The Milan exchange. (Milan, Gibson County, Tenn.) 1874-1978, 1874-09-10
The COurierS OF the Gar.

The Russian cOurierS, or pony express
men, or mail-carrierS, rs You may choose
to call them, travel neither on foot nor on
horseback. You will find that in this
matter. as in almost every custom and
habit of every people, nature compelS man
TO alter his arrangements to suit her con-
ditiOns. In Tartary they have fine horses,
great wide deserts, and splendid roads,
and. naturally, the couriers are mounted; {;
in England, where the roads are bad,
running through bOgS and marshes, the
old cOuricrS were fOotmen; in Russia,
where snow lies on the ground nearly the
whole year, sleighs are used by the cOuri-
ers. The "COuriers of the Gar" rs the
mail-carrierS are called, travel with great
rapiditv. Fresh horses and drivers are
ready at stations every twenty miles apart !;
but the couriers themselves sleep in the
sleighs, and travel from one end of a mail
route to the other. Special messengers of
the Gar, on public business, travel by
these same routes, and with even greater
rapidity than the mail-carriers. During
the Crimean war there occurred an incl
dent illustrating the severity of this ser
vice. The Russian general, Prince Ment-
chikoff, who defended SebaStOpOl, had Oc-
caSiOn, during the siege of that city TO
send an important message TO the Gar at
st. Petersburg; and ordered a faithful Otii-
Ger to be his messenger. giving HIM dlrec-
tons not to halt or delay until he stood
before the Gar, and above all not to lose
sight of the precious message which he
bore. Away went the officer in sleigh
belonging to the Cars couriers. At the
end of each twenty miles he found fresh
horses awaiting him; these were quickly
harnessed to his sleigh, in place of the
weary animals, and the servants and sta
ble-mPn would cry out:
"YOur EXcellency, the horses are
ready"
Away thenr' the officer would say
to the driver; and off he would 90 again
at the most rapid pace of which the horses
were capable. Riding in this way for sew
eral days and nights, suffering with cold,
and pursued by wolves in the forests. the
officer, weary with watching his dis
patches day and night, at length reached
the palace of the Gar, and was immedi-
ately ushered into his presence. He had
no sooner handed the Emperor the letter
of the General than the messenger sank
into a chair and fell fast asleep in the roy
al presence-an Offense which, in some
ages, would have been punishable with in
slant death. When he had finished read
ing the dispatch, the Gar wished to ask
the officer a question. but found he could
not awaken him. The attendants called
! to him, touched and shook him, all in vain
and at last one declared the poor fellow
was dead. The Gar was much grieyed
| thercat. and went to the officer and exam
ined his pulse, put his ear down to his
| side, and declared he could hear his heart
humping. He was only asleep. But he
soon found that theeXhausted officer could
not be reused by the usual means. AT
length the Gar, STOPPING down, cried in
| his ears:
"Your Excellency, the horses are
ready"
! At the sound of these words. which Inc
had heard every twenty miles of his jour
ney, and the only ones which lie had lis
| tened to for days, the faithful officer spran9
to his feet and cried:
! "Away then !"
Instead of driver and horses, he found
the Car before him, laughing heartily at
his confusion and dismay. You may be
sure his offense was forgotten; instead O
being punished for sleeping when his
work was done, the officer was rewarded
| for his faithfulnesS.-FrOm ''IHe Pong
Erpress,' IN st. Nicholas for September.