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Riding In The Old Surrey

In the good old days of yesteryear on the Cape, people sometimes went driving or riding to meetin’ or elsewhere in a fringed-top surrey. The surrey was a light pleasure carriage, the two forward wheels slightly smaller than the rear ones, the body of the surrey light and mounted on quite flexible springs, a dashboard with a whip and whipholder, two comfortable seats, open sides, and a top supported by light side rods extending from the floor of the surrey.

From the top, round its outer edges, hung a close fringe about three inches long. You stepped aboard by using a curved running board to ascend, the foot-pace being flat, and the forward and rear parts curving up and over the wheels to serve as mud-guards.

The surrey was a delightful means of transportation in good weather, and many a family enjoyed happy rides in one behind a fast-stepping horse as they visited friends here and there in the Cape communities. Gone is the surrey, like the good old days, but who is sorry? for now the horseless carriage is here, good for all weathers, and requiring no horse to be fed and watered, curried and harnessed, and hitched to a hitching post or held from running away by a heavy weight secured by a long line to his bridle. The horse had also to be fed and watered and bedded down at night.

However, to give him credit, he usually knew when he was headed for home and could often make the way there by himself. An automobile never knows where it is going.

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