The Merry Past 



This, however, was not altogether without an excuse, 

 as it happened on a company's coach, where coachmen 

 were not allowed to " kick," and there was no other 

 way of getting an odd shilHng on a cold night. 



A little shouldering was generally winked at by 

 proprietors of coaches, especially of those which ran 

 at night. 



The life of a stage-coachman was, of necessity, a 

 hard one, whilst the lot of the men who drove at 

 night was often anything but enviable, exposed as 

 they frequently were to the worst vicissitudes of 

 weather, almost in solitude, with perhaps a solitary 

 passenger besides the guard, their team of a description 

 unfit to show by day — with rotten reins and worn-out 

 harness that not a few proprietors persisted in keeping 

 for work in the dark. \ 



Nevertheless, when guard and coachman pulled 

 well together, there was sometimes a good deal of fun 

 between supper and breakfast. 



Jack Myers, who drove the Glasgow Mail, was 

 especially noted for the fun which he managed to 

 extract from night work ; he was a jolly coachman, 

 who it was said went to a premature grave in the very 

 prime of manhood, killed by want of rest, a pretty 

 wife, and strong tea. 



The guards of coaches had not particularly agree- 

 able or lucrative posts ; some of them were so hard- 

 worked that they were half the time asleep. 



Those who went a moderate distance, sixty to 

 eighty miles out, were relieved by others, and had a 

 comparatively easy time of it, but others on coaches 



133 



