OF FARRIERY. 



;J4I 



ffetirallyj I fear Pet had but a rough journey 

 of it. 



Setthng the dog dispute took up so much 

 time that I only had an opportunity of getting 

 my bill right, but I was soon on my box, and 

 bowling away at the rate of ten miles an hour. 

 We were but light, and before we got the 

 first stage I had time to see What kind of 

 passengers we had. Jem had in the basket a 

 young fresh, rather good-looking lass, whom 

 he seemed to be " nuts" upon, and an old 

 git; - heaCw^l man and his son, regular " yokels" 

 in appearance. Behind me sat a Qnaker, in 

 a broad brim, reading the last number of the 

 Mechanics' Mag. ; beside him a tawdry 

 dressed, but not ill-looking young woman, 

 evidently going on speculation to a watering- 

 place, and very anxious for the safety of a 

 wagon load of band-boxes, &c. which lum- 

 bered the roof of the coach. Besides her was 

 a stout ruddy Sporting grazier, whose time 

 was pretty equally divided between his fair 

 but frail companion and the splendid team that 

 was taking him in such style over the ground : 

 on the box was seated a quiet gentlemanlike 

 man, who you would swear dressed in the 

 country in " long black gaiters and kept tame 

 rabbits." Such were my companions. 



" Friend driver," said the Quaker (after we 

 had gone about a dozen miles), touching me 

 on the shoulder, " thy vocation will soon be 

 over, and I am sorry for thee ; for thou ap- 

 pearest to be a quiet, shrewd, and well-ordered 

 young person, thoui!,h somewhat too gay 

 in thy attire." "What, Sir!" I replied; "I 

 am not aware of having given offence to my 

 employers, and I have driven this drag for 

 some years." " No, no, friend ! thou mis- 

 understandest me. I did not allude to thy 

 ;.onduct, for that, I doubt not, is well pleasing 



to thy masters ; nay, verily I myself was well 

 pleased in the way thou didst contrive to 

 manage the old woman in the conveyance, who 

 men call Lady Blueskin, in the matter of her 

 dog, by the apt story of the pig ; although I 

 do not think the scarlet-coated individual 

 behind me approveth thereof" " Then why, 

 Sir, may I ask, should I lose my situation, as 

 your words would imply?" "Why, friend, 

 art thou not aware that the rail-road, of which 

 such talk has long been, when completed, will 

 drive thee fiom thy seat? but if thou likest, 

 as I know friend Fillbubble, one of the Direc- 

 tors, I will recommend thee (on thy making 

 thyself master thereof) to the situation of 

 stoker." " Stoker !" cried the g^razier ; " danff 

 it, what's that?" " Stoker !" half exclaimed 

 the gay-dressed damsel. " Stoker !" repeated 

 1 ; " pray. Sir, wliat may that be ?" " Stoker, 

 friend," replied the Quaker, " is the name 

 given to the individual who attends to the fire 

 of the locomotive engine, to regulate its speed, 

 as thou dost that of thy horses." " And, in 

 fact, I suppose. Sir, stirs it up to a gallop to 

 make up lost time ?" " Thou art not far wrong, 

 I confess, although I think gallop can hardly 

 with propriety be applied to the velocity of an 

 engine." " Why not. Sir ? When we say the 

 water in the kettle boils a gallop, it would, 

 surely be more correctly applied to the speed 

 of a carriage : and though I thank you for your 

 good wishes, I hardly think I shall avail my- 

 self of your kind otter of service on the rail- 

 road." "Nay, friend, I would not press thee 

 on this head ; and verily I should almost re- 

 gret to see one who handles his reins so well, 

 stirring up a fire like a man-cook." 



The grazier, who by this time seemed in- 

 terested in the conversation, and who, I found 

 afterwards, had been on the Liverpool and 

 4 R 



