The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1879-08-21
THE STAGE-DRIVER'S STORY.

THE STAGE-DRIvER'S STORY.
"HAvE we very hard ride before
US tonight, driverP"
Middling, ma'am. You'd better
take an outside seat, along wi me.
You've nothing to fear up here, ma am.
Aside from the danger of sea-sickness
which you'll miss by being in the open
air, you'll have an easier seat. The
hind wheels of the old coach spring
over the rocks like a whip-cracker,
and with her load so light as it is, your
spinal column will be telescoped be-
fore morning if you don't ride atop o.
the for'ard wheels, where you'll have
one jolt, and then it's all over till the
next one"
l shuddered involuntarily. Not that
1 was a novice in staging. had al
ready pursued my Journey in this way
for five hundred miles eastward. accom-
plishing half the distance upon a sort of
railway blackboard" that plies in
places between the Dalles of the Column
bia and Baker City of Eastern Oregon.
had also crossed the plains with teams
before railroads were. occupying six
months in the transit from Omaha to
OhOSoh Sltys JOuhhCy Aull OA luClucutS
and experiences well worth remem-
berlng, many of which passed before
me like mental panorama as looked
out upon the wide expanse of sage and
grease-wood that lay in a spiritless
level beyond the pleasant homes and
irrigated gardens of Boise City.
The disciple ofJehu had mounted the
box and gathered the Ribbons" six
long, strong, unwieldy lines of leather,
attached to the stiff, cruel Spanish bits
of as many well-kept and well-broken
sorrel horses.
"The drivers a born gentlemen,
madam" said the landlord, aside.
doesn't he drink?" asked little
nervously.
80, yes, but that's nothing. Most OF
'em drink and gamble when off duty;
but give 'em the ribbons. and you've
nothing to be afraid of. Rankin re.
veres a respectable woman"
Thus assured, I mounted the box,
above the boot, a feat in climbing
which would have astonished my
gracious iege had he but witnessed it,
for he always deems it necessary to as.
sist me in and out of private carriage
when at home.
"Al set. ma'amP" asked the driver
Yes; thanks"
The ladies of the Overland hotel were
congregated on the front stoep of the
second STORY; and, as the driver, with 6
peculiarly graceful flourish of his long
whip that ended in q swapping report
like the explosion of q mammoth Chi
nese cracker, started the six sorrel.
into an eighteen-mile stampede through
the ashlike plain, looked back to an
swer the parting salute of the friend.
aforesaid, and in so doing lost my bal
ance and came near falling from my
precarious perch. Had so fallen thi,
story had not been chronicled, for thu
horses heels would have finished tn,
work of demolition that the numbering
coach would have then and there in
augurated.
From my hotel window in Boise City
had several times observed the Bois,
River bridge, and was much surprised
when we came to q ferry where we pro
ceeded to cross in q little clumsy boat
Peering through the thickening twi
light, saw, away about two hundred
yards to the right of us, the ghostl,
framework of the bridge 1 had seeI
from the window; and there it sat, higl
and dry among sand and boulders
mocking the lazy, shallow river who's
bed had shifted to its present channel
"The river tooA a new departur,
when the snow melted. and swinging
around the circle has left the bridg,
beached, as you see it" said the driver
as chary of his words as though in tn,
habit ofretailing them at dollar apiece
Il looked and marveled. There wa
something both solemn and ludicrou
in the ghostly bridge, and our presen
effort to cross the stream in q boat be
low it.
"The river looks little and harmless
enough now, but you ought to hav,
seen it when it plowed this channel,
added the driver, closing his lips ant
tightening the eribbons as he again mad
artistic fourishes with his obedien
whip.
| "Please tell how it came about,
said 1, gazing earnestly at the ghostl,
bridge, and anxious to beguile the tim
by conversation upon some theme, o
the nature of which 1 did not mucl
care, 50 it had some sort of bearin.
upon the road and its adventures.
Nothing to tell, ma'am. Every
body knows water runs down hill. The,
know, too, unless they're idiots, tina
when it can't climb over obstructions
it plows through 'em. The piers O
that bridge were too broad and to-
close together. The water wanted it
level; the bridge wouldn't give way an,
the soil did. It's clear enough how
came about"
Heartily ashamed of my own yer
dancy, and fully conscious that woul,
henceforth appear, in the estimation O
that sagaclous driver of stage teams, a
q person of remarkably limited talent
of observation, settled myself as bes
I could in the lofty outside seat of tn
clumsy vehicle, and on we went, bump
ing, crashing, banging, careening
sometimes holding to the side strap
with a nervous clutch, as the coac
threatened to upset endwise upon tn
horses launches, and again cracking
my spinal column in the region of m
neck by being thrown backwards with
out warning as a sudden change in tn
II - =.