Hopkinsville Kentuckian. [volume] (Hopkinsville, Ky.) 1889-1918, 1917-11-08
In The Forties

How travelling is metamorphosed
these days to be surei Yet sowe men
-fond Of handling the ribbons" and
some women who want TO see the
scenery at their leisure" still regret
"the spanking bays and rocking stage
coach Of the past"
Here is the way the Allegheny noun
tains were crossed In 1s46:'
'1t was midwinter when we arrived
at Wheeling, and as the stage coach
was to start at FIVE o'clock in the morn
ing, no one thought Of going TO bed,
so we took our way through the frozen
streets to secure through tickets to
Philadelphia. II was pitch dark and
bitter cold-the damp, penetrating
weather that reaches the very marrow
| Of our bones.
"The little den, called by courtesy
the office, was filed with passengers as
damp, cold and III natuyed as ourselves.
There was q handful Of coal burning
| In a small crate and around II were
grouped the round-shouldered, unsym-
pathetic people who were 20 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 In our coach,
anyway
AT one side stood q table and on
II was coffee pot and cups, some sau-
sages frozen stiff and an unattractive
loaf of bread, over which presided
tail darlxy, who leaned against the wall
fast asleep. We were told that we
could get good breakfast twenty miles
away from Wheeling.
AT the appointed time the heavy
old coach came up and we all clam
bered In and slowed ourselves away
pellmeil. 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 a quiet nap. One
snore after another announced their
success in a few minutes six out Of
the nine passengers were oblivious Of
their misery.
mot being sleepy, studied the
snorers. A large fat man opposite me
had short, angry snore. He snored
30 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.
Someone of in a dark corner had q
genial way Of joining In as though he
snored merely to oblige the passen-
gers; but-the grand musician Of the
company sat opposite me. I never
heard anything approaching him either
for quality or compass. II was back
action snore, that began in a bold
| agitato movement suddenly brought up
with q jerk and ended In a whistle.
"The whole band was in full play
when we stopped, with a tremendous
jerk, and everybody awoke with Oaths
or Pshawsr over a bad jolt. The
summit gained, there was a sharp
crack of the whip, the horses started
and everybody was jerked violently
backward. Soon the chorus began
again, however, and ! Joined in till
the coach came to a full stop at the
stable where the horses were to be
changed.
"Stiff and sleepy and cramped from
sitting so long in one position, the sun
now rose and came in at all sorts Of
places, waking and binding everybody.
What a discontinued lot we were And
we all hated each other!
AT last. Breakfast! All! Hot
coffee, ham and eggs and buckwheat
cakes. The meal was not half over
before we were a band of brothers. |
We could not do enough for each other. |
All was harmony and peace"
Nor was that all, for they drove into |
a severe 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, driver frozen
stiff and assisted down from the box.
We do it now in six hours, in a COM
Portable bed, in a warm, well-lighted
car. Some modern imps' are mighty
good angels. EfsSzs''tz ~ ~; b.
Our chief loss has been the great,
cheerful, roaring open fires that people
had In those days. The domestic vic
tues began to decay when people were
reduced to sitting around hole in the