CHAPTER XIV 



GOING BY COACH : BOOKING OFFICES 



Journeys l)y coach were entered upon by our 

 grandfathers with mucli deliberation. It was 

 not then a matter of suddenly making up one's 

 mind to go somewhere, and going accordingly, 

 with only a few minutes' preparation. The first 

 step Avas to book one's seat, a formality then 

 absolutely necessary, and in most cases some days 

 before the journey was proposed to be taken. 

 Only by doing so could one be sure of finding a 

 place. The nearest modern parallel to this custom 

 is the booking of passages on ocean steamers ; 

 and a relic of it may be observed every day at 

 every railway station where the name of " Book- 

 ins^ Office " instead of Ticket Office is a survival 

 — like that of the official railway designation of 

 carriages and passenger returns as "coaches" 

 and " coaching traffic " — of customs gone, never 

 to return. 



The passengers by coach were actually, as the 

 term implies, "booked." The booking clerk did 

 not merely give one a ticket in exchange for the 

 fare. He entered the passenger's name and all 

 necessary particulars in a huge ledger, and in 

 this identical manner the first railway passengers 



