To a certain extent, what were termed "shorts" were allowed, as it was customary for all passengers' fares not exceeding two shillings to be the perquisite of the coachman and guard on coaches, and of the latter only on mails, as he was the servant of the proprietors, carrying the way-bill and having charge of the parcels. The Post-office guard was occupied with his bags; but his was a rather anomalous position, receiving only the munificent sum of ten shillings and sixpence a week from the Post-Office, and being supposed to eke out a living by fees from the passengers, to whom he had little or no time to attend. Of quite late years, however, this was corrected, and the few who were then employed were more liberally dealt with. They received as much as seventy pounds a year from the Post-Office; but then they were not supposed to take fees from the passengers, or, at any rate, not to ask for them. So much was this system of "shorts" an acknowledged thing, that I have had two shillings handed to me by the book-keeper as I was getting on to my box, with the following remark, "I took it from him, thinking he might fork out something more when he gets down." These perquisites, however, were not altogether untaxed, as coachmen were expected to subsidize the wages of the horse-keepers to the amount of one shilling a week, and sometimes more. Talking of parcels brings to my mind a rather comical scene I once witnessed. It so happened that one day I came across one of the "Tourist" coaches, running between Caernarvon and Dolgelly, which had pulled up at a wayside inn about thirteen miles from Tan-y-bwlch. I was attracted by the coachman, whose name was, if I recollect rightly, Roberts, intently studying the address on a small parcel. It evidently caused him great trouble to decipher it, as he first turned it up, and then he turned it down, but neither right side up nor wrong side up could he satisfy himself, and, at last, looking up and seeing me, he came for assistance out of his difficulties, saying he was not a very good scholar. When I looked at the address, I said, "You should have left this at Tan-y-bwlch." "Well, dear me," said he, "that was a bad job; indeed, it is doctor's stuff." CHAPTER XVI. WHERE DID THEY ALL GO TO? Having indicated to some extent the sources from which the great demand for coachmen were supplied, I will venture to dwell, for a moment, and not without feelings of regret, on the subject of their no less rapid disappearance from the scene. It will, I am aware, have little or no interest to many: well, then, let them skip it; but some there may be, into whose hands this little volume finds its way, who have sufficient remembrance of old days to be interested in it, and, at any rate, it shall not occupy much space.