I 16 CH. VII 



CHAPTER VII 



AMERICAN COACH 



As has been said in a previous Chapter, the 

 American coach seems to be nearly the English 

 coach of the middle of the eighteenth century, 

 arrested in its development, because the conditions 

 under which, in this country, it has been, and is still, 

 used, are nearly similar to those of that period in 

 England. 



The lonyr distances in America, and the newness 

 and comparative poverty of the country, prevented 

 the construction, at an early period, of roads as 

 good as those of Europe, and later, the rapid de- 

 velopment of railroads checked the building of 

 main driving roads, so that coaches had to be 

 adapted to rough roads and bad usage. 



The typical American coach, usually called the 

 ' Concord coach,' from Concord, New Hampshire, 

 where the majority of them are built, is shown 

 in Plate XII., which is an accurate drawing to a 

 half-inch scale, kindly furnished by ' The Abbot- 

 Downing Company of Concord.' 



The photogravure, Plate XV., of a heavy coach 

 made for our Western States and Territories and 

 still sent to Africa ; and Plate XVI., of a light coach 

 such as is still used in some places in the White 



