I Was
Roused Early By A General Thumping And Clattering, And, Making The Hasty
Toilette Which One Is Compelled To
Do when destitute of appliances, I
found the stage at the early hour of six ready at the door; and,
To my
surprise, the coachman was muffled up in furs, and the morning was
intensely cold.
This vehicle was of the same construction as that which I have already
described in Nova Scotia; but, being narrower, was infinitely more
uncomfortable. Seven gentlemen and two ladies went inside, in a space
where six would have been disagreeably crowded. Mr. Sandford preferred the
outside, where he could smoke his cigar without molestation. The road was
very hilly, and several times our progress was turned into retrogression,
for the horses invariably refused to go up hill, probably, poor things!
because they felt their inability to drag the loaded wain up the steep
declivities which we continually met with. The passengers were therefore
frequently called upon to get out and walk - a very agreeable recreation,
for the ice was the thickness of a penny; the thermometer stood at 35°;
there was a piercing north-east wind; and though the sun shone from a
cloudless sky, his rays had scarcely any power. We breakfasted at eight,
at a little wayside inn, and then travelled till midnight with scarcely
any cessation.
The way would have been very tedious had it not been enlivened by the
eccentricities of Mr. Latham, an English passenger. After breakfast the
conversation in the stage was pretty general, led by the individual
aforesaid, who lectured and preached, rather than conversed.
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