Omaha daily bee., 1920-03-06
Old Time Horsemen Mounted
NGQs From Tipping Blocks"
From the Christian Science Monitol

In the old days before coaches came into
general use along the great roads men Jared BY
the united efforts of themselves and their sturdy
nags along the length and breadth of the land.
The hardy horsemen, Injured to all kinds of
weather, bumped manfully in the saddle, and
thought no hardship of the necessity. Long after
coaches ran regularly the robust country gen.
tlemen continued to ride long distances on horse
back, scorning to be as they thought, "effemi-
nate" and for many year the farmers con-
tinued not only in the saddle, but they took their
sweethearts and wives with them, riding on a
pillion behind. Indeed, there was the time when
ladies, who did not possess Carriages, and who
could not themselves manage horse rode pill
lion behind servant. A survival of that custom
is to be seen today in the waistbet worn by
grooms. 1t is relic of the days when the lady
occupied the plion and laid hold of her man
servants waistbelt
1t must be that many of those staid travellers
OF olden time were not as agile as the modern
thrusting the left foot into the strrup and fling
ing the right leg over the saddle.
Those portly riders of ancient times de-
nanded chair or stool placed as mounting
aid in front of the house; and along the road
side mounting stones, or. upping- blocks, were
cident bk forced to dsmount, he could regain
his seat In the saddle. Many Of these stones
yet stand in the British Isles. Along the Great
North road there remain several upping-blocks,
notably one at the thirty-fourth milestone from
London; another is found at Wamsford Bridge
stand. on the grassy highway between Banby
and Northampton, bearing the inscription
Thomas Hight (or Kight) 1889"
But the most remarkable, for its size, of
these old relics is the great standing stone at
Jackaments Bottom, four and one-half miles
Way branches off to the left, leaving that broad
and well Travelled high road, the road to Tet-
bury. From this point to Bath, the Fosse Way
is in long stretches entirely deserted, and has
been for over one hundred years. None seek
to 20 that way save the hardy explorer in sum-
memorlally ancient track, and then the effort
demands some determination, for the grass
grows knee high and here and there thickets
have overgrown what was once road
In the hollow called "Jackaments Bottom"
stands an old, substantially built stone FARM
house. # was once an inn 1t stood there,
strategically, so to say, at the parting of two
roads to advantage in securing the custom of
travellers along both.
Very rough and battered in the old stone
outside this sometime hostery, and it is cut
out of coarse grained stuff. so that it is diff
ton is mostly in the old Gothic type of letter
ing; it is also in Latin, the words of the farmer
respecting it, mo one can read it" are UNDER
standable, if not quite correct Some of us can.
It is "Adsu placere, Gratia E. B., 1866" which
take to mean BE pleased to mount By grace
Cor favor) of F. b. No record survives to tell
us who was this person who SO quantity pro-
'vided for the travellers of lS4 years ago, but it
seems likely that he was one of the Biddulph
family, who owned land in this neighborhood.
The stone stands over four feet high, with
flve steps, far taller than necessary for mount
ing horse. 1t was. in fact, intended for the
use of passengers climbing to the roof of a
coach