Mail Guai'ds. 5 1 



off the road down a lane in the snow. Things got 

 from bad to worse, so Jack had to be roused, and Joe 

 was pushed up the side of a sign-post on Jack's 

 shoulders, to " try and read the address." There was 

 not light enough to decipher much, and when they 

 reached a village (according to the song which Jim 

 Byrns wrote to their confusion), they " knocked long 

 and loud at a village church-door" by mistake for a 

 public-house. 



The coachman's fees were generally two shillings 

 for fifty miles, and some of them made 300/. a year. 

 It was, however, " light come, light go" with them, 

 as they were very fond of betting and card-playing. 

 One of them, who was rather a Malaprop in his 

 speech, accounted for losing all his winnings of one 

 evening, by saying that he was "positively discom- 

 pelled to play the last ensiling game!' They were 

 strictly the servants of the contractors, and looked 

 after the passengers' luggage, whereas the guards 

 were the servants of Government, and in full charge 

 of the mail and the bags. The appointment was 

 obtained through members of Parliament, who made 

 interest in due form with the Postmaster-General of 

 the day. An inspector of guards travelled four days 

 a week on the mails, and reported weak harness and 

 bad horses, and other shortcomings, to Government, 

 and the guards, who had half-a-guinea per week, 

 made all their private reports through him. For a 

 long time safety-drags were a subject of dispute be- 

 tween the contractors and the Post-Office, and they 

 were not adopted until the former made a very 

 decided stand on the point. Three guards were 

 especially well known and esteemed for their courtesy 

 on the road — Skaife, who was a great musician, more 

 especially on the bass violin ; Adam Burgess, who 

 died landlord of the Graham Arms, at Longtown ; 

 and Jim Byrns, who was for many years the station- 

 master at Preston. Jim's forte was verse-making 



E 2 



