CHAPTER IX 



DRIVING 



DRIVING is a useful but a much neglected 

 art. Good drivers are much scarcer now 

 than in former days when they had the high 

 standard of the stage coachmen before their 

 eyes, and if any one will take the trouble to look 

 at the drivers' hands during a walk down 

 Piccadilly, he will see very few real coach- 

 men, except, perhaps, some of the omnibus 

 drivers. The very congestion of the traffic 

 makes driving in London comparatively easy. 

 We eet into the stream and are carried 

 along by it until we reach our destination, 

 or turn off into some quieter side street. The 

 real perils of driving are to be found in the 

 country, where the roads are dangerous by 

 reason of the hideous presence of the traction 

 enoine, and its tail of rumblinor, rattlino- cars. 

 Yet a great many people drive in the country, 



