Courier Democrat. (Langdon, N.D.) 1891-1920, 1916-12-14
S1ACECOACH DAYS
Travel Often Spelled Misery Be-
fore We Had Railways.
TALE OF A WINTER JOURNEY,
Discomforts and Hardships That Had
to Be Endured by the Passengers In
an Old Style Trip Across the Allie
gheny Mountains In f946.

10 oe endured ny tns Passengers In
an Old Style Trip Across the Allie
gheny Mountains In 1346.
How travelling is metumorphosed
these days, to be sure! Yet some men
fond Of handling the ribbons" and
scenery at their leisure" still regret
"the spanking bays and rocking stage
coach Of the past"
Here is the way the Allegheny noun
tains We're crossed in 1916:
ct was miuwintcr when we arrived
at Wheeling. and Us the stagccoach
was to start at 5 O'Clock in the morn
ing no one thought OF going to bed, so
WI took our way through the frozen
streets to secure through tickets to
Philadelphia. 1t was pitch dark and
bitter cold the damp, penetrating
weather that reaches the very marrow
Of Jul bones.
"Thc little den, called by courtesy
the office, was filled with passengers
rs damp, cold und Ill naturel as our
selves. There was Il handful Of coal
burning in a small CRATE, and around 1T
We're grouped the round shouldered.
unsympathetic people who were to be
our fellow passengers. They glanced
at us and closed UP all the open space
near the fire, as If to say: You don't
get in here, we can tell you. You have
no right to travel III our coach, any
way.
AT one side food Il table, and on 1t
vas Il coffee pot and cups. some sau-
saEcs frozen stiff and an unattractive
lo;f OF bread. over which presided a
tall darky. who leaned against the wall
fast asleep. We were told that we
could get q good breakfast twenty
miles away from Wheeling.
"At tho appointed time the heavy
old coach came up. and we all clam
bered In and slowed ourselves away
pell nell. a short way from town
there was a long Hill, up which the
horses toiled, so this gave us all time
to settle down for q quiet nap. One
snore after another announced their
success; in q few minutes six out Of
the nine passengers were oblivious of
their misery.
"Not being sleepy, l studied the M
crs. 4 large fat man opposite me had
q short. angry snore. He snored so
loudly that he woke himself up and
glared about him impudently, as
though he hoped they wouldn't make
that noise again.
The old lady who was crushing me
up in the corner snored deeply and con-
tentedly.
"Some one off in a dark corner had a
genial way of Joining in as though he
snored merely to obllge the passen-
gers; but the grand musician of the
company sat opposite me. l never
heard anything approaching him either
for quality or compass. 1t was a back
action snore that began in a bold agi-
tato movement. suddenly brought up
with a jerk and ended with a whistle.
"The whole band was in full play
when we stopped With a tremendous
jerk, and everybody woke up With oaths
Oh 'Pshaws! owe a bad jolt. The sum-
nit gained, there vas a sharp crack of
tho whip, the horses started, and ev
erybody was jerked violently back
ward. Soon the chorus began again.
however, and l joined in till the coach
came to a full stop at the table where
the horses were to be changed.
Stiff and sleepy and cramped from
sitting so long in Il position, the sun
now rose and came in at all sorts Of
places, waking and binding every
body. What a discontinued lot we
We're! And we all hated each other!
AT last, breakfast--ah, hot coffee,
ham and eggs and buckwheat cakes.
Tho meal was not half over before we
were a band Of brothers. We could not
do enough for each other. All was har-
mony and peace"
Nor was that all, for they drove into
q sever mountain storm and intense
cold, darkness: the horses fell on the
icy roads; the stage rocked wildly in
the wind and nearly blew over. Twen-
ty-four hours Of this, a driver frozen
stiff and assisted down from the box.
We do it now in six hours in a COM
Portable bed. in q warm, well lighted
ear. Some modern imps". are mighty
good angels.
Our chief loss has been the great
cheerful, roaring open fires that people
had in those days. The domestic viz.
tues began to decay when people were
reduced to sitting around u hole in the
wall or a gloomy metal register. with
out armchairs, stories. songs, grand
parents and little children roasting ar.
pies or popping corn-friends and stran-
gers dropping in and getting a warm
welcome. a place in the circle ana
what Spaniards call "the love of the
ire."-Baltimore News.
Nrso NL-.