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Rh tling 'Quicksilver,' O swift 'Defiance?' You are passed by racers stronger and swifter than you. Your lamps are out, and the music of your horns has died away."

In the old coaching days the passenger- and mail-coaches were operated very much like the railways of today. A vast network of lines covered the land. Great companies owned hundreds of stages operating on innumerable routes, competing with other companies. These rival stage companies fought each other at times with great bitterness, and competed, as railways do today, in lowering tariff and in outdoing each other in points of speed and accommodation. New inventions and appliances were eagerly sought in the hope of securing a larger share of public patronage. This competition extended into every phase of the business—fast horses, comfortable coaches, well-known and companionable drivers, favorable connections.