Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange EventsBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
History
Yorkshire Oddities, Incidents, and Strange Events
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Legends -- England -- Yorkshire; Yorkshire (England) -- Miscellanea
They found the waggon was very heavily loaded, having among other things
several very long fir planks. There was some difficulty in getting Mrs.
Nicholson mounted, but at length she got squeezed in, and reclining
herself on the planks, endeavoured to compose herself to sleep. But what
with the jolting of the waggon and the confined space into which she was
squeezed being insufficient for her huge person, her limbs became
completely cramped; and this, with the excessive closeness of the place,
for the waggon was covered with canvas, made Mrs. Nicholson ill.
Reaching out her arms in the dark, she seized her companion by the hair,
and exclaimed, "Oh, I am dying! Oh, do get the man to stop! Oh, do, or I
shall die in this confounded waggon." In vain did her companion beg she
would relinquish her hold of her hair, telling her if she did not
release her she could not get to the front of the waggon to make the man
hear. The only reply was, "Oh, I am dying! Get a knife out of your
pocket and cut the cover open." At length her companion succeeded in
disengaging herself from Mrs. Nicholson's grasp, and scrambling over the
various packages in the waggon, attracted the attention of the waggoner,
who immediately stopped his horses, and did all in his power to render
the situation of the travellers a little more comfortable. They arrived
at Barnard Castle about nine in the morning. Here the driver said they
would remain until noon, and then proceed to Brough.
Mrs. Nicholson told the landlady of the house where the waggon stopped
how ill she had been on the road; that she could not afford to travel by
a better conveyance; that she could not take any refreshment except a
cup of tea, and that she had plenty of eatables with her in her basket.
The kind landlady looked at her as if she sincerely pitied her, and
said, "Well, never mind, you shall have a kettle boiled, and you shall
make yourself comfortable. I will charge you nothing for it." She then
showed the travellers into a neat little room, and said she hoped when
Mrs. Nicholson had taken some tea, and had a little rest on the sofa,
she would be able to proceed on her journey as soon as the waggon was
ready.
They arrived in safety at Brough, intending to proceed on their journey
next morning. But in the morning she was very ill. She had been little
accustomed to exercise for some time before, and the long and toilsome
journey in the waggon had been too much for her.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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