The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1907-11-14
an early place at the table.

another period the big companies
swallowed the little ones, and
great through connecting lines
were found, monopolizing the
traffic and managing it. In their
rivalry these companies gradually
increased the speed till it became
ten miles an hour, and a waybill
is still in existence on which is
written as an iHstructian to the
stage driver, of you can't make
the speed ordered, we'll find some
body who can"
The traffic became so great at
last that often twenty stage coaches
were lined up at a single inn.
Each coach carried nine passengers
inside, one on the box, and as
MANY more as choose TO cling to
the roof OF the vehicle rather than
wait for another coach.
The inns which breakfasts
were furnished usually provided
for seventy passengers; and as
there were often ninety or more
hungry mouths to feed, it seems
no wonder that there was d scram-
bic for seats at the table.
Often there were robDeries Of
the stage coaches. The coaches
carried the mails, and il that early
time, when checks and drafts were
hardly known, people sent a good
deal of money by the mail. In
case of stage-coach mail robbery
every passenger was, of course, IN
danger; SO every passenger carried
his pistols with him.
Revolvers had not then been in
vented Each pistol, after being
fired once, had to be reloaded with
powder and ball through its muz-
zle before it could be fired again.
In view of this necessity, many
passengers by the National Road
stage COaChes-men who carried
large sums of money with them
for the purchase of lands-armed
themselves with a dozen or TWEEN
ty pistols in belt, and upon acca-
sion used them all.
But the stage coach travel was
the least of the traffic over the
National Road. Great numbers of
men went back and forth on horse
back, carrying each a pair of sad
dle-bags as his only luggage.
Still more important was the
wagon traffic. There were multi
tudes of emigrants who had loaded
all they possessed in the world into
canvas. covered wagons and had
set out for the land Of promise.
There we're also great freight
wagons, engaged in hauling goods
westward for the storekeepers who
had closely followed the emigrants,
to sell in the new country. These
freight wagons carried as many as
eight-thousand pounds of freight
each, and each was drawn by four
ar SIX horses.
Both the wagoners and the
horses must be housed and fed on
the journey, aud for their accom-
mediation wagon houses, as they
were called, were set up along the
road.
These wagon houses were often
no more than a mile or two apart,
and they did thriving business.
They had vast stables and still
larger stable yards, where the
horses could be curried, washed
and shod, for there was a smithy
at almost every one of them.
The accommodations of the mer
who drove the teams were far less
elaborate. They were rough
hardy men, unused to luxury
They were satisfied with the coars
est food if only there was enough
of it to meet the excessive de.
mands of their appetites, and
usually they preferred to sleep in
their own wagons, except wher
the weather was severely cold
They slept, as the most aristocrat.
ic stage-coach passenger did, al
! a