was prompted by a lady, and when the reader has seen her account of the early adventures of an autocar I think he will agree that 'The Adventures of a Phaeton' were nothing to them, and that Mrs. Koosen has a right to the description of a good wife, the poet making the husband speak of her as Doubling his pleasures and his cares dividing.
Mr. Koosen says:—
Early in 1895, while travelling in Germany, I saw the advertisement of a motor-car builder with an illustration of a car. My wife said she liked the look of the thing, so I ordered one. I had then never seen a motor-car, and was under the impression that you take your seats, press the button, and the machine does the rest. Well, at last, on November 21, 1895, the thing arrived at Portsmouth Town station.
I had been told in a letter from the maker that to start the engine you had to turn the fly-wheel towards you, which I did until darkness overtook me. The only result was a pair of worn-out gloves.
Mr. Koosen here seems to have found the trouble too much for him, for he says, 'And now I think perhaps it would be better to quote my wife's diary (I don't keep one myself).'
November 24.—Awfully cold; played with our motor no result.
November 25.—After luncheon saw to our motor, but didn't get it out of shed.
November 26.—Drove to Lee and took Smith and Penning (engineers); Penning spent the day on his back without results.
November 27.—Drove to Lee; first we drove to T. White & Co. to see about oil, but they gave us five gallons of the stuff costers burn in their flares over their barrows, which messed up our motor, which of course didn't go.
November 30.—Motor went with benzoline for first time; awfully pleased.
December 2.—Waiting for new oil from Bowley & Son.
December 9.—Drove to Lee at 10; motor sparked at once and went well. After lunch started for home in motor-car; came
