The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-11
o W'HlMS
II AND AUTO .WHIMS.
A Man With the Motor Car Bog
Tells Why He Prefers
the Machine.

-You'd think from what you read In the
papers, said. a man. with the motor bug.
that the only inen having trouble on the
road we're the men driving automobiles,
but really I'd rather take my chances OF
getting somewhere with my nifty Little
thoroughly overhauled second hand motor
car. than I would with many a horse I've
driven.
-why il makes me shudder, even now, 70
think Of the times we used to have with some
of the horses we used to drive when we lived
in the suburbs. It was the fashion where
we lived for people to 60 driving on fair
Sunday afternoons, and people that didn't
own their turnouts used to hire one from thu
livery stable. commonly a surrey with one
horse, and take out tho whole family.
the horses we got were horses all right;
thew ad four legs and a head and frequently
more or less Of q tail, but they were rarely
beautiful and often moroee, and when ]
saw one Of those creatures, n out ir
front waiting for us, throw its ears forward
and twist it's neck and turn it's long head
toward us and survey US sourly as we cams
down the walk to get into the surrey, why
1 never knew what the beast would do before
we got back, and l always felt easier whSn
we had followed the fashion and been Ia
ride and got back safely home
Talk about bending your carbureter
and stripping your steering gear and blow
ing out your spark plug! Why those ars
things you know something about; but you
never can tell what a horse is going to do,
He may balk, or back, or sheer on, or La
down, or do all sorts of things. When an
auto gets to doing things like that you
may be able to do something to 1t, but you
can't do anything to such a horse at all.
If you puncture a tire on the auto.
can't the horse cast a shoe or pick up a
nail or, get blind staggersT And that beats
a busted ~carbureter out OF sight. No more
horse for me. 90.
Il remember once when We were driving
along a three mile straight stretch Of road
we couldn't keep she horse in the road at all.
II was a heap easier going there, but he
would persist in steering on, always to the
right. into the gutter and seeming always
to want to climb the fences on that side; so
that l had. so to speak, to'carry a weather
wheel on him all the time; keep the port rein
pulled hard and tau to keep him up to the
wind-I mean in the road-at all; and It was
positively irksome to ave to drive like
that, with the horse all the time wandering
of toward the fences the minute we let up
on him and we wondering all the time h
could be the matter with him and whether
he would ever go straight again.
we vent two miles in that uncoms
Portable fashion, till We met a mar walking
along the road, who sang out to US as We
pass:
around the end of thes shaft
And 20 we had. When the horse a
couple Of miles back had swung his bead
around to bite a fly he had caught the rein
- 49, - ~. -s-Ak @ARan khA and ~
the shaft, and I'd been driving him with
the reins like that, with that twisted line
pulling him on to the right all the time. But
no automobile would have sheered OF for
any sic reason as that.
about three-quarters OF the way up q long
hill the horse stopped, and / couldn't get
him 70 bulge. He wouldn't 60 a step.
Worse than that, pretty soon be began
to back.
There was a deep gutter on each side
of the road at this point. a regular gully
Of a gutter, about o feet deep; and when
the noble beast began to back he slowed
around so as to back US down angling from
the crown Of the road toward one OF the
cutters, till one OF the hind wheels OF the
surrey was just over the edge OF 1t, when,
mercifully, the beast stopped. IL might
not have killed US all il the horse had backed
us into this ravine, but it would hay e smashed
the carriage; and when the surrey stopped
there on the brink the folks got scared and
all jumped out and stood around-a nice
way Of taking a ride. this, h~ey?--while !
led the horse away from the gutter up
into the middle Of the road again. He
wouldn't let me drive him, but he would
let me lead him-that much.
But when we all got in again and tried
to start the horse up he just began backing
again; he simply wouldn't go ahead; and
we had to turn him around and start for
home. He was willing to 60 down the hill
but he wouldnt go up, and Ill bet he knew
about those gullies at the. sides OF the road
where he stopped. Could any automobile
do worse than that2
mo, sir. / tell you all these stories We
hear about men s troubles with autos VIZ
hear because the auto is something new
and the troubles are novel; but you ask
any amateur to tell you his experience
with horses. For my part I new er could
learn anything about horses, u / can
learn something about motor cars; and,
anyhow, I'd rather take my chances OF
getting somewhere with a crotchety auto
mobile than with a crotchety horse
GEESE WITH BRAINS.