The evening times. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1906-1914, 1911-12-27
(Hartford Courant.)

(Hartford Courant.)
In the review that improvidently
called itself the Nineteenth Century
and now wishes 1t hadn't. Walter Gil
the changes he has seen with his own
eyes in merry England.
He remembers wildly the brisk life
OF the Essex roads In the days Of the
coaches (Which Dickens loved) and
the dog carts. The ban of the law
drove the latter of the roads in 1854.
but before that they were as common
GUM. "All sorts and conditions Of
men used dog carriages." says Mr..
Gilbey; the small farmer to carry his
milk or vegetables to market. tho
tradesman to distribute his goods. the
pedlar to hawk his manifold wares
about the country, the carrier Of small
parcels, and the poorer people who
had to considerable distances
and could not afford to keep ponies
Usually two dogs drew the cart. They
were sturdy mongrels. las big as Il
~ioxhnund but stronger and moro
heavily built" and speedy: on a down
grade horses could not keep up with
them. Usually they were neither
treated with cruelty o ovcrworked.
The owners Of the public coaches
hated the dog carts because they d.
AeSAStst ~ lSSSeJlSu pI(I1IS.
rlle man on the coach hoX hated then.
too: they m%aliciously got in his way.
Nothing angered the coachman-
bound by a time-bill-so much as
wanton obstruction Of this kind. and
the cue between driver of horses and
driver of dogs a high Correspond
ingly great was coachy's glee when
parliament prohibited the use of dogs
Tor draught work. He did not know
that his own day Of doom was at
hand:
AS. school boy at Chelmsford. Mr..
Gilbey watched the building Of the
Eastern Counties (now Great Eastern;
railway. and was at its opening in
1889. He recalls the later cut-throat
competition between the Great East
srn n Great Northern: often he
bought a Bishop Stafford to-London
return ticket for half a crown. AS to
what the company gave him for his
half crown he says:
IT must be allowed that the accom-.
modation--particularly third class
was OF the rudest description. The
open. roofless passenger trucks were
soon done away with. but the long
cattle pen" carriages are remen,
hered by travellers much Younger
than myself. The luggage was piled on
the rallied roof. after the fashion OF
the slow road coach, and might be
covered over or might not: n need
ed a stout trunk to withstand the
usage of the railway in its early DAYS.
The trains were slow. the permanent
way indif1erently laid. and the light
ing Of carriages-when that improve
ment was made-wretchedly bad. AL
together. the traveller Of the fortics
and ffties had some reason for pre-
ferring the coach with ills he knew
to the railway with ills he knew not"
Mr.. Gilbey remembers the coming
of the telegraph. OF course: that was
lin England-an event of 1888 or
1889. In the first ears the service
was unsatisfactory: it cost too much.
delays and errors were too frequent.
The telegraph wire was not freely
used-even by business men-in the
sixties" We are told. The wire was
a help to the police. though, as the
wireless is now: 1t caught John Tawell,
who had poisoned a Salt Hill woman.
n whose counsel on the trial strove
to persuade the jurors that the pips
Of apples she had eaten were respon-
sible for the prussic acid found in her
stomach. Two paragraphs of the
"reminiscences are devoted to the Law
ing of the first submarine cables; but
that is an old story.