2 THE COACHING ERA 



eighteenth of mail-coaches, the nineteenth of railways, 

 and the twentieth of flying machines. Doubtless, next 

 century will evolve an even more progressive mode of 

 transport, causing our descendants to smile tolerantly 

 when they speak of the days when people were content 

 to travel at the leisurely rate of a mile a minute. 



We can, however, console ourselves with the com- 

 forting refledlion that, if posterity will look down on us, 

 our present means of locomotion would command the 

 awe and respeft of our ancestors of a few generations 

 back. If they could be persuaded that we had not 

 sold ourselves to the devil, and were in consequence 

 profiting by his satanic majesty's own patent inventions, 

 they would certainly account us heroes, and marvel at 

 our temerity. In their days carriages with horses were 

 looked upon as novelties, and the back of the horse con- 

 sidered the orthodox means of transport; while those 

 who could only afford the humble conveyance of 

 Shank's mare had perforce to confine their peregrina- 

 tions within narrow limits. 



If some one with a gift of prophecy, and a desire for 

 notoriety, had ventured to foretell the advent of motor- 

 cars, the good folk of the time would have remarked 

 plainly that he lied, for such things could not be. If 

 pressed to give a solid reason for this statement, they 

 would have pointed to the nearest high road, and asked, 

 if six, eight, and sometimes as many as fifteen horses 

 were requisite to pull coaches out of the mud in which 

 they so persistently stuck, how then would coaches with- 

 out horses at all fare? 



