country in 'em. But they're dirty things, and
they keep getting out of order, so that you're always lying down on your
back in the mud, and--"

"Oh, no," she interrupted eagerly. "Haven't you noticed? You don't see
nearly so many people doing that nowadays as you did two or three years
ago, and, when you do, Eugene says it's apt to be one of the older
patterns. The way they make them now, you can get at most of the
machinery from the top. I do think you'd be interested, dear."

George remained indifferent. "Possibly--but I hardly think so. I know a
lot of good people are really taking them up, but still--"

"But still' what?" she said as he paused.

"But still--well, I suppose I'm a little old-fashioned and fastidious,
but I'm afraid being a sort of engine driver never will appeal to
me, mother. It's exciting, and I'd like that part of it, but still it
doesn't seem to me precisely the thing a gentleman ought to do. Too much
overalls and monkey-wrenches and grease!"

"But Eugene says people are hiring mechanics to do all that sort of
thing for them. They're beginning to have them just the way they have
coachmen; and he says it's developing into quite a profession."

"I know that, mother, of course; but I've seen some of these mechanics,
and they're not very satisfactory. For one thing, most of them only
pretend to understand the machinery and they let people break down a
hundred miles from nowhere, so that about all these fellows are good
for is to hunt up a farmer and hire a horse to pull the automobile. And
friends of mine at college that've had a good deal of experience tell me
the mechanics who do understand the engines have no training at all as
servants. They're awful! They say anything they like, and usually speak
to members of the family as 'Say!' No, I believe I'd rather wait for
September and a tandem, mother."

Nevertheless, George sometimes consented to sit in an automobile, while
waiting for September, and he frequently went driving in one of Eugene's
cars with Lucy and her father. He even allowed himself to be escorted
with his mother and Fanny through the growing factory, which was now, as
the foreman of the paint shop informed the visitors, "turning out a car
and a quarter a day." George had seldom been more excessively bored, but
his mother showed a lively interest in everything, wishing to have
all the machinery explained to her. It was Lucy who did most of the
explaining, while her father looked