Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1882-08-25
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&isftllarte0ns.
RE oLD.rIxE srAGE-CoACH.
A TRIP ALONG THE SHORES OF THE
KKNSEBEc.-A WORD ABOUT THE OLD
Town OF VAssAIBOROUGH.

and well-nigh fascinating in ride in the
old-fashioned stage-coach. 1t brings II
mind the golden days when our ancestors
were compelled to travel from one point
Of country to another by this means OF
conveyance only, and when trip from
yJur own city to Boston was fraught with
numerous preparations. hardships and
even perils, interspersed, however, with
many pleasant incidents not experienced
in these days of hurry and hustle on the
railroad car. Before the writers who
love to linger upon the days Of coaching
can be thoroughly appreciated" SAYS a
correspondent in Lippincott's Magazine,
'it is primarily necessary that some at
tempt be made 10 enter into the spirit of
that olden time. Unless this be done, it
will be utterly impossible to understand
the enthusiasm of pathos with which the
lament is uttered -
"Where is the coach? Where is the
mail The coachman where is he ? Where
Is the guard that used to bow the horn 50
merrily.''
The history Of the first stage-coach runs
back to the fifteenth century. and perhaps
further; but the first coach that was ever
built in Scotland was brought thither in
1861. when Queen Mary came from France
and belonged to Alexander. Lord Seaton.
In Britain. trackways or ridgeways exist
ed prior to the Roman conquest. 1t is note
worthy that Cicero wished to have a Brit
ish chariot for pattern. After the RO-
mans retired from the country the roads
we're neglected, and down to the seven
teeenth century little was done towards
maintaining an efficient means of internal
connection throughout the kingdom. The
good effected by the Legislation of Henry
VIII. Charles II and others, may be esti-
mated from a single fact-.hat in 1879 two
men travelled from Glasgow to London
on horseback, and did not find turnpike
road until within one hundred and ten
miles Of London. In those days the pack
horse was the great means of carrying
on the internal commerce of the country,
Towards the end of the fourteenth century
King Richard III was using whirlicoat or
wheeled cot. From that time onward fire.
quent mention is made of wheeled vehi-
cles, but it was not until 1866 that coach
was made in England, and was built for
the Earl of Rutland. In 1864 state
coach was built for Queen Elizabeth, but
hermajesty suffered so much from its jolt
ing that she discarded it for Dutch coach
imported for her IN 1860. In 1910 the
stage coach was adopted. II was built to
carry six or eight persons. and was hung
on leather straps. Sir Walter Scott says
that in 1855 the speed of the stage-coach
was frequently but four miles an hour,
and describes the vehicles rs groan-
inga nd creaking at every tug
the horses gave. Dickens describes
the starting and driving of stage-coach
with his usual voidness. The occasion
was the journey of Pickwick and his friends
to spend Christmas with the Wardles at
Dingley Dell. We pass over the start in
order to give the novelist's portrait of a
coachman.
"Another crack of the whip and on they
sped at gallop; the horses tossed their
heads and ratified the harness as if in ex-
hilaration at the rapiditv of the motion
while the coachman. holding whip and
reins in one hand. takes off his hat with
the other. pulls out his handkerchief and
wipes his face. partly because he has a |
habit of doing it, and partly because it's as
well to show the passengers how cool he |
Is, and what an easy thing it is to drive
four-in-hand when you have as much |
practice as he has. Having done this very |
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS the effect would be |
materially impaired-he replaces his
handkerchief, pulls on his hat, adjusts his
gloves, squares his elbows cracks the
whip again. and on they speed more mer-
rily than before"
The history of the American stage-coach |
does not extend to much more than nine
ty years. Prior to that date the conveyans
ces were chiefly private carriages, or what
would now be called hackney-coaehes.
The singular fact is recorded that as early
as 1897, John Clapp. New York Brew
cry inn-keeper, had hackney-coach for
hire. Washington's coach was brought
from Eng land. and is thus described ut |
was cream colored. globular in shape and
capacious within, ornamented in the
French style. with cupids supporting fes-
toons and wreaths of flowers emblemati-
cally arranged along the panel work the
figures and flowers beautifully covered |
with fine glass. very white and dazzling
to the eye of youth and simplicity in such |
matters. 1t was drawn sometimes by |
four, but in common by two. very elegant |
Virgins bays, with long swith tails and |
splendid harness, and driven by German, |
tall and muscular. possessing an acqua-
line nose.'
Continued tomorrow