ers--the two young men smoking
like lime-kilns, and the old gentleman grumbling audibly. The thin young
woman is got upon the roof, by dint of a great deal of pulling, and
pushing, and helping and trouble, and she repays it by expressing her
solemn conviction that she will never be able to get down again.

'All right,' sings out the guard at last, jumping up as the coach starts,
and blowing his horn directly afterwards, in proof of the soundness of
his wind. 'Let 'em go, Harry, give 'em their heads,' cries the
coachman--and off we start as briskly as if the morning were 'all right,'
as well as the coach: and looking forward as anxiously to the termination
of our journey, as we fear our readers will have done, long since, to the
conclusion of our paper.

CHAPTER XVI--OMNIBUSES

It is very generally allowed that public conveyances afford an extensive
field for amusement and observation. Of all the public conveyances that
have been constructed since the days of the Ark--we think that is the
earliest on record--to the present time, commend us to an omnibus. A
long stage is not to be despised, but there you have only six insides,
and the chances are, that the same people go all the way with you--there
is no change, no variety. Besides, after the first twelve hours or so,
people get cross and sleepy, and when you have seen a man in his
nightcap, you lose all respect for him; at least, that is the case with
us. Then on smooth roads people frequently get prosy, and tell long
stories, and even those who don't talk, may have very unpleasant
predilections. We once travelled four hundred miles, inside a
stage-coach, with a stout man, who had a glass of rum-and-water, warm,
handed in at the window at every place where we changed horses. This was
decidedly unpleasant. We have also travelled occasionally, with a small
boy of a pale aspect, with light hair, and no perceptible neck, coming up
to town from school under the protection of the guard, and directed to be
left at the Cross Keys till called for. This is, perhaps, even worse
than rum-and-water in a close atmosphere. Then there is the whole train
of evils consequent on a change of the coachman; and the misery of the
discovery--which the guard is sure to make the moment you begin to
doze--that he wants a brown-paper parcel, which he distinctly remembers
to have deposited under the seat on which you are reposing. A great deal
of bustle and groping takes place, a