Saturday, October 17, 2009

London Ohio 1856

1856 letter from J W Low in London, Ohio, to his friend J M Post in E Lebanon, New Hampshire. The 1st page is devoted to friendly banter about his school, friends, and other matters. The remainder involves a detailed description of a runaway horse ride. " we stopped at a store to get something, and when we started away, the horse began to canter. I drawed in the reins to stop him and hauled him up so quick that the sleigh ran onto his heels and he started off as fast as he could gallop, in spite of all I could do to stop him. When I tried to stop him, the sleigh hit his heels worse. I kept him right in the road. I met 2 or 3 loads of hay- like to run into one of them. After he had ran about 2 miles Mother jumped out into t he snow. It never hurt her a mite. I hung to the sleigh. All I could do was to let her go after running between four or five miles I overtook a man with a load of cornstalks. I sung out to him to stopand ran right square into him. It never hurt the horse or myself any, and all that it hurt the sleigh was it broke one of the shafts. I got out and turned round the horse and sleigh and started back. After going a little ways I saw the man who owned the team coming after me on horseback on the gallop. We exchanged horses and started back-more content about Mother, and her fate.

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