The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1906-12-15


A turn Of the wheel this way-that
way-more speed - less speed = go
ahead-stop. Why the most docile
morse ne ever owned was not so Servi1e
ana obedient His bicycle had never
been under such command. Ten miles
an hour had satisfied him. but one day,
| When the warnings required to him he
became indignant and put the speed
up 10 twenty. No calamity followed.
he was as safe as he had been at half
the speed He returned home feeling
that he was master, but in the garage
the auto said to him:
our hand and spirit were too
strong for me today, but beware of
me. You have only to keep on and I
shall be the cause of your DEATH
The autoist who confines his pace TO
hfteen miles an hour this week will be
making twenty next week. He must
do it, He is driven to do it. His fell
1oW-coWards Will laugh and grin if he
does not do it, and he can't stand that.
When Colonel Whiteside knew that he
mad made twenty miles an hour he was
pleased and proud. Every minute of
that hour he had expected accident.
After that he got a chauffeur. That's
the usual course of the ninety-eight-
Ihey leave the driving to somebody
else and lean back and try to look
placid and ponchalant. Now came
enty-f1ve-thirty-f miles an
hour. The colonel gasped and felt a
pain in his heart He did not speak to
Lie because he was AFRAID
his voice would betray him. He had a
weakness of the knees and things
blurred to his vision. But for pride
and fear of ridicule he would have said
that never again would he ride a t such
a pace. Let him show the white feath-
er and the man beside him would grin
In his face and then tell the news to
hundred others. Let it be whisper
ed that man is afraid of his auto and
he is done for. The other ninety-seven
h1It viii Ike
common cause against the ninety
eighth to conceal their own true feel
ms.
This machine can make mile a
minute" said the chauffeur in the
garage one day as the colonel was
ready for his spin.
"Yes?"
and Wen let her out today"
There We're a dozen men about. but
had there been only the chauffeur to
listen the colonel would not have dared /
to protest. He must acauiesce or be
thought timid. He nodded his head |
and smiled. but at that moment the
auto said:
Yes. 7 will make mile a minute. |
but look out for me- I have given (
you several warnings. but you have not
needed them. Today you shall feel the |
sensation of flying. but will you sleep
in your bed tCnight?"
The start was made More obedient |
than any horse that ever wore harness, |
the machine rolled over the asphalt |
streets, guided by the slightest touch I
There was time for the colonel to sug-
gest that the pace be limited to So or |
40 miles an hour when the long. straight |
stretch Of country road should be
reached, but he feared to do so. The t
chauffeur is the real boss of the auto.
He makes or unmakes the reputation I
Of the owner for nerve"
The colonel turned his face away and /
closed his eyes. The pace grew faster I
and faster. went from TO from
40 to 50-from so to so miles an hour.
The machine had the road to itself It I
chuged-it gasped--it few. It was like /
a man being shot from a cannon. It
was fearful speed, but it was as safe
as
OF sudden the wheels skidded, the
turned-and the farmer who
came driving along found a broken tel /
egraph pole. an upset and battered |
auto gasping out its life and two dead
men in the highway. ditch. The terror
had said ftf.w >uld be $50 and it was
Copyright s.. 1876. by Homer
Sprague.) $1,000