The Hazlehurst signal., 1885-10-08
A third traveller quilted Philadelphia

for New York. Rival stages ran be.
tween the two cities The journey
was, therefore, n succession of races In
which the passengers took the liveliest
interest They hallooed at the horses,
abused the opposition line, and could
with difficulty be prevented from
throwing the baggage oil into tho mud.
AS he was rolling out OF Elizabethtown,
in New Jersey, young woman,
mounted on a good horse. rode up be-
hind the stage and attempted to pass 1t.
In moment the men on the coach be-
gan to rcvile her most shamefully,
raised a great shout, frightened the
horse. and almost unseatcd her. One
kind.hcarted old gentleman remon'
strated. But ho was threatened with
being dropped in the road, and asked;
"Do you suppose We are going to lei
anybody take the road Of us?"
Yet another complains that whore nc
rivalry existed the stages crcpt along q,
a snail's pace. He wished once to &C
a distance of seventeen miles. a good,
healthy man might have walked it in
four hours and a half. He took the
stage and spent six. When he reached
the town where tho boat was to be
boarded Inc saw the cause. Tho driver
was in collision with the inn.keepci
and the Captains Of tho packet-boais.
The stage arrived just before, and the
boat sailed just after, dinner. The inn
keeper was thus. in the words OF the
traveller, enabled to "scrub the passcn'
gers out of the price of q dinner. "
brutality. negligence and iilching."
eNclaims another, "arc rs naturally OK
pcctcd by people accustomed to travel
ing in America. rs mouth, n nose and
two eyes are looked for in mans
face"
But there were others OF a different
mind. One declares the stage. c.coach "a
bc. in summer, the most delightful ol
all convcyanccs. None OF the ''stuf'
tincs," of our English coach. Nc
breathing the same air over and over
again thousand times, ike COW
chewing her cud. In them YOU meet
with men of all professions. They are
truly republicans. The member ol
Congress is placed by the side of the
Shoemaker who elected him; they
fratcrnizc together and converse with
familiarity. You see no person here
take on him those important airs which
you so often meet with in England. !"
To the men OF our time who think Q
journey in palace ear to Denycr oil
Chicago tedious one. tEc attractions
of stagc.coach would seem slight Tc
spend II day and half on the road
from Philadelphia to New York; to pas:
five more days, or perhaps week, go
ing from New York to Boston, to bt
compelled each night to pnt up at
bad inn, sleep in n room with four o'
five strangers, and be reused at day
light to eat hasty breakfast and 80 on
would now be thought real hardship.
On such trips the travellers became
well acquainted, and it was in the pow
or Of a bully or man OF quick and irri
table temper TO do much to mar the
pleasure Of his companions. II he were
q fop, or conce,ed and silly fellow
he was sure to become tho butt of tn,
whole company. So we read of q young
sprig who talked much Of his spccula
tons in the stocks, having the name OF
"Scrip" fastened upon him, and OF a
Congress sman who, in Il passion, ran 9
fellow.travclcr through with his sword
cane. Not unfrequcn,ly the motion o.
the vehicle made passenger yet moro
uncomfortable. Indeed. "stagc sick
ness" was recognized malady, ant
the newspapers would publish receipts
lot lts prcNch'ion'
Once at the end of tho route. the
cramped and weary passenger hastenct
to seek lodging-placc. and deliver tho
letters intrusted to his care. Some o.
these letters had. perhaps, been giver
him by n stranger at the very moment
of his departure from home. Others HI
received from friends. To business mer
the saving thus effected was not small
for the rate Of postage varied with thu
distance that the letter went. A single
postage was six cents for thirty miles
eight cents for sixty miles ten cents fo1
one hundred. For four hundred ant
fifty miles and over, twenty-five cents
were paid.-Iouths Companion.