The Marion daily mirror. (Marion, Ohio) 1892-1912, 1908-11-17
THE Old STAGE DRIVER
Making His Last Stand in the
Far West.
RAILROADS PUSHING HIM
Wherever He Is Found He Is Still
An important PersoH--Exeite.
ment OF His Arrival--Little Nice,
ties Of His Profession Set Forth
In a Granhic Manner


mont OF His Arrival--Little Nice
ties Of His Profession Set Forth
In a Graphic Manner.
It is only in isolated regions of the
West where the thing we call civil
ization, has by chance neglected its
duties, as the plowman leaves weedy
patches in the corners of the field,
that the cowboy may still be found
unspoiled; and IL Is even q rarer for,
tune to encounter stage driver
whom, readers of Bert Harte could
recognize. What the homesteader and
the sheepman have done to the one,
the railroad has done to the other:
and the sadness of Fastening extinc-
ton hangs over them both a4
8 Here is Estes Park-happy. unrail
roaded land!--the coming o, of ~ the
stage Is daily happening, in which
every inhabltant takes an interest SO
keenly personal that the event ITSELF
as well as the interest, becomes spec
tacular. ,.f .,a l.u..
Toward 4:30 o'clock anxiety sits
gaunt upon every countenance. viii
the stage be late? Somebody who
drove over Park Hill in the morning
said the roads were heavy A freight.
er from Lyons was stuck for three
hours on the other side of the pass.
The outlook grows gloomier every
minute, and all eyes are strained
with gazing at the dusty road toward
M
the shoulder of a hill. It needs no
over fanclful inclination to conceive.
after listening to impatient exclama.
: tions on all sides. that the continued
toierabiiity of many lives, as we'll as
the further existence OF Estes Park
as a habitable place, depends upon the
arrival Of that stage, with Its pouches
of mail. No one may know the golden
increments OF expectancy who has
not waited for a letter by STAGE,
A boy (of course) perched precar-
iously on the, roof of the store first
describes the stage whirling In its
nimbus Of dust around the promon-
tory; Upon his shout the groups sud
denly rearrange themselves and the
relaxation Of facial muscles presages
new faith In the ultimate worth Of
human existence Meanwhile the
stage, in q kind Of final fury OF speed,
careens grandly up the strotch of
road, sweeps through the open space
ordered by the postmaster, makes an
elated swing for position, and stops at
the postoffiee door with the wheels
within an inch of the steps, but never
grazing them. To have scraped them
would have been a humiliation from
which the driver never could have
recovered.
The mail and the passengers ont,
the driver takes his tired team to the
stable, and then loses no time return.
ing afoot TO the postoffice, where, hay-
ing accepted one of many proffered
cigars, he deigns to make Spartan-like
replies to the volumes of questions
and tentative remarks timfdIy ad-
dressed to him. He is a good fellow
at heart, tolerant of the common
world, and willing at times to enter
tain with speech as well as deeds. y
But to,tay is not his day for loqua,
city. Down at Lyons, where the Bur.
lington ends he heard bit of news
that one Of the proposed branch lines
Of the railroad now building will prob
ably have Estes Park for its terminus
and his heart Is filed with sadness.
BY and by the crowd, seeing his mood.
leave him to his reflections, and the
ieDartinR naonle hurryinQ awav hv