xii PREFACE. 



winnowed the grain from the chaff and rejected all that was 

 useless^ goes without saying ; at the same time they were in 

 no way offended. Such men must have had marvellously 

 receptive minds. Minds possessed of this quality are always 

 gathering, always receiving impressions from the day of 

 their birth to that of their death ; but some minds are not 

 receptive. To the owners of such, much that takes place 

 in the world is no more than a dumb show. Only such 

 things as awaken their interest have any appreciable effect, 

 and even then the interest they manifest does not appear 

 strong enough to make them study to any advantage. 



Riders and drivers who do both things indifferently are 

 frequently unapproachable in the matter of advice. Provided 

 that they start on a ride or drive, and return without having 

 met with a serious accident, they appear perfectly satisfied 

 with themselves. As for advice, and the minds that receive 

 and reject it, in thinking of such things I am reminded of 

 the Scripture parable, " A sower went out to sow his seed, 

 and some fell upon good ground.'^ The good and bad 

 ground spoken of in this parable may be compared to the 

 receptive condition of the human brain, which qualifies it for 

 receiving or rejecting impressions, whilst the seeds of the 

 sower may be compared to the advice or teaching which it is 

 hoped will take root therein. 



Most people are aware that to drive with comfort and 

 safety, one must conform to the rules of the road, and 

 this is more especially the case in crowded thoroughfares. 

 It is merely owing to the fact that persons are willing to 

 conform to these rules and abide by them, that the enormous 

 traffic in the streets of London and other large towns is 

 conducted with comfort and safety; the slightest attempt 

 to set them at defiance would, I feel certain, result in an 

 accident. 



In France the rules of the road are exactly the reverse to 

 ours, and to any one who drives in Paris for the first time, this 

 becomes evident ; as to an Englishman who has been all his 

 life accustomed to what we consider the right and wrong side 



