"In the old times they didn't have wheels, but a sort of cart with the ends of the shafts carried out behind and dragging on the ground. In fact, the cart was nothing but two young trees, and the roots dragged, and the tops were fastened to the horse. When they wanted to move a heavy weight they used four trees, and lashed the middle ones together." "No carts or waggons, then?" "Only one waggon in the parish, and that your grandfather's, and that could travel only on the high-road. Not many other conveyances either." It is a marvel to us how the old china and glass travelled in those days; but the packer was a man of infinite care and skill in the management of fragile wares. Does the reader remember the time when all such goods were brought by carriers? How often they got broken if intrusted to the stage-coaches, how rarely if they came by the carrier. The carrier's waggon was securely packed, and time was of no object to the driver, he went very slowly and very carefully over bad ground. The carrier's life was a very jolly one, and few songs were more popular in the west of England than that of _The Jolly Waggoner_-- "When first I went a-waggoning, a-waggoning did go, I filled my parents' hearts with sorrow, trouble, grief, and woe; And many are the hardships too, that since I have gone through. Sing Wo! my lads, sing wo! Drive on, my lads, heigh-ho! Who would not live the life of the jolly waggoner? It is a cold and stormy night, and I'm wet to the skin, I'll bear it with contentment till I get to the inn, And then I'll sit a-drinking with the landlord and his kin. Sing Wo! &c. Now summer is a-coming on--what pleasure we shall see! The small birds blithely singing, so sweet on every tree, The blackbirds and the thrushes, too, are whistling merrily. Sing Wo! &c. Now Michaelmas is coming--what pleasure we shall find! 'Twill make the gold to fly, my lads, like chaff before the wind, And every lad shall kiss his lass, so loving and so kind. Sing Wo! &c." Since the introduction of steam two additional verses have been added to this song-- "Along the country roads, alas! but waggons few are seen, The world is topsy-turvy turned, and all things go by steam, And all the past is passed away, like to a morning dream. Sing Wo! &c. The landlords cry, What shall we do? our business is no more, The railroad it has ruined us, who badly fared before; 'Tis luck and gold to one or two, but ruined are a score. Sing Wo! &c." The leathern belt worn by the groom nowadays is the survival of the strap to which the lady held, as she sat on a pillion behind her groom. The horses ridden in those days must have been strong, or the distances not considerable, and the pace moderate, for to carry two full-grown persons cannot have been a trifle for a horse on bad roads.