CH. XX AMERICAN COACHING 477 



horses are poled up tightly, with their traces always 

 stretched ; the lead-bars are attached rigidly to the 

 pole-head, although the draught is by a rope passing 

 under the pole ; and, in Continental fashion, when 

 going down-hill the brake is always on and all the 

 horses have their traces tight. The length of the 

 team is, therefore, invariable, whether going up-hill 

 or down-hill, and the reins, when once buckled to- 

 gether at the proper place, do not require to be 

 changed, consequently the want of flexibility, above 

 referred to, is not so objectionable as it would be 

 for a team harnessed and driven in the English 

 fashion. In English, and especially in American, 

 driving, the horses are much more loosely har- 

 nessed, and the leaders are held back on a descent 

 and usually on a turn, so that an invariable relative 

 length of the wheel-reins and lead-reins would not 

 work satisfactorily. 



Coaching in America in the past is not sur- 

 rounded by that halo of romance which attaches 

 to English coaching. It was always too severely 

 business-like and too roughly done. The ' stage- 

 waggon' (shown in Fig. 172, which is a photographic 

 reproduction of an advertisement in The Pennsyl- 

 vania Gazette of April 19, 1764), and the stage-coach 

 (Fig. 173, from Ponlson 's American Daily Advertiser 

 of July 11, 1 8 1 2 ), were gradually superseded by 

 coaches of more modern fashion. These old coaches 

 seem to have been described much in the same way 



