The Birmingham age-herald., 1908-06-26
NOTES OF THE WEEK IN THE SOCIAL WORLD Transforming Coachmen .Inte
 Expert Auto Drivers SCHOOL FOR CHAUFFEURS The Precarious Condition of the Fam fly coachman When His Master
 Exchanged His Horses For
 Motor Car-Gossip.
SCHOOL FOR CHAUFFEURS

drivers is now being achieved through regular course of instruction. While Bir- mingham so far has not any regularly organized "classes" for chauffeurs, the increasing number of auto owners will soon make such a school necessary in ] the proper training of auto drivers par ticularly if coachmen are retained for this position.
 The position of chauffeur as far as employment goes in the south, seems to have carried with 1t social distinction, noticeable in the number of white men who are employed auto drivers, while 1 white coachman is very unusual in any section of the south.
 The old ''colored' coachman has held undisputed sway for many years. and coachmen will do doubt be continued to i be selected from the negro race for many years to come.
 ! For white coachman to be seen seated on the box of private carriage would be construed into a, revolution in mat ters social. A good amount of technical training is necessary to become expert auto driver Chauffeurs for this reason de- mand better wages than ordinary coachmen. But while the profession of auto driving requires technical knowledge the negro has easily mastered some of the principles. Negro chauffeurs are plen- tiful in Birmingham. The owners of some of the handsomest~ employ col ored drivers. But they are not tech nically'' instructed, and would not meas ure up to the standards, although they seem to be as much at home as when on the box of fashionable carriages, or of an ordinary cab.
 In the east the chauffeur schools are industriously patronized. And it can readily be traced to the "precarious' condition of the family coachmen, as well as to the demand for expert chauf- feurs.
 The New York Herald in discussing the subject says:
 While the development of the automo- bile has brought prosperity to many branches of industry, a sufferer whose situation Is becoming more and more pre- carious is Patrick, the family coachman, for when the master exchanges his horses for an automobile Patrick's job goes from under him, and a. general thing the family's sense of security goes, too. In most of New York's carriage owning fam lilies Patrick is retainer of tried and faithful service, who can be trusted with : the baby or with the jewel box and whose steady hand is a guarantee against the i ruffling of madames nerves. The change from horses to motor cars is one thing, and the change from Pat rick to Pierre quite another Patrick knows the horses and has character but while there can be no question of Pierres knowledge of car his superiority, his scorchings, his runs to test the car Cat night with friends) make him impossible when the master is not there to control him.
 Pierres knowledge, as a generau thing, is not backed by care and obedience, but Patrick's character can be coupled with knowledge. MT Frank s. Jones of Brook lyn tried an experiment two years ago and sent his Patrick, one John St. Law l renee, to the New York School of Auto mobile Engineers, in West F'ifty-sixth street, to see if he could be broken in to automobile work. At the end of his course the man took charge of MT. Jones' Fiat car, and has been so successful as l chauffeur that five other men have i been sent to the school by the same fam i fly. Other owners of cars who have sent their coachmen or grooms through 1 the same course are Andrew Carnegie. II. l H. Rogers, Mrs. Russell Sage. Mrs. Stuy- vesant Fish, Judge Russell, w. S. Pyle, E. D. Morgan, Mrs. H. B. Duryea. H. B. ] Collne, the late Russell Harding, Dr. i A. M. Thomas and Richard Croker, Jr.
 These men spend six hours a day al ] the school for period of six weeks, and follow a schedule that takes in all of the things that chauffeur must know. The 1 course, which was originally laid out by : Dr. Luckie of Columbia, gives the stu dents firm grounding in the fundamen- tai principles, and advances them step by step until at the end of four weeks 1 they are able to time an engine, to set
 low and high tension magnetos, to adjust
 carburetors, to overhaul a car and to
 take entire charge of it. This seems
 great deal to expect, but is nevertheless | achieved because the work is graded and | because no advance is made until the
 previous work is understood. Patrick at
 tends lectures in the class room and
 learns principles and then he dons over
 alls, and with a kit of tools goes into the
 construction department to dismount and
 assemble engines and cars, to line up
 transmssions, to grind valves and scrape
 bearings, to make adjustments, and in
 general to learn the anatomy of his new
 horse
 i After four weeks of this he goes out on | the road and has his first trick at the
 wheel on the unfrequented roads in the l upper part of the city. As practice gives 1 him confidence he comes down town,
 until at the end of his sixth week he ! drives up Fifth avenue and Broadway as l easily as if he had reins in his hand in- 1 stead of levers and a wheel. 1 As a class coachmen take kindly to the 1 work and develop into excellent chauf- 1 feurs Their knowledge of the rules of | the road, their Judgment of distances and 1 speeds and. above all, their attitude to- ward their employers, are so generally. recognized and appreciated that for fam l fly service they rapidly displacing l the man whose only qualification is | knowledge of car.
 |
 1 Miss Fannie Louise Runyon will leave next week for Natchez. Miss. to be the