Evening capital and Maryland gazette. (Annapolis, Md.) 1910-1922, 1917-12-24
The PASSING OF
THE LIVERY STABLE
Last Remnant Of the Stage Cohca
Period "One ltisses These
Things When One Re-
calls Them

ihat long low. rakish structure
which, until yesterday, as it were. and
- far as the memory OF the average
man runneth backward, abutted On
the main street or main travelled high
way through hamlet. village, town, and
city, and was known to resident and
stranger as a livery stable, has either
passed or is rapidly passing from the
scene. The passing has been so grad
ual as 10 have been scarcely notice.
able, and one is surprised to realize
that this institution has passed or is
in the last stage of its passage
Few can recall exactly when the
signs, 'i1iyery and Board Stable"
Livery and Sales Stable" Horses
for Hire and for Sale" Carriage and
Buggies for Hire" and so on, ceased
TO have interest, SO gently have the
former days merged with the present.
II seems no time at all. when one be-
ings to thing about it. since one paused
before passing the street entrance to
the livery stable TO let brougham,
victoria, landau, laudaulet, a phae-
ton, buggy, trap or sulky pass in
or pass out.
In the summer time there was al
ways the livery stable proprietor sit
ting in tilted chair on one side of the
archway and a town character sitting
in tilted chair on the other, and there
was the physician just turning in his
horse, or the preacher taking his out.
or the politician calling for his rig"
or the drummer" planning for a road
wagon and a driver for tomorrow
morning at six; and inside there was
the stamping of feet in the stalls, the
munching of feed at the manger, the
neigh of satisfaction, and the hard
breathing of the hostler as he cur
ried the horse that had done his mile
in 80 Then there was the return
Of the picnic outfit, and all the har-
Messing and embarrassing that made
up the two or three hours until the
last vehicle was in, the last horse
brushed down, the red light over the
Office window extinguished. the ward
politician departed for home, and TIL
big door closed for the night
AAG tANGkI Sh1NlC was t4G last ICIA~
nant of the stage-coach period. 1t
preserved, for three-quarters of a cen
fury in the United States, the tradi-
ton OF the inn. In the village and
the smaller town it was the resort OF
the masculine gossip and the small
politician. To be received into the
barn crowd" was a distinctions TO
be able to maintain ones place in it,
was to be considered some day, for
something, in the county convention.
The livery stable was a center of de-
mocracy. Every man, of any conse-
quence, dropped into ii and left his
opinion with the livery man, or with
one of the hostlers, or with one or
more of the regular patrons or sitters,
at least once in the course of week
There was no better place, in any
neighborhod or small community,
Few years ago, for gauging the trend
of popular opinion. than the livery
stable. In the winter time, the livery
stable Office, with its hospitable drum
or Straightforward stove would hold the
company until the livery man arose,
yawned, and said he guessed he'd
make for home
Nobody appears to have noticed the
gradual disintegration of the barn
crowd in politics, and few, as has
been said, seem to have observed the
gradual disappearance of the long.
low, rakish building that was stable
below and hayloft above, and that
was never complete without weather
vane outside and goat within.
In its place we have the garage;
instead of the odor of hay, there is the
smell of gasoline; instead Of the host
Ter, there is the chauffeur; instead of
the family carriage, there is the auto
mobile. There is nothing in the gar
age to invite sitters, or to hold group
Of gossips and politicians. The at
mosphere of hospitality, so character
istic of the livery stable, is absent,
the garage is no more inviting, as an
evening resort, than a machine shop.
One misses the scent of leather, the
clanking of bits, the straining at halt
ers. the sound of restless hoofs on the
floor, the soothing voice of the host
Ter, and the whinny of his favorite
horse.
That is, one misses these things,
when one recalls them. Christian
Science Monitor.