I paid my fare at the
hotel at the rate of a sixpence a mile for about thirty-two miles,
and when the stage came, saw my name entered upon the "waybill,"
and got aboard with a beating heart.
Of that first ride of my life in a public conveyance, I remember
little. The stage was one of those old-fashioned rocking Concord
coaches, drawn by four horses. We soon left the snow-clad hills of
Delaware County behind, and dropped down into the milder climate of
Ulster, where no snow was to be seen. About three in the afternoon
the stage put me down at Terry's Tavern on the "plank-road" in
Olive. I inquired the way to Dr. Hull's and found the walk of about
a mile an agreeable change. The doctor and his wife welcomed me
cordially. They were old friends of my family. I spent a day with
them, riding about with the doctor on his visits to patients, and
making inquiries for a school in want of a teacher. On the third
day we heard of a vacancy in a district in the west end of the town,
seven or eight miles distant, called Tongore. Hither I walked one
day, saw the trustees, and made my application. I suspect my youth
and general greenness caused them to hesitate; they would consider
and let me know inside of a week. So, in a day or two, hearing of
no other vacancies, I returned home the same way I had come.
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