Charlottetown from — 1849. dailies and weeklies. As they came and went they were vital instruments in the development of colonial public opinion and the consequent enrichment of colonial life. And they were the forerunners of the City's modern papers, The Examiner, first published in 1847, and The Patriot and The Guardian which appeared in 1864 and 1872 respectively. By mid-century Charlottetown had become a busy town of wooden houses and stores, wide streets, and numerous squares. The houses were close to the streets in the old section near and situated in spacious grounds further north. They were heated by coal and wood fires and lighted first by tallow candles and later by gas. All had outdoor plumbing, stables, woodsheds and summer kitchens. The streets were muddy in spring and fall, dusty in summer, and at times snowbound in winter. Their condition was always one of the main causes of civic complaint. There were not many sidewalks, although a few enterprising citizens and merchants constructed plank sidewalks in front of their own premises. "People going out at night," one old-timer records "generally carried lanthorns, especially in the spring and fall when it was hardly safe to venture without them for fear of getting stuck fast in the mud, which would be at times a foot or more deep." All traffic was by horse and wagon or cart, and every store and dwelling had its rail or hitching post and big building its shed to serve the parking needs of the day. The maintenance of law and order developed slowly through the efforts, first of the local militia, and later of town constables. As in most colonial seaports, rum was both plentiful and cheap and the celebrations of the day fre- 23