The Lancaster gazette. (Lancaster, Ohio) 1846-1852, 1850-03-08
THE ExlR1 LODcER.
BY DR.. BIRD.

:
habitalion, from whnse mean appearance
no one would have inferred the males'
tic spirit Of the ruler within up-"r
rather down-nr il stand at the bntt"m
Of a hiiI-one fine evening in SePlemher'
rnsIeJ a mail coach well crammrd WIN
passengers. of whom |, for my s'ns, was
one. We numbered twelve souls IN all
nine inside and three outside; ut winch
latler group, |, some what 0f a valetudl-
marian, was honored by a seat beside his
hiehness Of the whip, while my two com.
psnions, the one Mssissippian. the 9th
er 'varmiui," as he called himself Of
Tennessee. sat galiau,ly upon the top
where they rolled aud pitched about as
we hundred down the rocky road, in
manner admirable tn hehold-n AS the
Mississippian expressed it, " like two
sh0rttailed dogs in boiling ph," are.
semblance that was some what the strong
er for the tremendous bow. wow aud yelp-
ings with which he. sometimes assisted
by the Tennessean, orguiled the weari-
ness Of the day.
Certainly there never was such a set of
rant.pole personages got together in a
mail stage before. Besides the Missss-
ippian yelping on the top, there was an.
ulher of the same inside who could initiate
the braying Of an ass To perfeclion-a
melody which he kept up in rivalry with
his friend and partner aloft, Add to this
an Albanian who sang negro songs; a
Rock river Illinois, who whonped like an
Indian; Texan that played the mustang
or wild horse of The prairies, aud besides
nearly kicking the bottom from tho stage
neighed aud whined i'll the very team
horses on the road respondettn the note;
and FIVE others, who did nothing but
scream and laugh to fill up The concert,
aud you have before you set ofthe hap.
piest mad Drained rnisterers that ever
astonished the monarch of stage house
Al this place we we're destined 10 sup
and lodge, and accordingly in due course
of time, we were all seated at the board,
where we had the satisfaction of being
tyranni8ed over both 10y mine host and
hostess-the one oum. yet fhcellous--
the other ugly as i'll temper, aud naughty
as a princess. There was nothing at all
remarkable in the supper which was no
better nor worse than usual with the OK.
ception OI that sine qla nan of u Virginia
table. tried chickens Or, indeed. Ofchick
ems in any shape, there being not SO much
as wing or claw on the table. Thi,
omission producing gentle interrogato
ry, somewhat in u tone of eXposluation
from one of the Mississppiaus, who. a,
well as all the other travellers, il is prop
er 10 remark, was not playing the part o
very modest, well behaved young gen
tleman, mine host very Willingly gave as
10 understand "it was our own fault, see
ing that the diabolical noise we had made
while approaching the house had scared
all the fowls into the mountains" This
the Missssippi0n declared reminded
him Of Capt. Dobbins' chickens in Ken.
tucky. which he had the captains avn
word for it, no sooner cnnght sight of q
traveller approaching, than they imme
diately took to their heels--being we'll a
ware. from long experience. as Captain
Dobbins said that tho visit of a strange
"ha SpIluln uculH 10 lHeHl
Before we had finished supper. lhir
teenth guest made his appearance tall
rawbuned pedlar, il seemed, who drov,
his wagon through shower that had be
gunto falland presently entered the sup
perro0m, bearing pair of saddle bags
which he laid beside him with great care
as ifafrad the contents should be injured
II placed out Of his protection. He had
very meek, solemn, unpresuming, salu
tary look. aud rather sncaked into than
took ehair,at the foot ofthe table, where
no waited very subnissivsly for tho cur
OF coiee, which my landlady deigned
after sundry contemptuous looks und five
minutes delay. To send him.
Upon the whole, he did not seem t
produce any more favorable impression
upon his fellow. travellers, who Iefi him /,
CONSUME his chckculess supper by him
self,whie they proceeded to tho bar room
TO resolve doubt which had entered tn,
head OF the Mississippian, Capt. Dob
bn' s friend-to vii, whether the thunder
OF our approach had not killed all the
mint plants, and so deprived them o.
their iuleps. This was proved not To be
tho case. The young gentleman con
cncied their sleeping draughts, smoked
their cig1rs, settled the affairs Of the ma.
ton, ana then. having received hint
that such was tho will aud pleasure of
the landlord, ascended to the travellers
room to seek their beds.
This travellers room was tho garrett,
or the halfthereof.lho othor moiety being
partltloned oa and applied to some other
purpose; aud as it was neither ceiled nor
plaseered, It presented no very striking
look OF luxury or comfort, but exhibited
the rare aud captivating spectacle of a
dozen different beds, in which each man
was to possess the happiness of sleeping
without O bed fellow The beds were
moreover, all single ones, only one OK,
ceplud, which was neither single no,
double, and indeed was mere plank
stretched between two stools. with ath
or bed hung over ii pannier wise; and sc
far II appeared that our landlord in lhi,
out 0Ftho way nook, must have been Wis
tied with some inklings of civilization
but upon further consideration il was a
greed we owed the sizo as well as III,
number Of the couchcs to tho necessi,,
of the case, the garret being of such
hgure as To stow n dozen truckle bed