The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1886-02-19

some dlfncuity. ana the trunks ana pas
sepgers taken to the next Atage-inn.
There another coach set out, which,
towards dusk. was overset in . wood.
The night was passed around . miser-
able fire. At daybreak the whole party.
n . storm Of sleet and rain. walked to
. wretched ale-house three miles from
Baltimore. But the host would not al.
low one of them to dry his clothes be-
fore the kitchen fire.
When the printer Of the Adrg'GaG
Journal, a Baltimore newspaper. was
asked to publish an account of chs
trip. he refused The accident was. he
said, very unfortunate But travellers
must expect such things Besides, il
he published an account. the stage-own-
ers would get angry and refuse to carry
his newspapers over their line.
A third traveller quilted Philadelphia
for New York. Rival stages ran be-
tween the two cities The journey
was. therefore, Q 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 off into the mud.
As he was rolling out of Elizabethtown.
in New Jersey. . young woman,
mounted on . good horse, rode up be-
hind the stage and attempted to pass it.
In a moment the men on the coach be-
gan to revile her most shamefully,
raised great shout, frightened the
horse, and almost unseated her. One
kind-hearted old gentleman remon-
strated. But he was threatened with
being dropped in the road, and asked:
':Do you suppose We are going to let
anybody take the road of us?''
Yet another complains that where no
rivalry existed the stages crept along at
a snails pace. He wished once to 60
q distance Of seventeen miles. A good,
healthy man might have walked it in
four hours and q half He took the
stage and spent six. When he reached
tho town where the boat was to be
boarded he saw the cause. The driver
was in collision with the inn-keeper
and the Captains of the packet-boats.
The stage arrived just before, and the
boat sailed just after, dinner. The inn
keeper was thus. in tho words of the
traveller, enabled to ''scrub the passen-
gers out of the price of q dinner. {"
Brutality. negligence and filching."
exclaims another, ''are as naturally exc
pected by people accustomed to travel
ing in America, as mouth, nose and
two eyes are looked for in a mans
face"
But there were others Of . different
mind. One declares the stage-coach to
be, in summer, tho most delightful Of
all conveyances. None of the 'stuf-
iness" of our English coach. No
breathing the same air over and over
again q thousand times, like . cow
chewing her cud. In them you meet
with men of all professions. They are
truly republicans. 1.-THE member of
Congress is placed by the side of the
shoemaker who elected him; they
fraternize 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 a palace car to Denver or
Chicago tedious one. the attractions
of stage-coach would seem slight To
spend day and half on the road
from Philadelphia to New York; to pass
five more days, or perhaps q week, 60
ing from New York to Boston, to be
compelled each night to put up at
bad inn. sleep in room with four or
five strangers, and be reused at day
light to eat hasty breakfast and 60 on,
would now be thought real hardship.
On such trips the travellers became
well acquainted, and it was in the pow
er of bully or man of quick and irri-
table temper to do much to mar the
pleasure of his companions If he were
a fop, or conceited and silly fellow,
he was sure to become the butt of the
whole company. So We read of q young
sprig who talked much of his specula-
tons in the stocks, having the name Of
"Scrip" fastened upon him, and of a
Congressman who. in a passion, ran a
fellow-traveler through with his sword
cane. Not unfrequently the motion of
the vehicle made passenger yet more
uncomfortable. Indeed, ''stage sick
ness" was . recognized malady, and
the newspapers would publish receipts
for its prevention.
Once at the end of the route, the
cramped and weary passenger fastened
to seek lodging-place. and deliver the
letters intrusted to his care. Some Of
these letters had. perhaps, been given
him by a stranger at the very moment
of his departure from home Others he
received from friends. To business men
the saving thus effected was not small;
for the rate of postage varied with the !
distance that the letter went A single |
postage was six cents for thirty miles;
eight cents for sixty miles; ten cents for
one hundred. For four hundred and
fifty miles and over, twenty-five cents
were paid.-IoutL's Companion.
MALARIA AMONG DOGS.
IL never saw so many dogs down