The Portland daily press., 1870-10-17
rweaiyssix xssts an ,;.e ssss.

Time has wrought few more wonderful
changes than IN the course and manner oftrnv
e' and the old routes and conveyances are rapid
ly passing out OF date. The ctage coach will
soon be thing OF the past, and our grand
children know nothing about it save VIII t they
gather from picture books and the Traditions
of the elders" The great through Ines were
long since discontinued, ard the merry JeEus
who manipulated the lines and cracked the
whip over famous tours in hand, years ago
settled do into disnfied railroad cond uctors
and quiet station agents, and for the most part
have gone the way Of all the EARTH
Only in remote regions aud country d. tricts
off the line of the railroad, have stage coaches
had chance of late years, to live; and even
these have borne but slight resemblance to the
chariots of the olden time.
Inc nearest app zach in this region of eoun-
try to au old fashioned stage route and six
in2s' was undoubtedly that from Lowell and
Btidgton in this county, to Saco, in the county
of York. This route was almost fifty miles in
length, through au cold fashioned" agrcu,tur-
al country, with here and there pretty Cum
try village, and comfortable old taverns where
the horses were changed, andthe traveller par
took OF good square meal.
For over tweuty-sx years Sir. Joseph f.
Bickford has driven regularly, forward and
back up and down, over this pleasant route
Through storm and shine, in winters cold and
summers heat, through drifting SHOWS and
clouds of dust, the 'old whip has steadily DUR
suel the even tenor of his way. O.! to think of
the men, women and children who in the last
quarter of a century have taken passage with
"old Joe"-to think OF the errauds on which
they went the boys going away to school,
academy and college, youn. men discoutented
with the farm and anxious to "try their LUCK
in buster haunts-the girls focking to the
mills or leaving the home of their childhood
with the man of their choice. And then the
return trips to weddings. to funerals to thank
| givings and Christmas, and to Home as a ref
| ugein dull times in sickness, adversely and
| trOuble-to think of the trunks, the band
boxes, the parcels, the love letters which this
man has banded, of the boys stealing ride and
envious little urchins crying out "whip be-
hind"-of the lads and lassies who stood by
the schoolhouse door on his early trips, fathers
those days And then the change in the driver
himself! The second quarter of century sell
dom sits gracefully on anybody. 1t brings,
even to men who reject the old theology of
endless punishment and who have uniformly
voted the Republican ticket, a few wrinkles
and some gray hairs. The cares of this life
and the deceitfulness .of riches added to rheu-
matte pains and gloomy apprehensions of the
melancholy days. mellow and subdue the
hest and strongest. But the sold stager'' has
stronger temptations )so to speak) than the
most, to grow old outwardly, at least. His
face and form are more exposed to alternate
heat and cold, and his soul is constantly har.
rowed within him by garrulous old ladies eter-
nally in trouble lest the lynch pin break, or
the bandbox disappear through the agen-
cy of invisible hands. No wonder that
stage drivers grow grim and grizzly, and
it they grew cross and grabbed il
would not be strange. But this latter
change has never taken place in "Jo''. Las,
week as he passed through Buxton and thence
onward to the terminus of his route for the
last time, gathering up his horses and carriages
and sorrowfully hitching them behi nd his load
it is said that hestopped on hill mid way on
the journey, and looking forward and back up.
ON the familiar scenery and autumnal foliage,
wiped from his eyes shower of unbidden
tears. He probably realized as never before
that he was old and travel stained. 1t is pleas
| ant to think that though no longer "frisky''
like the fifteen year old colts comprising his
team, his heart is still young!
And all this leads us to say what we thought
of saying at the beginning in two lines, that he
abandoned his route because Of the compile.
ton ofthe Portland & Ogdensburg railroad to
Sebago.
In his career he has successfully struggled
and "squelched'' all sorts of opposition, but
the iron horse has proved "too many for him
aud he gracefully succumbed.
His present mode ofdoing business will un-
doubleday be made known through the medi
um of advertisements and posters and so we
leave him. Long live Joseph. Long live the
Portland & Ogdensturg railroad