The Republican. [volume] (Mountain Home, Idaho) 1903-1909, 1906-05-29
RED DEVIL INVADES.
VIRGINIA TOWN THROWN INTO
A TUMULT BY AUTO.
People Of Leisurely Region Do Not
Take the Least Bit to the
New Tangled Whiz
Wagon.

The automobile has appeared in this
sensation throughout Accomac county
as the railroad did years ago when II
came and drove out of business the big
fleet of sweet potatoe schooners which
took Onancock's chief product up the
Chesapeake to Baltimore for transpor-
tation to nearly every corner OF the land.
The auto is owned by the paying teller
Of the Onancock bank, says late Oman
cock (Va.) report.
Occasionally machine has been seen
rolling serenely over the sandy roads,
stretching almost in an unbroken level
clear down to Cape Charles, but never
before had a resident of this place in
1ulged in the luxury OF owning an auto.
1t was thought that nobody would have
the audacity to thrust aside time-hon-
ored presidents and give up the little
Accomac horse for an invention of the
old boy
The Accomac fancy once painted this
creature black, but since the red auto
came they have changed his color. The
pace of the auto is most disconcertlng
to the natives, who are accustomed to
drive leisurely in their buggies, phae-
tons and sweet potato carts through the
streets of the village, giving bow, after
the mmemorial habit of Accomac folk
to all white people they meet
The horses of Accomac wear no
breeching, as they have no hills to de-
scend. They are strong, but they are
not swift, and in these respects they
may be likened to their masters.
The auto frightens the horses and
gives them a tendency to run. A run
ming horse would be an innovation in
Accomac. The country is SO level that
even the brooks refuse to run; they sim
ply lounge and ripple.
The oldest residents are particularly
shocked by the auto Their conserva-
tism is equaled only by their hospitality,
which is the greatest institution in Vir-
ginia
When the auto was first observed on
TIC llldil OIL CCU vi tuC FllIuSC tiiSi Z 6CiS
several carriages before the biggest
store. The ehug- chug of the auto and its
strangeness set the horses prancing,
and men and women who owned them
rushed out grabbed the brides and
looked with disapproyal at the vanish
ing vehicle.
The news spread fast over the county,
and within a week the Accomac imagin-
ltion in the isolated districts pictured
the red auto as a thing somewhat like
a trust monster in comic supplement,
and the trade of the village merchants
fell off, because the country people were
afraid to venture into town.
The horses are getting somewhat ac-
customed to the auto now, but the ma
lives are still timid. If they are out
1riving-and nearly everybody in Ac-
comac drives-they turn their horses in
ON the side of the road and wait until
the red devil passes Women afoot lift
their skirts as if somebody had shout
ed "Mice" and get close to the building
line.
The driver of the auto is not greeted
with the usual cordiality. Grandpa
Parks, the oldest man in the county, al
ways alights when he sees the machine
coming, and, firmly holding his horses
bride, he bows low, not to the owner of
the auto, but the auto itself The bow
is one of the most elaborate and ironical
ever seen in Accomac which is famous
for its fine old colonial brand of courte-
sizes
The paying teller has hopes that the
people finally will get accustomed to the
auto and buy few themselves, as many
of them are quite able to do.