The Hillsdale standard. [volume] (Hillsdale, Mich.) 1851-1909, 1859-07-05
An Old StugrI-. Adventure.
ny sY VA Is con JB.

We were culcct,J around the great
stove ~ the bar roou!--sune twenty Of us
-eu@"g"d III "A social. after supper chat -
|, whs showing aud blowing Oft of dos rs,
and those who wcIr forced 10 be out with
toau> were having n cold, dark, hard time
OF II. Th'r" were five stage iuus entering
al til" lntI where W" wcr stopping, and IT
'In9 SATURDAY. evening, the coaches were
nlI IL ElI tor tie sabbath; whilr the dri.
N'iS, - iIy hearty crew, were taking all
ttio ne and comfort imaginable. The
couN' rs;.lioG, III lhoprosrnce of these old
~lagcr>. vory naturally turned upon the
hnid-nls ut winter travel in Norlhnn
NV England, and many were the anrc
Gutr~ rcIa,od If ovcrlurnS and wr cks in
show slornls aud snow drifts.
"piI | ever tell you Of bit of advcn.
tue that had on the Danbury ard Lit.
t!rt.n route, one wiu,cr."
"No,' answered chorus Of voices.-
bat was It :"
h" speaker was Peter IIo,I, though
d,oht If one ia fly of those who know
i'm ever hcar! hi, family name. peter"
'Od P,jc,' ana 'Pcr," were uamcs hy
Which h. went, aul H. h" was the 'nIy
l'ctrl Oh The road in that section, Il ere
WAS no need ofqualiiying that simple Chris
tian name. lie was Il genial good uatur
cI, accommodating, aud self sacrificing man,
WITH Il stout, Stumly flame, which seemed
nadr toy a coach box. And his face Up.
90 my soul, ii did one good t. look at it,
1t was broad aud iull-therc was certainly
hGndrcd and f,rty-iour square inches of
= as blooming in color a. Il led hose, and
as fall Of fun II: a pump pickle ham is full
o' TAT. All. he was a rare oh Pete rs
the thousands can testify who have ridden
with linn over hills and sand plains of New
II"m?shro.
"Coml-lel Us have your story" cried
several Of the anxious ones.
Don't hurry me-" returned the old sta
ger, rs he moved his chair in order to AVOID
the smoke flom an abomnible cigar which
John Tendance was putting away at. He
said something not over polite about the
cigar rs lac moved; but Tendance inform
ed him t ut "them cigars cost ten dollars
hundrea-tcn cents apiece" and went on
putting more tuiousy than before How
ever, in Il place where all smoke who
please, and burn such vile stuff as they
choose To held between their lips, Johns
odelous weed was soon forgotten, aud
Pete commenced his 'tory:
"Fourtccn yeais ago drove from Dun
bury to Littlcton, distance of fOrty-two
miles; aud had to wait for the arrival of
two other coaches, did not start till after
dinner; 50 ] very otcn had good distance
to drive after dark. 1t was in the dead Of
winter and the season was tough one
n great dead Of snow La fallen. aud the
drifts were plenty aud deep. Tic mail
which | carried was not due at Littleton,
by the contract, until one o'clock in the
morning, but that Winter the postmaster
was obliged TO sit up little later than that
for ne. He knew what look had for
travel, so he io3ind no fault, and govern
mcnt was as well satisfied As | was.
zone day-I think It was about the
middle Of January, when | rove up for
NV mail at Dunbury, the post master call.
cd me in his office
"'Petc,' said lac, with an important, Sc
rious look, there's some pretty heavy
money packages in that bag'-and he
pointed to the mail bag as he spoke. He
said tn" money was from Boston, and WAS
going To some land agents up near the
Canada line. Then he asked re it 1T
90, any pass, myers who were going to Lit.
ticron. todd hi" didh't know.
But suppose hnvn' 2" says |.
"Why," says he, ~'thr agent of the low
or roato cam" in to day. AMI he says there
have been on" or two Suspicious characters
on the stage that came up last night, aud
hc sus. Gets that they ave an eye upon
this mail; So it will stand you in hani 10
te u little careful
Il aiu'I very apt to he scared at TITLES :,
aud on this occasion felt very safe. Tor
had two passengers booked tho ,gh-both
men that knew. aud WHO would help me
in c1se OF need. Still, thought I'll like
t. know how the suspected chaps looked,
and asked the post master if he'd h d
any description of them. He said The
agent had described one Of them rs short
thick set fellow, about forty years old. with
long hair, and thick heavy clump Of
beard under bis chin, but none on the