2 70 STAGE-COACH AND MAIL IN DAYS OF YORE 



thus performed fifty-five years' service, and had 

 seen the business of the Post Office grow from 

 the one liundredweight of mail-matter in his 

 charge on tlie Cheltenham and AhcrystAvith Mail 

 at Christmas 1839, to the twenty tons despatched 

 from Paddington on Christmas Eve 1889. 



A very curious experience fell to the lot of 

 this veteran in 1887, when a revival of the old 

 days of the road took place, in consequence of the 

 Post Office deciding to send the London and 

 Brighton Parcel Mail by horsed van along that 

 classic highway instead of by rail. By the 

 Post Office agreement with the railway companies 

 of 1882, the year when the Parcel Post was 

 introduced, the companies Avere given 55 per 

 cent, of the total receipts ; but as it presently 

 appeared that this was an extravagant proportion, 

 and that the parcels could be conveyed by van 

 along the road at a much smaller cost, the road 

 service now in force was at length inaugurated, 

 on June 1st, 1887. 



To Nobbs, as the oldest guard in the service, 

 fell the distinction of acting in that capacity on 

 the Brighton Parcel Mail on its trial-trip. Again 

 he wore the gold-banded hat and the scarlet 

 coat, and sentimental souls not only provided 

 one of the old timepieces, but included a blunder- 

 buss in the equipment, while an even more 

 enthusiastic admirer of the bygone days pro- 

 duced a key-bugle, so that Nobbs might play 

 "Auld Lang Syne." He tried, but the attempt 

 was not a success. The results were feeble, in 



