COACHING DAYS AND WAYS 



and begone!*" **By all means; you will be much 

 gratified. It is done with a quickness and ease almost 

 incredible to anyone who has only read or heard 

 of it ; not a buckle or a rein is touched twice, and 

 still all is made secure ; but use becomes second 

 nature with us. Even in my younger days it was 

 always half an hour's work — sometimes more. There 

 was — 'Now, ladies and gentlemen, what would you 

 like to take ? There's plenty of time, while the 

 horses are changing, for tea, coffee, or supper ; and 

 the coachman will wait for you — won't you, Mr. 

 Smith?' Then Mr. Smith himself was in no hurry; 

 he had a lamb about his coach for one butcher in the 

 town, and perhaps half a calf for another, a barrel 

 of oysters for the lawyer, and a basket of game for 

 the parson, all on his own account. In short, the best 

 wheel of the coach was his, and he could not be 

 otherwise than accommodating." 



* The coach arrives at Staines, and the ancient 

 gentleman puts his intentions into effect, though he 

 was near being again too late ; for by the time he 

 could extract his hat from the netting that suspended 

 it over his head, the leaders had been taken from 

 their bars, and were walking up the yard towards 



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