352 GENERAL OBSERVATIONS ON DRIVING CH. XV 



teachers usually have an absolutely fixed way of 

 doing each thing, and are intolerant of any deviation 

 from it, which is only natural, since they cannot 

 teach with authority anything in which they have 

 not an implicit belief. 



One often hears coachmen, those especially who 

 are devoted to public-coach work, speak sneeringly of 

 what they consider ' fancy' four-in-hand driving, such 

 as backing round in narrow places and turning 

 difficult corners, and insist that to go ahead on a 

 reasonably plain road is the only duty of a coach ; 

 and when asked what they would do in a difficult 

 situation they will answer that a coach has no 

 business to be in that kind of a place. The accom- 

 plished coachman, however, will hardly be willing 

 thus to restrict himself, and will prefer to be able 

 to execute all movements which are mechanically 

 possible. 



As the temperaments of men differ, so will their 

 methods of driving : one man, with great skill and 

 a somewhat rash disposition, will not hesitate to 

 take great chances, confident that he can get out 

 of a 'scrape,' which he will probably do in a bril- 

 liant manner ; another, with good judgement and 

 foresight, will attain his end without o-ettincr into the 

 difficulty at all. In the long run, the latter method 

 is preferable, as it is usually better to keep out of a 

 ' fix' than to get out. 



The coachman should train himself to be a good 

 judge of pace : some men never know how fast 



