380 
RURAL HOURS. 
railway and canal, is the worst in the county. In summer, our 
roads are very good ; but for two or three weeks, spring and au- 
tumn, they are in a terrible state. And yet they have never been 
quite so bad as those in the clay soils of the western part of the 
State ; the year before the railroad was completed between Ge- 
neva and Canandaigua, a gentleman of the first village having 
business of consequence at the latter town early in the spring, 
was anxious to keep his appointment on a particular day, but he 
was obliged to give it up ; the road, only sixteen miles, was so 
bad, that no carriage would take him. He made a particular 
application to the stage-coach proprietors ; they were very sorry, 
but they could not accommodate him ; it was quite out of the 
question: "We have twelve stage-coaches, at this very moment, 
sir, lying in the mud on that piece of road !" Now we never 
heard of a coach being actually left embedded in the mud on this 
road of ours, bad as it is ; the passengers are often obliged to get 
out, and walk over critical spots ; the male passengers are often 
requested to get out " and hold up the stage for the ladies ;" often 
the coach is upset ; frequently coach, passengers, and all sink into 
the slough to an alarming depth, when rails are taken from the 
fences to " pry the stage out ;" but, by dint of working with a 
good will, what between the efforts of coachman, horses, and pas- 
sengers, the whole party generally contrives to reach its destina- 
tion, in a better or worse condition, somewhere within eighteen 
hours. They sometimes, however, pass the night on the road. 
Friday, 1 7 th. — Although the history of this county is so short, 
it has yet had several architectural eras. Without including the 
Indian wigwam, which has become only a tradition, specimens of 
half a dozen different styles are seen among us to-day. First in 
