it is handled in all sorts of receptacles; the only safe way is to
ask for a bright and new dipper and let the store-keeper guess at
the measure.
At Westfield the spark began to give trouble; the machine was very
slow in starting, as if the batteries were weak; but that could
not be, for one set was fresh and the other by no means exhausted.
A careful examination of every connection failed to disclose any
breaks in the circuit, and yet the spark was of intermittent
strength,--now good, now weak.
When there is anything wrong with an automobile, there is but one
thing to do, and that is find the source of the trouble and remedy
it. The temptation is to go on if the machine starts up
unexpectedly. We yielded to the temptation, and went on as soon as
the motor started; the day was so fine and we were so anxious to
get to Worcester that we started with the motor,--knowing all the
time that whatever made the motor slow to start would, in all
likelihood, bring us to a stand-still before very long; the evil
moment, possibly the evil hour, may be postponed, but seldom the
evil day.
At two o'clock we passed through Springfield, stopping only a
moment at the hotel to inquire for mail. Leaving Springfield we
followed the main road towards Worcester, some fifty miles away.
The road is winding and over a rolling country, but for the most
part very good. The grades are not steep, there are some sandy
spots, but none so soft as to materially interfere with good
speed. There are many stretches of good gravel, and here and there
a piece--a sample--of State road, perfectly laid macadam, with
signs all along requesting persons not to drive in the centre of
the highway,--this is to save the road from the hollows and ruts
that horses and narrow-tired wagons invariably make, and in which
the water stands, ultimately wearing the macadam through. We could
not see that the slightest attention was paid to the notices.
Everybody kept the middle of the road, such is the improvidence of
men; the country people grumble at the great expense of good
roads, and then take the surest way to ruin them.
While it is true that the people in the first instance grumble at
the prospective cost of these well-made State roads, no sooner are
they laid than their very great value is appreciated, and good
roads sentiment becomes rampant. The farmer who has worn out
horses, harness, wagons, and temper in getting light loads to
Here's a piece of wisdom on driving or cute car quote to study:
I'm not sure... about automobiles.... With all their speed forward they may be a step backward in civilization - that is, in spiritual civilization. It may be that they will not add to the beauty of the world, nor to the life of men's souls. I am not sure. But automobiles have come, and they bring a greater change in our life than most of us suspect. They are here, and almost all outward things are going to be different because of what they bring. They are going to alter war, and they are going to alter peace. I think men's minds are going to be changed in subtle ways because of automobiles; just how, though, I could hardly guess. But you can't have the immense outward changes that they will cause without some inward ones, and it may be that... the spiritual alteration will be bad for us. Perhaps, ten or twenty years from now, if we can see the inward change in men by that time, I shouldn't be able to defend the gasoline engine, but would have to agree... that automobiles 'had no business to be invented.' ~Eugene, from Booth Tarkington's The Magnificent Ambersons, 1918
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