The sun., 1905-08-20
Other Side of Owning An Automobile.
Tricks Of the ChauewsWays They Have Of Garnns Extra Money
Worries Of Rich Ownes-GaIantry Of Chauffeur
Source Of Trouble.
a Source of Trouble.

do, for they may always get In to see the
folks regularly enough. Then. too, most
chaufeurs who are on the right terms with
their bosses live In far suburbs for the same
reason. as the automobile is their trolley
car. Afaot that every visitor to the country
has noticed this summer is that the chauf-
feurs best girl-when he IL q single man
never has to walk step. As q beau he Is
now ace high in the counting game with
the country girls. The young man who
only comes around to take his girl out
buggy riding is beaten by many blocks. He
Ia has been.
This habit Of gallantry and the sooiability
of the bachelor chauffeur give rise to tho
frequent spectacles OF automobiles speed
ing through the country towns O. nights
filled with CAV and tuneful parties Of girls
and chums. The owner, a Bishop perhaps,
may be miles away and snug in his bed.
but the car is doing good service. The
girls, too. are mostly bareheaded, and they
do not sit swathod in dust coats and wells
as the women Of the family do.
The too tricky chaufreur may not be
very careful of his guests. and, as with
Tony Lumpkin may be frequenter Of ale
houses. but the reliable men avoid that
sort of debauchery. The chauffeur who
has good Job and deserves it is as gentle
manly as his owner would be to the young
women he takes out-perhaps more so-and
the journeys end, as the buggy rides used
to do, very often at the altar.
The position of chauffeur In the house
hold is a singularly independent one. In
town the garage is his headquarters and
in the country it is the same, except in
few extensive establishments that include
q private garage. He does not mix with
the household servants, unless he wishes
to, and eats at boarding house or hotel
in the country, or at his home, II married,
or where he will, II single, when the owner
is in town. The owner pays the board bills
in addition 10 the wages. The best chauf-
feurs are machinists by trade, workmen
who command from 50 to $40 dav. and they
make ais much, or more, as drivers of
automobiles.
Horses get their toilets in the morning.
but automobiles are rubbed down and
currycombed the last thing at night. The
tires are cleaned, a xles oiled, seats brushed,
mud rubbed OF and the paint work touched
up with varnish to keep it bright, for it
lacks the body OF carriage colors and
mere polishing with chamois cloth would
not suffice. Once week the crank box
is filed with cylinder oil to clean up the
dust, the mixture standing overnight and
being run OF in the morning.
The chauffeur mentioned who made the
1,40O mileage in one week has run this one
car for eight months without costing the
owner q dollar for repairs. He is paid
5000 a month, with a board allowance
extra.
AS to road speeding, or as they term 1t
making time" the jewels Of chauheurs
as we'll as the too tricky ones are at hopeless
variance with the laws. There seems to
be an idea among them, that to be arrested
and fined at certain intervals Is part of the
game, and makes them free Of the road
that is in the country. They all fear the
New York police. They regard the con-
stable who bags them too often as persecu-
tor-an unfair player Of the game.
Their gossip. their talk Is all of especially
fast runs, made conspicuous by weather
conditions, or something Of the sort. The
chauffeurs quote set OF records and the
record breakers from every nearby town
and village into town-a list that for obvious
reasons will never appear in type. Another
stock topic Is Of the first arrest or "hold up
for excessive speeding and whether the
charge was true or not This fact, accord
ing to the brethren Of the high gears, has
no effect whatever on the rigor Of the pun
ishment. The statements Of tho chauf-
feur, however true, never stand against
the stop watch and charge Of the country
sleuth.
1t is told OF one chauffeur, who had been
cautioned about getting receipts for all
expenditures by the owner. that on his
first sentence he told the Judge the man
was all right, but he wanted receipted
bill made out at once. And adds the
narrator. 'the burned Judge tackled on SO
more for contempt Of court