104   DRIVING FOR PLEASURE.

possible. Being without experience, he is somewhat at sea.

To begin with, let him interest a friend who really knows, and who will help him in the looking up of a second-hand carriage of good make and shape. After considerable search such an one is found, shabby in appearance, it is true, but which can be bought at a low figure. The purchase does not seem particularly attractive to our friend, but being so advised, he decides to make it. The carriage is then sent to a good shop, where it is stripped of its paint, and, if necessary, of its trimmings. In the course of six or eight weeks it is repainted and relined, and having undergone a careful examination, is to all intents and purposes quite as good as a new carriage, provided, of course, it was originally of first-class construction. The entire cost to our friend is probably between six hundred and eight hundred dollars-not much more than half the price of a first-class new carriage. All persons with experience in such matters will agree that they would rather have an old carriage by a good maker than a new one of cheaper construction.

Directly the purchase of the carriage is made he requests his well-posted friend to look him up a good horse about seven years old, between fifteen two and sixteen hands high, and weighing from eleven him-