly keep
my balance; and it was not safe to
sit down, not on that seat with Mont
Pelee under it.
But William seemed alarmed. There
was no need of it whatever. The road
was clear and smooth, and had a nice
green bank on each side, so we could
not run off of it, The machine tried
to, to be sure. 1t would rush at the
bank and half way up it. and then
give it up and rush across to the
other side to Try that, and then back
again.
1t tore the sod good deal, and
every now ano then it would make
noises as if it were grittiiIlg several
sets of teeth at once, and then cough.
When it coughed, it jolted some, and
William gfunted.
Between times he tried to tell me
from the pit of his stomach something
about what we called the "a-wump." /
couldn't find the "a-wump;" he had
not mentioned it before, and besides,
stone wall came along just then.
told William to put out his feet and
fend US off. He looked at it over his
shoulder, and used simply awful Ian
guage; and wouldn't put up his feet.
1t really didn't matter much, for
William is quite plump, and would
have made an admirable buffer any
how; but as it was, the machine
changed its mind and went on down
the road.
A man in a run-about came driving
across from side street just when
he had no business to, and we hit his
hind wheel and swung him around the
other way. He climbed out with mis-
whip to chase us, and when l turned
to look, the machine turned, too, and
went at him. With William hugging
its nose it must have looked very
fierce, for the man turned and fed
back to his run-about, and climbed in
and whipped UP his horse. We caught
him before he got under way and gave
him-that is William did-quite
bump
But he was too much for US after
tir,c he or M \,
disappeared ahead in clo1d Of dust,
though we gave him a pretty good
race for a while.
I saw a lever l hadn't noticed be-
fore and tried it. The machine jump
ed back as soon as l touched it, and
left William spread-eagling in the air.
He kept what seemed to be the lid of
the machinery box with him to land
on. Together they made quite noise
when they struck the ground.
We, the machine and I, kept ON
backwards and ran through some
body's front gate as nicely as you
please, and stopped against the house.
when the wheels began to dig down
through the lawn, throwing up earth
and sod like terrier after rat. An
excited man came running around the
corner of the house and shouted: |
'You let my grass alone. Sic aim,
Tige."
Tige knew perfectly we'll I hadn't |
anything to do with it, so he grabbed |
a wheel. He held on once around, and |
then went up in the air through win
dow. Somebody up stairs emptied a |
pitcher Of water on us, and Tige |
knocked down window box full of |
flowers; so we started again.
The gate lodged us, and we took
the fence 1t was a vine-clad wire
fence. about hundred feet of it, and
we took it all. We got it by one end I
and the rest came behind, gathering I
up bushes and small trees. 1t was I
quite floral parade We gathered up 1
William and the lid as well, on our
way, and one lampEost We might
have gotten another, but just then
we got back home where we had start
ed, and the machine stopped in front
of Williams house.
l took William out of the s1rubbery
and asked him about the "a-wump;"
but before he could get the leaves out
Of his mouth and explain, Tige and
his owner came up and claimed the
fence. 1t wasn't much good as a fence
and I saw no reason for quarreling
over it, but William seemed quite an
cry and drove them off with the lid
1t was tin, and made a great noise on
the mans head, and thought recog-
nized another man driving up in a
badly warped runabout, with police
man beside him.
1t looked so much as if there were
going to be some dispute or other that
went in the house. and | told vii.
liam the next day when he came hack