The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1917-01-16
A Kiss In a
Coach
In the Days Before There
Were Railways
By F. A. mitchell

+ By F. A. mitchell !:
+ + +
l have always had fancy for look
ing back into the past for items con-
corning those from whom l have de-
scended. The doings Of these persons
who lived and moved and worked and
loved and quarreled, just as others Of
my family are doing today, have al
ways been Of interest to me. l have
before me a portrait Of one of my
grandfathers painted when he was the
age that l am now, and one would
suppose that he and l were twin broth
ers instead of being two generations
apart. He was young Ia the last CEN
fury, when the railroad was coming
into vogue as a mode of travel and
shortly before the use of electricity
In telegraphing Among family docu-
ments, of which l have collected a
great number, there is one written by
this gentleman which l prize more
than any Of the others. l give it Just
as he wrote it except for little ed
iting where he referred to himself, for
an photographer is always at a dis
advantage In this respect l need to
say that the writer at the time of the
happenings narrated was twenty-three
years old and considered handsome.
His narrative reads:
/ started to cross the Allegheny
mountains on a business trip to Gin
cinnati, then the principal city in the
west, and expected to be gone several
weeks, having planned to spend a
week in Cincinnati and week re-
turning. We left at 6 o'clock In the
morning from the Antlers' tavern,
there being eight insides and four out
sides on the coach.
There was some shifting Of passen-
gers during the day, and at evening
the positions Of those inside was as
follows-I give them minutely, for they
are pertinent to an understanding of
my narrative: sat on the front seat,
riding backward. There was one 9TH
er person on the seat with me, a mid
die aged lady. She sat on my left.
On the middle seat, facing me, but on
the other side of the coach, was an
elderly gentleman, eminently respect
able looking. The other two places on
the middle seat were occupied by a
young woman, very precise looking,
whom he called Amelia, and his
daughter, a girl of about eighteen. On
the back seat were a man and two wo-
men. do not describe them, for they
have no part In what l am going to
record.
The first night in coach is very I'M
comfortable; it is only when one gets
somewhat accustomed to the jolting
and has met with sufficient loss Of
sleep to render him hungry for slum-
Der that he can lose himself sitting
straight up and continually bumped.
But on this first night ascending the
mountains, having been up late sew
eral evenings preceding my departure,
slept fairly well. The horses were
obliged to proceed at a walk
In the middle of the night l was
awakened by pair of arms thrown
around me and a pair of lips pressed
against mine. My faculties not taking
In the situation at once, it did not i'm
mediately occur to me to detain who
ever kissed me, and by the time pro-
ceeded to do so it was too late The
arms about me were unlocked and the
lips removed from mine.
Not only was there no light In the
coach, but the night was very dark l
could not see my hand before my eyes.
All knew of the episode was by the
sense of touch. There was no doubt in
my mind that had been kissed by a
woman, but the principal evidence of
this was that the lips that were press
ed upon mine were soft and there was
no beard. Had the matter occurred
when my faculties were normally alive
doubtless I should have lain awake the
rest Of the night celebrating as to who
had favored me. AS it was, my deliber-
atoms, assisted by the monotonous
breathing, not to mention snoring, of
the passengers put me to sleep.
In the morning we stopped at tav-
ern, and after cold water thrown over
my face and a good breakfast of fried
chicken, various kinds of game and
buckwheat cakes, for which / expend.
ed Spanish silver half dollar, on re-
turning to the coach my adventure of
the night came back to me, exciting
not only curiosity, but other emotions
/ had scarcely seated myself when
made a careful survey Of those per
sons some one Of whom might have
given me the kiss.
There were three women sitting suf-
ficiently near me to have committed
the act There was the middle aged
lady beside me, whose name do not
know; there were Amelia and the young
girl, her niece, whom they called Agnes.
l did not doubt that one of the three
was the perpetrator. scrutinized the
face of each, but could see no trace of
guilt. The lady beside me and Amelia
met my gaze without a CULVER, but
Agnes, who sat opposite me. lowered
her eyes.
made up my mind that Agnes was
the culprit, partly from this bit of evi.
dence and partly because preferred to
believe that it was her red lips that
had been pressed upon mine. We had
all become well acquainted, and the
woman beside me was very cordial in
her manner toward me, while Amelia
was rather reserved. As to Agnes, she
acted as any young girl would have
acted toward a young man under SINH.
lar circumstances She certainly ap
peared to be the personification of In.
nocence. But still waters run deep,
and / am free to admit that was in
duenced by this adage.
The journey was especially interest
ing to me, because 1 had problem to
solve. reckoned that the guilty one
would betray herself before we arrived
at the Queen City of the West. But
the only one Of the three who could
have kissed me who showed a special
p-edisposition for me was Agnes, and
she gave no sign of guilt At all
events, it seemed to me that 1 had
made very favorable impression upon
her.
On arrival at Pittsburgh those of us
who were going further west took
steamboat to descend the Ohio river.
Among those who were aboard were
the elderly gentleman, whose name by
this time had learned to be Shotwell;
his sister and his daughter. In the
coach, crowded together as we were,
there was no opportunity for tete-a-
tete between me and Agnes, but on the
steamboat was plenty. We sat together
on the guards outside the ladies' cabin,
and at times on deck. The Ohio was
called by the early French settlers La
Belle Riviere, and justly so. At the
time of this journey, the autumn, her