St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-10-09

operations, leaving each city on Mondays
and meeting at Stanstead. Henry
Stevens of Barnet, and Jonathan Sinclair
Of Haverhill, were two oithe proprietors.
The war OF 1912 broke up the line, but
the part below Haverhill was kept up,
although at loss for time, but in the
end it became very profitable.
Haverhill Corner became great stage
center, six or eight lines converging there,
some of them employing several great
teams in the best seasons of the year
This continued down to the opening of
the Passumpsic railroad in 1913. In
1882, there was line from Haverhill to
Albany, N. Y, three times a week, reach
ing the latter place at noon of the third
day, having lodged at Royalton and
Poutney or Fort Ann. The fare was six
dollars.
! cannot resist the temptation Of
quoting the graphic account given by
Arthur Livermore in an unpublished
manuscript entitled "Haverhill Corner
Seventy Years Ago" (about 1879 Of the
Boston stages with their drivers at that
day.
THE Eastern stage went out on Mon
days and on Fridays at four clock in the
morning. Before that hour the driver
went through the village to knock at the
doors from which the passengers were
booked, and with the butt OF his great
whip.stock failed not to awaken them,
and the neighbors as well. But these all
knew the cause Of the din and though
not without neghborly interest in it,
soon composed themselves to sleep again.
The coaches used were sundry, OF abnor-
NAL forms, tentative i'll the direction OF
utility and confines, and rejected exper-
iments apparently, and therefore adapted
to an enterprise which was deemed also
an experiment, exposed to like failure.
But the managers were obliging toward
their customers, and so, i'll the distant
end successful.
THE coach, starting at four O'Clock in
the morning, with the mail no larger
than could be easily carried upon the
drivers arm and tossed into its place
(whcre he seemed to keep it by sitting
upon it), together with the passengers,
arrived at Morses inn in Rumney for a
breakfast which seemed late. After
which it proceeded by Mayhew's turnpike
and that part Of Salisbury now called
Franklin to Concord, which it reached
about six in the evening, unless retarded
by adverse conditions of weather, spring
and autumn mud and so forth. We were
drawn in successive and interchangeable
teams by Smart, May and Hewstan.
''Smart was accounted the best whip,
and proud of the distinction, upset his
coach and was run away with by his
horses more frequently than the rest.
Col. Silas May was of serious demeanor
like deacon, and not otherwise remark
able, but finally to escape trouble in some
forgotten form ran off. But Hewstan
witched the world by means of an inn
mensely long tin horn, which announced
the coming of the stage as it were a band
of music.
Il shall not forget the gamgt of that
amazing instrument, the tramp OF the
four steaming horses, the rattle and ereak
of the coach, and the Jingle of he chains
and gear, as the man drove by us BOYS
that had gone out on summers even
ing to meet it, We had been released
from school, had our tea, and the cool
and tranquil evening that disposed us
often to that pastime, took its effect
apparently with the older generation
that tailed not to be largely represented
at the Grafton Hotel. The passengers
who chose to stop here with their bag
gage having been discharged, the coach
was then driven down across the
common to Towlc's inn."
Such are among the most cherished
reco!lections of one of the oldest living
graduates Of Dartmouth College.
1t must be admitted that with the
passing Of the stage coach, slow anc
tedious as it was, something really valu
able went went it, which has not beer
replaced.
The Traveller who passes from st
Johnsbury to Boston in few hours
knows almost nothing of the interesting
country. The real life of the land lie.
away from the railroad, and one scene i.
replaced so swiftly by another as scarcel,
to leave any impression upon the mind
But the stage, which made its journey
along the public roads, among the farm
and through the villages, gave the in
quiring traveller opportunity to become
intimate with the features of the land
scape, the people and their resources
which the rapid train cannot give
People who Travelled much fifty year
ago acquired a familiarity with tn
country which is rare now. Still. non
f of us wish to see the old days restored
Modern progress is better, but it's step
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