The Elk Mountain pilot., 1921-10-13
ANToINErrE, THE ANcEsTREss.

Best Beloved of Automobiles, Pride
OF Raineyille, Wonder Of Paris,
Marvel of Mechanics, Gift Of St.
Anthony Of Padua, Companion of
Good Able GavOis
A bit dowdy and noisy perhaps, but
still sound, solid, and true is Antoi-
nette, said to be the Oldest automo-
bile in service in the world; and to
prove her title, she recently complet-
ed journey. of 200 miles to Paris.
For thirty years Antoinette has been
in the service of the Able Gavois,
who ministers to flock of little viii
lagos near the edge of the Somme,
where the Germans left off when they
decided to quit; and in all that time
she has really failed him only once,
and that was when mud holes proved
too much for her years and strength.
A familiar figure on maay roads,
she became known as "The ANCESTOR"
but the appellation didn't seem to
affect her dignity, and she was almost
as we'll beloved as her venerable own
er. Because of that familiar bug
bear, the high cost of living, and nu-
merous calls on his purse from the
members of his flock ruined by the
Germans, writes Zoe Beckley in Mo-
tor Life (New York;, it has become
necessary for the Able to dispose of
Antoinette, and she was driven to the
block in Paris.
AS she clattered along the road,
with her big iron-rimmed wheels, her
two cylinders painting bravely, her
minute horsepower doing it's utmost,
and her candles juggling in their
lamp-sockets, says the writer, farmers
looked up from their plowed fields
and called ''Bonjour, rAncetre!" They
knew her we'll and loved her. But
when she ratified into Paris( and
passed under the, Arc de Triomphe to
the Avenue des Champs-Elysees and
took her place among the sleek-look-
ing limousines and superb "torpe-
does" which seemed so we'll to fit
into the landscape, people turned
wonderingly to look at the strangely
appearing vehicle which could run
so we'll Her driver was hardly less
conspicuous in the motley throng of
fashion, in his mohair robe, his faded
great coat, and squat silk hat, it's
brim supported by little cords-his
left hand grasping the steering lever,
his right ready at the brake. The
brake, of course, is more of habit
than a necessity, since Antoinette
keeps sedately to. twelve miles an
hour and never attemps any tricks.
The writer thought it was strange
that an able living in tiny French
village should have come into possess
sion of an automobile thirty years
ago, and sought the story The priest
chuckled, held out both his hands,
and told his interviewer:
"They are the hands of a mecha'
nicien, heinz" he laughed. "All my
family were mechanics. AS boy 1
loved the work. After l went into
the church l copied my grandfather
and built an organ for my chapel.
GAS a young man, was ill--bad
lungs. 1t was hard for me to make
my calls in distant villages at all
hours of day and night on foot. I
tried to build little cart, but there
was no horse. A horse costs much;
its food still more. Besides, suppose
your horse gets sick-or dies?"
The abbe dramatizes every SEN
tence, using his hands, his feet, his
keen blue eyes, his jolly smile, as
punctuation marks He even used
few English words now and then, for
fear my limited French would fail me
in getting the complete and authen-
tic history of Antoinette.
"Then-" he went on, animatedly,
zone day I read about the great in
vention-the gasoline motor!. / knew
it would be successful. I always had
longed to invent one myself. sensed
its possibilities. This was about 1890.
In 1893 there was an exhibition at
Neuilly, and l came to see it. There
I beheld an actual motor vehicle, and
I longed for it with all my heart and
soul But the cost-4,000 francs! l
was appalled,.
81 went home. And always I
thought about that motor carriage,
and how l could get one like it to
make my parish journeys in >. II
read everything l could find about
the great invention. / even wrote to
some journals, asking information,
hoping there might be vehicle sold
somewhere at lower price. But
nothing happened.
81 knew there was but one way I