[Illustration: JOHN McILREE.] Mr. Endsley, before quoted, furnishes his juvenile opinion of stages and stage drivers, which was shared in by all the boys of the road, as follows: "My earliest recollections are intimately associated with coaches, teams and drivers, and like most boys raised in an old stage tavern, I longed to be a man when I could aspire to the greatness and dignity of a professional stage driver. In my boyish eyes no position in life had so many attractions as that of driving a stage team. A Judge, a Congressman, even Henry Clay or President Jackson, did not measure up to the character of John Mills and Charley Howell, in my juvenile fancy." The picture of the stage coach era herein drawn may be lacking in vigor and perspicuity of style, but it contains no exaggeration. Much more could be written concerning it, and the story would still be incomplete. It is sad to think that nearly all the old drivers, so full of life and hope and promise when pursuing their favorite calling on the nation's great highway, have answered the summons that awaits the whole human family, and of the vast multitude that witnessed and admired the dashing exploits of the old drivers, but few remain to relate the story. When the old pike was superseded by the railroad, many of the stage drivers went west and continued their calling on stage lines occupying ground in advance of the approaching railway. Others lingered on the confines of the familiar road, and fell into various pursuits of common life. Of these, some achieved success. As drivers they had opportunity for making acquaintances and friends. Hanson Willison was eminently successful as a local politician, and achieved the distinction of being twice elected sheriff of Alleghany county, Maryland. CHAPTER XXV. _Distinguished Stage Proprietors, Lucius W. Stockton, James Reeside, Dr. Howard Kennedy, William H. Stelle--Old Stage Agents, Charley Rettig, John Risley, William Biddle, James Coudy, Redding Bunting, Edward Lane, Theodore Granger, Charles Danforth, Jacob Beck, Daniel Brown, "Billy" Scott, "Lem" Cross, and B. W. Earl--The Pony Express._