480 CARRIAGES. 



stand that a good set of workmen is not the only necessity required for 

 this business. The tradesman must be himself distinguished by the 

 loftiest of human attributes. He must be also willing to sink his indi- 

 viduality in his pursuit, and must be ambitious only for a general result. 

 The coach builder works with very expensive woods, the original cost 

 of which is materially increased by the lengthened periods that these 

 articles have to be kept before being used. The time required to season 

 thoroughly a piece of timber, for the choicest of ordinary trades, would 

 be altogether insufficient for the coach builder's purposes. Wood must 

 not only be seasoned, but it must be rendered so perfectly hard or dry 

 as shall make shrinking or warping, even in the slightest degree, totally 

 impossible. 



Such a necessity compels the coach builder to keep a large stock of 

 the timber which he employs. This wood, when introduced to the work- 

 shop, must be in a state of the utmost perfection. It must be possessed 

 of' the greatest strength and the most approved hardness which its fiber 

 is capable of exhibiting. Those characteristics can only be attained 

 where the material is particularly fine in grain. Of course, such a 

 quality makes the substance specially retentive of that moisture which 

 circulated throughout every product of the vegetable world. This last 

 property gives rise to the necessity which obliges every log to be so long 

 kept before the tradesman dare have the wood admitted within the pre- 

 cincts of his established manufactory. 



The tools employed to cut such timber must needs be of exquisite 

 temper, and of course are equally costly to purchase. Moreover, the 

 simple cutting of wood almost as hard as metal is not sufficient. The 

 workmen must be capable of adapting the various parts so closely that 

 these shall, when put together, possess the strength of one entire piece. 

 The several junctures must be imperceptible either to sight or to touch; 

 the different portions must fit as though they grew together. No 

 amount of jolting, no possible shaking should cause the work to yield 

 even a hair's breadth. Should the carrfage be injured, though of course 

 the paint must be damaged, nevertheless the frame should remain firm. 

 Every part of the vehicle should be formed to endure the rudest treat- 

 ment; should be able to sustain, uninjured, the long rattling over the 

 roughest of country roads. Unless his products can bear such usage, 

 no tradesman need write "Coach Builder" subsequent to his name. 



The tools sold to carriage builders are quite distinct from those manu- 

 factured for the cabinet-maker or the joiner. The first articles are known 

 by different names, and are kept as a distinct class of superior goods. 

 An ordinary chest of such tools, possessed by every average journey- 

 man, could not be purchased under thirty, or probably forty pounds. 



