The Hartford herald. [volume] (Hartford, Ky.) 1875-1926, 1917-01-03
AGECOACn DAYS
TfaveI Often Spelled Misery Be-
fore We Had Railways.
fALE OF A WINTER JOURNEY.

piseomforts and Fardships That Had
to es Endured by tho Passengers In
I'LL an Old style Trip Across the ALE.
iii eheny Mountains In 1886.
- How travelling Is metamorphosed
I'll these days, to be sure! Yet some men
I'll EE fond Of handling the ribbons and
some women who "want to see the
HI scenery at their leisure" still regret
''the spanking bays and rocking stage
coach Of the past"
Here is the way the Allegheny noun
Minis were crossed in 1916:
ut was mdwinter when we arrived
Mt Wheeling, end as the stagecoach
Twas to start at o'clock in the morn
~ ing no one thought of going to bed, so
We took our way through the frozen
VI al streets to secure through tickets to
I'M Philadelphia. 1t was pitch dark and
f& bitter cold - the damp, penetrating
weather that reaches the very marrow
)f our bones.
"The little den, called by courtesy
lit the office, was filed with passengers
as damp, cold and i'll natured as our
selves. There was a handful of coal
burning in small CRATE and around 1t
IA 'ere grouped the round shouldered.
Aosympathetic people who were to be
euS. passengers. They glanced
~ EC~sed up all the open space
kTfit to say You don't
kII I'm tell you. You have
.INyjIHss' in our coach any
Tone side stood a table, and on II
a coffee pot and cups, some sau.
lsages frozen stiff and an unattractive
floaf of bread over which presided
all darby, who leaned against the wall
iii asst asleep We were told that we
Sould get good breakfast twenty
/ tiles away from Wheeling.
Nj 'At the appointed time the heavy
Nj bid coach came up. and we all clam
bered in and slowed ourselves away
Ipell NELL A short way from town
| There was a long hill, up which the
1 horses toied, so this gave US all time
iii to settle down for a quiet nap. One
iii ksnore after another announced their
iii fIsuccess; in a few minutes six out of
HI the nine passengers were oblivious Of
Btheir misery.
III Not being sleepy, studied the snor-
M lf ers. A large fat man opposite me had
n r. ~ short angry snore. He snored so
III loudly that he woke himself up and
Mylared about him impudently, as
Hslone', -h2 ho?ed they wouldn't make
.Ia0 that noise again!
IEX The old lady who was crushing me
w up In the corner snored deeply and con-
tentedly.
I'll Some one off I'm dark corner had a
xE genial way Of joining in as though be
|IW snored merely to oblige the passen'
gers but the grand musician Of the
company sat opposite me. | never
heard anything approaching him either
~ for quality or compass. 1t was back
Az action snore that began in a bold agi-
nH ito movement, suddenly brought up
M jerk and ended with whistle.
Nfhe whole band was In full play
~ len we stopped with tremendous
Az and everybody woke up with oaths
Wpshaws! over a bad Jolt. The sum-
vmmiiaained, there was sharp crack OF
whip, the horses started, and ev
al body-w9s jerked violently back
q rd. Soon the chorus began again,
4 vever, and Joined in till the coach
ne to a full stop at the table where
a horses were to be changed
q 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 every
body What a Discontinued lot we |
yere And we all hated each other!
AT last, breakfast-ah, hot coffee. |
ham and eggs and buckwheat cakes. !
The meal was not half over before we |
were band of brothers. We could not |
10 enough for each other. All was har. |
II mony and peace"
Nor was that ALL for they drove into |
q severe mountain storm and intense |
cold. darkness; the horses fell on the |
Z lev roads; the stage rocked wildly in |
the wind and nearly blew over. Tween
ty-four hours of this driver frozen |
stiff and assisted down from the box. !
We do Il now In six hours In COM
Portable bed. IN warm well lighted |
car Some modern imps" are mighty
good angels.
Our chief loss has been the great |
cheerful, roaring open fires that people
bao in those days. The domestic vir-
tues began to decay when people were
reduced to sitting around hole In the
wall or a gloomy metal register. with
out armchairs, stories, songs, grand
parents and little children roasting ap-
pies or popping corn-friends and stran-
gers dropping In and getting warm
welcome, a place In the circle and
what Spaniards call "the love OF the
fre."-BaltimOre News.
Quite Change.
n