CARRIAGES. 479 



The primary requisite for such a profession is firmness, combined with 

 extreme delicacy of touch ; an eye capable of appreciating the nicer rules 

 of art, united to a mind fully endued with the elements of grace, or with 

 that flow of line wliich is inseparable from all elegance of design. None 

 of these qualities can be dispensed with in the person who embraces the 

 pursuit. Much of the drawing is, no doubt, executed according to 

 measure and to rule, or is purely mechanical; but the qualities which 

 alone can fit an artist for eminence in his peculiar calling are assuredly 

 governed by something very different from and far higher than the 

 patient employment of the compass. 



Prior to considering the cost attending the manufacture of various 

 vehicles, it may be proper to state some of the reasons that render an 

 admirably built carriage apparently so expensive. While this is being 

 done, the reader is requested to remember that the present time has 

 frequently been designated as that of competition. Artificers are said 

 to have become too numerous for all the members of any trade to live 

 by the practices of honesty. The people following a particular business 

 are reported to be more than half employed in cutting one another's 

 throats. We are told that no sooner does the tradesman establish a 

 thriving traffic, than another starts an opposition, and under-sells him. 



Certainly there is no realizing those snug profits which our fathers 

 talked about having secured, during the termination of the last and the 

 beginning of the present century. Carriage builders are not few in 

 number, neither do they constitute a close society. They are numerous 

 as a trade, and each member of the calling is eager to transact business. 

 Still, the prices are not lowered by the spirit of competition. A good, 

 article is yet worth nearly the same money which it has always cost; 

 and the patience of the reader is earnestly requested while an attempt 

 is being hazarded to explain the cause of so prominent a peculiarity. 



Before a carriage can be properly built, the conjunction of many dis- 

 tinct callings is imperative. They must all work together, and should 

 all be actuated by harmony of spirit. The various parts are almost in- 

 numerable ; but each must be adjusted with the minutest nicety. To 

 collect, to retain, and to practice a body of men in such united labor to a 

 common end ; to entice artisans, who can exhibit the perfection of their 

 crafts, to relinquish all idea of individuality or of independence ; and to 

 induce such people to blend their efforts or to allow only one spirit to 

 actuate a large society, — is no mean undertaking. Yet this must be 

 accomplished ; nor is that all, for such contrary elements must be re- 

 tained, each mutually assisting the other. 



As the proprietor succeeds in accomplishing this object, so will be his 

 success in the coach building business. Let the reader, however, under- 



