But A Difficulty Arose, Or Rather What Would Have Been A
Difficulty In England, For The Stage Was Full Both
Inside and out, and all
the passengers were desirous to reach Boston as speedily as possible.
However, a gentleman from
New England, seeing the anxiety of the young
girl to reach St. John, got out of the stage, and actually remained at the
little roadside inn for one whole day and two nights, in order to
accommodate a stranger. This act of kindness was performed at great
personal inconvenience, and the gentleman who showed it did not appear to
attach the slightest merit to it The novelty of it made a strong
impression upon me, and it fully bore out all that I had read or heard of
the almost exaggerated deference to ladies which custom requires from
American gentlemen.
After darkness came on, the tedium of a journey of twenty hours, performed
while sitting in a very cramped posture, was almost insupportable, and the
monotony of it was only broken by the number of wooden bridges which we
crossed, and the driver's admonition, "Bridge dangerous; passengers get
out and walk." The night was very cold and frosty, and so productive of
aguish chills, that I was not at all sorry for the compelled pedestrianism
entailed upon me by the insecure state of these bridges.
My young charge seemed extremely timid while crossing them, and uttered a
few suppressed shrieks when curious splitting noises, apparently
proceeding from the woodwork, broke the stillness; nor was I altogether
surprised at her emotions when, as we were walking over a bridge nearly
half a mile in length, I was told that a coach and six horses had
disappeared through it a fortnight before, at the cost of several broken
limbs.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 82 of 478
Words from 22179 to 22475
of 129941
