,
connecting with one from that place to Litchfield, which took place
in 1808, was a capital event in its history. This made a considerable
strip of western Connecticut tributary to Poughkeepsie's trade.
"Over the turnpike went four-horse Concord stages, with berailed top
and slanting boot in the rear for trunks and other baggage. Each one
had the tin horn of the driver; and it was difficult to tell upon
which the driver most prided himself--the power to fill that thrilling
instrument, or his deft handling of the ponderous whip and multiplied
reins. Travelers to Hartford and Boston went over this route; and an
east and west through and way mail was a part of the burden. A sort of
overland express and freight line, styled the Market Wagon, ran in
and out of the town from several directions. One or more of these
conveyances started from as far east as the Housatonic River, and they
frequently crowded passengers in amongst their motley wares.
"Speaking of the stage-driver's horn recalls the fact that when the
steamboat arrived--which was so solitary an institution that for some
time it was distinctly called 'The Steamboat'--the tin horn did duty
also for it.
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