SNOW 49 



of the old race. He was a mail-guard for exactly 

 fifty-one years — beginning with Irish mail-coaches in 

 June, 1836 ; travelling over all parts of Ireland ; 

 suffering from exposure on roads blocked with snow- 

 drifts ; and winding up his long and arduous service in 

 June, 1885. 



Upset four times, and having, as he tells me, 

 adventures too numerous to mention, this fine old 

 survivor of the past recalls especially two violent 

 storms — of snow in 1838, and of wind in 1839 — which 

 respectively filled up the highroads with snow and 

 fallen trees, and for a time stopped all traffic. 



' Peter's in an awfu' feery-farry the nicht, neebers ; 

 ye wud think he was a mail-gaird,' says Ian Maclaren, 

 by the mouth of Drumsheugh. Thus, amongst other 

 ways, have the activity and devotion of the old race — 

 now alone represented by a solitary survivor or so — 

 of the mail-coaching days left marks both on history 

 and fiction. 



No doubt it was customary for guards and others to 

 give an inkling, when they could, at the post-office of 

 the presence of a Surveyor or other superior official 

 on the mail-coach. In Swansea it is a tradition that 

 a particular guard would, on such occasions, on 

 passing along the Strand, wind a special mot, as 

 Wamba did, on his horn, so that the knights of 

 the sorting- table within the post-office might have 

 warning that the foe was upon them before the mail- 

 coach reached the office door. 



The achievements of guards Cox and Moore are 



4 



