CHAPTER IV COACHMEN 



A COACHMAN on his box was an autocrat 

 whose wish could not be disputed, and whose 

 sHghtest word on equine matters was law. His 

 sway on the road was absolute, and he and his 

 coach were familiar objefts, eagerly looked for day by 

 day, and the admired of all beholders. His acquaintances 

 were many, for though he might never exchange a word 

 with them from one year's end to another he had friends 

 in every village through which he passed. Pretty girls 

 ran to the windows to watch him go by, children waved 

 their caps and cried "Hurrah," shopkeepers hurried to 

 their doorways, whilst old men, whose life lay behind 

 them, watched expe6fantly for the coming of the 

 coach, and felt their sluggish blood leap at the exhilar- 

 ating sound of the guard's horn, and the merry rattle of 

 the bars as the coach dashed gaily by. 



Villages where the coaches changed horses were 

 greatly to be envied, for the coachman would dismount 

 and condescend to take a glass of his favourite beverage 

 from the barmaid, whilst he kept a professional eye on 

 the fresh team, and delivered words of weighty wisdom 

 on the subjeft of bits and coupling reins to the atten- 

 dant ostlers who hung on his words and envied him 

 enormously. 



Farmers' wives and daughters viewed him with great 

 respeft, as one to whom distance was naught, and whose 

 conne6fion with the city of London was constant and 

 intimate. Shopping in remote country distridls being 



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