Page:Historic highways of America (Volume 10).djvu/129

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STAGECOACHES AND FREIGHTERS
129

where they stopped, tended to separate them into a class by themselves. These wagonhouses were far more numerous than the taverns along the road, being found as often as one in every mile or two. Here, in the commodious yards, the weary horses and their swarthy Jehus slept in the open air. In winter weather the men slept on the floors of the wagonhouses. In summer many wagoners carried their own cooking utensils. In the suburbs of the towns along the road they would pull their teams out into the roadside and pitch camp, sending into the village to replenish their stores.

The bed of the old road freighter was long and deep, bending upward at the bottom at either end. The lower broad side was painted blue, with a movable board inserted above, painted red. The top covering was white canvas drawn over broad wooden bows. Many of the wagoners hung bells of a shape much similar to dinner bells on a thin iron arch over the hames of the harness. Often the number of bells indicated the prowess of a teamster's horses, as the custom prevailed, in certain parts, that when a team became