The other day, as one of the coaches
which plies between Buxton and Manchester was ascending the hill near
Taxal, the coachman was accosted by an Irish woman with a child in her
arms, requesting him to "give her a ride". He replied, "that the
proprietors employed him to receive fares, not to give rides." upon
which she, pretending to find her pocket among the folds of her ragged
dress said, "Sure and have you change for a sovereign?". The coachman,
elated with the prospect of receiving his short fare, ordered her to get
on and he would furnish the change at Buxton. On arrival at the
destination, the woman alighted and was proceeding apace without
producing the coloured material, when the coachman, in a stentorian
voice exclaimed, "Hallo, you have not paid your fare." "Fare do you
mean, sir, sure and I have only a penny in my pocket." "Then why did you
ask me for change?" replied the coachman. "Sure and it was the change
that I wanted; the devil of a sovereign had I." The coachman, much
chagrined at the loss of his anticipated fare, at the request of a
passenger, allowed the woman for her craft, to proceed on her journey.
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