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318
The Royal Mail: Its Curiosities and Romance
·
James Wilson Hyde
63
Speed
was
of
the
first
consideration,
and
the
stoppages
at
the
wayside
stages
were
of
very
limited
duration.
At
an
inn,
the
travellers
would
hardly
have
made
a
fair
start
in
appeasing
their
hunger,
when
the
guard
would
be
heard
calling
upon
them
to
take
their
seats,
which,
with
mouths
full,
and
still
hungry,
they
would
be
forced
to
do,
though
with
a
bad
grace
and
a
growl--the
acknowledged
privilege
of
Englishmen.
A
story
is
told
of
one
passenger,
however,
who
was
equal
to
the
occasion.
Leisurely
sipping
his
tea
and
eating
his
toast,
this
traveller
was
found
by
the
landlord
in
the
breakfast-room
when
the
other
passengers
were
seated
and
the
coach
was
on
the
point
of
starting.
Boniface
appealed
to
him
to
take
his
place,
or
he
would
be
left
behind.
"But,"
replied
the
traveller,
"that
I
will
not
do
till
I
have
a
spoon
to
sup
my
egg."
A
glance
apprised
the
landlord
that
not
a
spoon
adorned
the
table,
and
rushing
out
he
detained
the
coach
while
all
the
passengers
were
searched
for
the
missing
articles.
Then
out
came
the
satisfied
traveller,
who
also
submitted
to
be
searched,
and
afterwards
mounted
the
coach;
and
as
the
mail
drove
off
he
called
to
the
landlord
to
look
inside
the
teapot,
where
the
artful
traveller
had
placed
the
dozen
spoons,
with
the
double
object
of
cooling
the
tea
for
his
second
cup,
and
detaining
the
coach
till
he
drank
it.
The
illustration
here
inserted,
from
an
old
print,
shows
a
passenger
securing
refreshment
on
a
cold
night.
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