Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 289, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 7 December 1915 — DRIVE AN AUTO? SURELY YOU DO! [ARTICLE]

DRIVE AN AUTO? SURELY YOU DO!

Typical Twentieth-Century Accomplishment Every Man and Woman Should Know. ITS PRACTICAL, TOO Ability So General That Those Who Don't Have It Find Themselves Embarrassed. “PAY AS YOU RIDE” (By Shafer, Manager Main Garage.) “Of course, you drive a car?” How often one hear* this accomplishment taken for granted! And it is indeed the exception when the reply is in the negative. Even people who do not own their own cars and are merely looking forward to the time when they <*n become motorists in their own right, drive and drive well. Nor is this general driving abijrty one of solely masculine achievement; proportionately, the number of women drivers is increasing faster than men. There was a time in motoring history when the ability to drive was esteemed an intricate‘thing—an accomplishment attainable only after long practice and requiring almost the mechanical knoweldge of an engineer. In those days the chauffeurdriven car Was the standard and owners who did their own piloting were admired as marvels of daring. This era has long since passed. It passed with th# advent of the light car, popu-larly-priced and pdapted 'to the income of any family of average means. Buyers of this type could not afford a chauffeur. They started to do their own driving. They found the task a simple one. „ We have sold scores of Maxwell cars, during the past two seasons, to experienced motorists, but a bigger proportion went to people who had never sat at the wheel off a motor car. Of course, we always see to it that a buyer is given a course of driving lessons ample to equip him to go anywhere in his car. The first lesson is usually approached by the buyer with a good deal of trepidation. He gains confidence in the first fifteen minutes and before the first lesson is over, he usually develops into a Speed bug who raves at traffic delays and needs to 'be restrained rather than encouraged. The second lesson —if one is necessary—usually curbs the desire to the wild flight, and the result is a finished driver who resents further presence of the teacher. Occasionally we find a cautious driver who needs more than two lessons —we always give them as many as they want. Once squared away, expert driving is only a matter of practice. The novice of one season is always the expert of the next—the proud possessor of ability to take not only his own but any other car anywhere that its ability entitles it to go.