to drive well

Dictionary of American Words And Phrases by John Russell Bartlett.

A Southern phrase, thus explained by Mr. Lavis: This gentleman applied for a situation as teacher in a college in South Carolina, when the following dialogue took place:


Planter. Can you drive well, Sir.

Tutor. Drive, Sir, did you say ? I really do not comprehend you.

Planter. I mean, Sir, can you keep your scholars in order?

The phrase, adds our author, is used by the overseer on a plantation, who, in preserving subordination among the negroes, is said to drive well.--Davis's Travels in the United States.

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