Henderson gold leaf., 1911-08-31
AUTOMOBILES.

what am about to write, but I feel
that | have, and | believe a majority
"a very large majority OF those who
read this will agree with me. | am
thinking OF automobiles. | can
scarcely sit for ten minutes in my Of
fee or in my home without having
my attention attracted by one pass
ing. | wouldn't look up from my
work or reading to see it. Whether
it comes Or goes is matter of indif-
ference to me, ii | am not in it. But
when it passes along the street l''
my home my folks are electrified b.,
it's sound. Edison can tell whose it
is by its hum or by the click OF its
machinery without even waiting to
hear it's ''hOnk." Whatever discourse
of high philosophy may be deliver
ing, or persuasion to the higher life,
it has to be suspended for discourse
on autos and autoing, and the speed,
endurance, beauty, comfort, style,
hOnks, and annals of the different
makes. And "Papa, if you were going
ing to get one, which one would pre-
fer?" and if we had an auto we could
go to Grandma's or to Uncle Hewitt,s
or to Oxford in no time" and, Papa,
why don't you get one? Everybody
else has one" And this: 81 don't
care about being lawyer; there are
too many of them anyhow; I'm go
ing to win fame at the auto throttle. y
These and thousand more Of the
same tenor repeated day in, day out,
night in, night out, ad infinitum, ad
nauseum, ad mihi.
My wife does not say much, but
she looks and feels all the more, and |
can see her longings in every Inca
ment OF her cOuntenance. I've lived
with her so long that can hear and
understand her thinking to herself
about as follows: st does look like
We can afford to have one as we'll as
this one or that one, or tWO-thirds OF
the fifty or sixty happy citizens OF
this neighborhood who daily fit by
us in Il fiutter of delight, leaving
their dust aud gasoline Odors to
plague Us when we go to ride with
old Dan" suppose | could buy as
fine II Gear" or machine" as any OF
them and gasoline enough to propel
it and hire "schaueffeur" to run it
till it would wear out, without mort
gaging my home. But to save my
life | can not reconcile myself to pay
ing $1,000 and losing $4,000 per
year of interest on it for the balance
of time just for the fun an auto
might, could or would furnish me for
the two or three years that it would
last.
Then, too, in addition to that cost
and the ever increasing interest on
the debit side, there is the danger OF
instant death that goes with every
trip that is made There's pune
lures, break downs, loss of ones
health pumping and cranking.
There's corns on ones back as he
lies underneath looking for the trou-
BILE and finding it not. There's that
debt of dollars and cents, and graft
tude to the old oxen and mules that
pull US in stately. | went with
"Chick" and Jim Young and DR..
Gill to Roxboro one bright autumn
day. Every rod of that 40 miles
but six was a Joy ride. To get over
those six rods or one hundred feet OF
mud in ''Shake Rag" | lifted the
weight of that two-ton auto twenty
times; and did more physical labor
. in those four hours than I've done
, in twenty years. And every minute
OF it was agony, gall and wormwood,
for We were not sure that we ever
would get away from there. I've
heard other autOists relate expert
ences OF Sweating drops of blood
and suffering enough in one after
noon to atone for the sins of life
time, and overbalance all the pleas
ure that every auto caused since the
first one was made.
When | was boy | went to Ok,
ford on the 9th of June and squeez-
ed ten cent piece all day while |
tried to decide whether to spend it
for red lemonade or "a pillow point,
and | finally carried the dime back
home. | borrowed fifty cents with
which to pay express charges to
Capt. RObards on my first law book
sold to me by q school mate on
credit. Those are precious memories
to me. They are burned on the
label OF my pocket book and bank
account. | will not despise the day
of small things. | cannot tell how
long Ii shall be we'll and able to make
, money. The tax collector and gro.
Ger are ever before me, and willingly or
: unwillingly, have the first claims on
my exchecquer.
can't help but think how | would
''cuss" and fret myself into ''the bad
place in my old age at seeing au-
tos fly by if / should then remember
having spent three or four thousand
dollars on a Cadillac or Maxwell,
which said $4,000 | would then need
to buy fuel and fiannels and rheu-
matte liniment, or to give my chill,
. dren n real start in life. When |
think of spending a whole morning
wrangling with Pittman or Andrew
r Harris or McCoin before Recorder
t Powell to get five dollars, and then
, think OF buying an auto for ) 500
and spending 81 500 more to keep it
going three years, and wearing out
, my soul and body in ''Shake Rag" or
"Pungo" trying to get it to go, and
| finally having to decide whether to
+ buy a gully to throw it in or to keep
! it in my back shed till my sale or
take $50 for it in exchange for Il new
one, all the sense, arithmetic and
; philosophy that | know tell me in
thunder tones to let autos alone
"Oh, it's fun to ride in EN-" When
q friend asks me to ride with him
and puts me down again at home
from that moment I'm his for life
! doubly so. First for the ecstacy o.
the ride, and secondly that he deliv-
cred me back at home alive It's the
D finest fun that ever was But it's
too high priced for a poor man or q
working man. Automobiles are