SARAH BERNHARDT.

King Country Chronicle, Volume VII, Issue 565, 7 May 1913, Page 7

SARAH BERNHARDT.

THE AUTOMOBILE CRAZE IN AMERICA. "'What struck me most on this visit co America," writes Sarah Bernliardt, "was how the Americans get about. Never in my life have I seen a country with so maay automobiles. "'The horse seems te have become a prehistoric animal, still spoken of, which aged Yankees recall having seen in their youth, but young Americans when they hear about this ex;in t species listen to their grandfathers with that incredulity which wo bestow on an old legend or fairy tale. Everybody moves about in an automobile ; nobody can understand how one can move otherwise. "As soon as they have a bit of money Americans buy an antomobile; it serves them for a bedroom, a fining room, a means of destraetion, and for business. I saw in the Chic ago streets womea of the. best society promenading about in lictlo that had the form and often tha colouring of our old-time sedan chaira snd they drove themselves, which I must confess was quite a surprising sight. I have seen working miners, theu- lamps fastened to their caps-, going home in their 40 horse-powei cary, and I have seen people depriving themselves of food and wearing worn out clothes in order to be able to buy an automobile. ".'n American who has not his auto would consider himself as dishonored as a Spaniard without a mantilla, a Germas. without a pipe, an Englishwoman without her overcoat, or a Parisienne without a pocket mirror.

"Ta Paris I never automobile with out a feeling of fear ; in Americt chauffeurs, who are generally r.ndei 20, drive so cleverly that they dc not seem to ho fol'.ow'-:; a tra'l? obeying an instinct. i hey are dri vers just as the English are sailors or. the Batch skaters."—Paris JLetter.