148 DRIVING AS I FOCTND U*. 



easily acquired by driving out with friends wlio own 

 coaches, and if practicable take every convenient op- 

 portunity to sit on the box seat of a road coach driven 

 by a professional. You will learn more in one journey 

 than a park coacliinan could learn you in twenty lessons. 

 It is much to be regretted that there are so few oppor- 

 tunities in New York to take the foregoing advice. 

 The. is ccvt'iinly one j^reat drawbrick — bad raa<l-: — es- 

 pecially in this State. There are no people in the world 

 so fond of driving as the Americans, and I must con- 

 fess there are no people so heavily handicapped in this 

 most favorite and liealthy amusement. Excepting 

 Central Park and a few avenues, the roads are abomin- 

 able, I shall never forget (nor forgive the street commis- 

 sioners) for the torture I and party suffered through 

 being so reckless as to attempt to reach the race- 

 course iat Sheepshead Bay with a four-in-hand drag, 

 going by way of Broadway and South Ferry. Having 

 to make a stop at Delmonico's in Broad street neces- 

 sitated our taking that road. The slow progress and 

 frequent stoppages of the vehicular traffic in New York 

 is certainly occasioned by the uneven paving of the 

 roads, and conduce more than any other thing to make 

 slovenly drivers. Broadway i^s certainly improved 

 since the stages were taken off, and unless they make 

 some rules to govern the city traffic the sooner the 



