Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1906-01-28

of their wheels, take revenge on pedes-
trians and fill their cup Of peril.
Look up the splendid avenue. 1t reeks
with exploded automobile gases and the
smoke OF gas and cooked oil from over
oiled machines 1t is filled with noise and
rattle UP and down there dash 1000 autos.
from Santos umont in his 12O-horse power
racing rig that no other city would permit
to snort through its streets, to the little
"tacot" Of the year 1899 whose every part
is loose aud rafting. and from the 60-horse
power touring car of a whole family to
the electric juggernauts of the timid society
ladies, who want to be protected by weight
in time of collision.
No other city of the world permits such
speed irresponsible hired "chauffeurs'
scorch by recklessly in empty vehicles
their master pays the damage. The word
has come to have a bad meaning; no gem
tleman running his own auto calls himself
a chauffeur nowadays; it has become the
property of those moustached domestics,
those valet-mechanicans who terrorize the
capital The police can't stop them when
they go fast.
Adieu. Chauffeur!
Mark Twain writes to Harpers Weekly
Scarcely had Waterman Fowler taken
his post at the gate when procession of
strange creatures appeared.
Halt! Who goes there? calculated the
Waterman, when a fat negro approached,
laboriously leading thin, bow-legged goat;
Dis heah beast is Ole Ironsides sub,
explained the goats mahout.-From Danl
the Bulldog I'm the Times.
When 1 read it l recognized with a
thrill that the right word had been found
at last-mahout. The mobile, that ma
jestic devil, that impressive devil, is our
elephant, he is in a class by himself. like
the jungle monarch; to be his master,
pilot, and compeller is post of solemn
and awful dignity and danger. and it
does seem to me that that measy word
chauffeur does not properly fit the &C.
cupant of it. Chauffeur is a good enough
word when strictly confined to its modest
and rightful place-as you will see by
what Littre says about it, 1 translate:
"A chauffeur is the firer-up on the street
corner peanut rooster; in English, stoker. :
good enough word you seeNin its own
place; but when we come to apply it to
the admiral of the thunderous mobile or
of the mighty elephant, we realize that it
is inadequate. No. stoker is not the thing,
chauffeur is not the thing mahout is the
thing-mahout is the word we need. Be-
sides, there is only one way of saying
saying chauffeur. and none of them right"
More TranscontinentsI Tours.
The awakening of the country to the
need of good roads has just begun, almost
the best we hope for is that it has
begun. and that the next few years will
see some rapid strides in advance. Two of
the most potent factors In the present
awakening are the automobile and rural
free delivery. The transcontinental auto
mobile race which was pulled off last sum-
mer resulted in the accumulation of much
valuable information as to the road con-
ditions between New York and Portland,
Ore. The two seven-horse power run
abouts which contested made the distance
of 1000 miles in forty-four days demon
strating the feasibility of the automobile
as a means of long distance transporta-
ton. The finish of the race was made in
Portland in time for the National Good
Roads convention.