[节选]A START IN LIFE

These petty enterprises, which had struggled since 1822 against the

Touchards, usually found a strong foothold in the good-will and

sympathy of the inhabitants of the districts which they served. The

person undertaking the business as proprietor and conductor was nearly

always an inn-keeper along the route, to whom the beings, things, and

interests with which he had to do were all familiar. He could execute

commissions intelligently; he never asked as much for his little

stages, and therefore obtained more custom than the Touchard coaches.

He managed to elude the necessity of a custom-house permit. If need

were, he was willing to infringe the law as to the number of

passengers he might carry. In short, he possessed the affection of the

masses; and thus it happened that whenever a rival came upon the same

route, if his days for running were not the same as those of the

coucou, travellers would put off their journey to make it with their

long-tried coachman, although his vehicle and his horses might be in a

far from reassuring condition.



One of the lines which the Touchards, father and son, endeavored to

monopolize, and the one most stoutly disputed (as indeed it still is),

is that of Paris to Beaumont-sur-Oise,--a line extremely profitable,

for three rival enterprises worked it in 1822. In vain the Touchards

lowered their price; in vain they constructed better coaches and

started oftener. Competition still continued, so productive is a line

on which are little towns like Saint-Denis and Saint-Brice, and

villages like Pierrefitte, Groslay, Ecouen, Poncelles, Moisselles,

Monsoult, Maffliers, Franconville, Presles, Nointel, Nerville, etc.

The Touchard coaches finally extended their route to Chambly; but

competition followed. To-day the Toulouse, a rival enterprise, goes as

far as Beauvais.



Along this route, which is that toward England, there lies a road

which turns off at a place well-named, in view of its topography, The

Cave, and leads through a most delightful valley in the basin of the

Oise to the little town of Isle-Adam, doubly celebrated as the cradle

of the family, now extinct, of Isle-Adam, and also as the former

residence of the Bourbon-Contis. Isle-Adam is a little town flanked by

two large villages, Nogent and Parmain, both remarkable for splendid

quarries, which have furnished material for many of the finest

buildings in modern Paris and in foreign lands,--for the base and

capital of the columns of the Brussels theatre are of Nogent stone.

Though remarkable for its beautiful sites, for the famous chateaux

which princes, monks, and designers have built, such as Cassan, Stors,

Le Val, Nointel, Persan, etc., this region had escaped competition in

1822, and was reached by two coaches only, working more or less in

harmony.



This exception to the rule of rivalry was founded on reasons that are

easy to understand. From the Cave, the point on the route to England

where a paved road (due to the luxury of the Princes of Conti) turned

off to Isle-Adam, the distance is six miles. No speculating enterprise

would make such a detour, for Isle-Adam was the terminus of the road,

which did not go beyond it. Of late years, another road has been made

between the valley of Montmorency and the valley of the Oise; but in

1822 the only road which led to Isle-Adam was the paved highway of the

Princes of Conti. Pierrotin and his colleague reigned, therefore, from

Paris to Isle-Adam, beloved by every one along the way. Pierrotin's

vehicle, together with that of his comrade, and Pierrotin himself,

were so well known that even the inhabitants on the main road as far

as the Cave were in the habit of using them; for there was always

better chance of a seat to be had than in the Beaumont coaches, which

were almost always full. Pierrotin and his competitor were on the best

of terms. When the former started from Isle-Adam, the latter was

returning from Paris, and vice versa.



It is unnecessary to speak of the rival. Pierrotin possessed the

sympathies of his region; besides, he is the only one of the two who

appears in this veracious narrative. Let it suffice you to know that

the two coach proprietors lived under a good understanding, rivalled

each other loyally, and obtained customers by honorable proceedings.

In Paris they used, for economy's sake, the same yard, hotel, and

stable, the same coach-house, office, and clerk. This detail is alone

sufficient to show that Pierrotin and his competitor were, as the

popular saying is, "good dough." The hotel at which they put up in

Paris, at the corner of the rue d'Enghien, is still there, and is

called the "Lion d'Argent." The proprietor of the establishment, which

from time immemorial had lodged coachmen and coaches, drove himself

for the great company of Daumartin, which was so firmly established

that its neighbors, the Touchards, whose place of business was

directly opposite, never dreamed of starting a rival coach on the

Daumartin line.