158 DRIVING. 



assistance from what he has read to enable him to make safe 

 and easy progress along a straight road. But there is an old 

 saying, * It is a long road that has no turning,' and this may be 

 taken figuratively and literally. In the former case the difficulties 

 in his hitherto unchecked success will come and must be met 

 with quickness and skill, and in the latter case we may be 

 quite certain there will be many turns in the road, sharp corners 

 and hills, not to mention the chance of perhaps taking the 

 wrong road, and our driver may then have to turn, possibly in 

 a narrow, awkward place, and retrace his course. We will 

 suppose that he first comes to a sharp curve in the road ; horses 

 w r ill always try to cling to the inside of the curve, and, therefore, 

 he must be careful to keep them to the outside this applies 

 indeed to every form of driving, only that if the curve is 

 miscalculated in a tandem it is more serious. Owing to the 

 leader being farther from his w r ork, it is less easy to correct the 

 error and pull the team off before it is too late ; therefore always 

 keep well on the outside of a curve. Now a sharp corner leading 

 into another road along w r hich we have to go comes in view. 

 The first thing to be done is to materially shorten the leader's 

 reins. This is a principle of the greatest importance, and must 

 never be omitted. I may say that it is one of the first rules to 

 be learnt. The reason is that the wheeler cannot turn the cart 

 if the leader is drawing it ; again, owing to his distance from 

 the vehicle, the leader will drag wheeler and cart on to the 

 corner, and there is no knowing what obstacle may not be there ; 

 or else he will turn the cart so much too quick for the wheeler 

 that there is every probability of the latter crossing his legs and 

 falling. Therefore, to sum it up shortly, I would say this that 

 no driver can guide his team and cart round a corner in safety 

 with the leader going into his collar. Having drawn the leader 

 back and, I need hardly say, slackened speed, as soon as the 

 driver sees his wheels are in line with the corner, he should 

 point the leader ; that is to say, supposing the corner is to 

 right, the driver should catch up with the right hand on to the 

 first finger of the left hand about four inches of the leading 



