Old wagoners, as a class, were robust, hardy, honest and jovial. But one of the long list is remembered as a criminal. His name was Ben Pratt, and he belonged to Philadelphia. He turned out to be a counterfeiter of coin and currency, and suffered the punishment that all counterfeiters deserve. Many old wagoners were fond of fun and frolic, but very few of them were intemperate, although they had the readiest opportunities for unrestrained drinking. Every old tavern had its odd shaped little bar, ornamented in many instances with fancy lattice work, and well stocked with whiskey of the purest distillation, almost as cheap as water. In fact all kinds of liquors were kept at the old taverns of the National Road, except the impure stuff of the present day. The bottles used were of plain glass, each marked in large letters with the name of the liquor it contained, and the old landlord would place these bottles on the narrow counter of the little bar, in the presence of a room filled with wagoners, so that all could have free access to them. None of the old tavern keepers made profit from the sales of liquor. They kept it more for the accommodation of their guests, than for money making purposes. There was probably a tavern on every mile of the road, between Cumberland and Wheeling, and all combined did not realize as much profit from the sales of liquor in a year as is realized in that time by one licensed hotel keeper of Uniontown, at the present day. When, at last, the Conestoga horse yielded up the palm to the Iron horse, and it became manifest that the glory of the old road was departing, never to return, the old wagoners, many of whom had spent their best days on the road, sang in chorus the following lament: "Now all ye jolly wagoners, who have got good wives, Go home to your farms, and there spend your lives. When your corn is all cribbed, and your small grain is good, You'll have nothing to do but curse the railroad." CHAPTER XXI. _Stage Drivers, Stage Lines and Stage Coaches--The Postilion--Changing Horses--He comes, the Herald of a Noisy World--Pioneer Proprietors--Peter Burdine and his Little Rhyme--Anecdote of Thomas Corwin--Johny Ritter--Daniel Brown, his sad Ending--Soldier Drivers--Redding Bunting--Joseph and William Woolley--Andrew J. Wable--James Burr._