Old Christmas . r-rounded by an admiring throng of hostlers,stable-boys, shoeblacks, and those namelesshangers-on that infest inns and taverns, and runerrands, and do all kinds of odd jobs, for the privi-lege of battening on the drippings of the kitchenand the leakage of the taproom. These all lookup to him as to an oracle; treasure up his cantphrases; echo his opinions about horses and othertopics of jockey lore; and, above all, endeavourto imitate his air and carriage. Every raga-muffin that has a coat to his back thrusts hishands in the pockets, rolls in his gait, talks slang,and is an embr
Old Christmas . r-rounded by an admiring throng of hostlers,stable-boys, shoeblacks, and those namelesshangers-on that infest inns and taverns, and runerrands, and do all kinds of odd jobs, for the privi-lege of battening on the drippings of the kitchenand the leakage of the taproom. These all lookup to him as to an oracle; treasure up his cantphrases; echo his opinions about horses and othertopics of jockey lore; and, above all, endeavourto imitate his air and carriage. Every raga-muffin that has a coat to his back thrusts hishands in the pockets, rolls in his gait, talks slang,and is an embryo Coachey. Perhaps it might be owing to the pleasingserenity that reigned in my own mind, that Ifancied I saw cheerfulness in every countenancethroughout the journey. A stage coach, how-ever, carries animation always with it, and putsthe world in motion as it whirls along. Thehorn, sounded at the entrance of a village, pro-duces a general bustle. Some hasten forth tomeet friends; some with bundles and bandboxes. The Christmas Dinner: A Goodly and Gracious Assemblage of Countenances (See page 92) Zhe Stage Coacb 23 to secure places, and in the hurry of the momentcan hardly take leave of the group that accom-panies them. In the meantime, the coachman hasa world of small commissions to execute. Some-times he delivers a hare or pheasant;sometimesjerks a small parcel or newspaper to the door ofa public house; and sometimes, with knowingleer and words of sly import, hands to somehalf-blushing, half-laughing housemaid an odd-shaped billet-doux from some rustic the coach rattles through the village, everyone runs to the window, and you have glanceson every side of fresh country faces and bloom-ing giggling girls. At the corners are assembledjuntos of village idlers and wise men, who taketheir stations there for the important purposeof seeing company pass; but the sagest knotis generally at the blacksmiths, to whom thepassing of the coach is an event fruitful ofmuch speculat
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1900, bookdecade1910, bookpublishern, christmas, dinner
