Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1878-07-25
English CabDies f"
AppletOn's JOurnal.l

For my part I prefer to linger
about the railway station, which
lies not far away; there is an almost
inexhaustible fund Of entertain
ment there. In the first place
there are the half-dozen or more
hackney-ca -carriages-or, as their pro.
prietors call them, "kebs"-ranged
in a row before the station door.
The drivers of these vehicles form
a little tribe by themselves; they
are in a chronic condition of mu-
tual jealousy, chaff and bicker;
sometimes serious feuds arise, hard
ly to be paci6ed otherwise than by
resort to fiSticufs; and yet, upon
the whole, they rub along comfort
ably enough. There is nobody
quite like an English cabbie; one is
at loss to imagine what he was
before he became what he is. His
costume is always incongruous, &C.
centric and desperately shabby; it
has a tendency to get massed
around his neck, whence it thins
away to scantiness at the extremi-
ties of the frame. His physical de-
velopment seems to follow the lead
of his clOthier, his shoulders ap-
pearing the sturdiest part of him,
while his LEGS are generally weak at
the knees, habby in the calf and
not much to boast of anywhere.
His face has commonly an apopletic
look, with blood shot eyes and a
we'll balanced capacity for the vivid
expression of either Servility, scorn
or wrath, these being the three
emotions in which every well-ap-
pointed cabbie must hold himself in
readiness at moments notice to
indulge. He has an extraordinary
facility in dubbing at his forelock
with his forefnger, and an
equally remarkable incapacity to
remember whereabouts upon his
person there is any proba-
bility of disinterring sixpence
change. When he captures a newly
alighted passenger from the train,
he takes no pains to disguise his
triumph over his less fortunate fel-
lows; but conveys his prize through
their midst with an insufierable
arrogance of demeanor, the sting of
which, one would think, could be
appeaSed only by blood. His leis-
ure half-hours are spent at the
neighboring "pub" when tuppences
are plentiful; or otherwise in loung-
ing Shout his vehicle, with his great
red hands squeezed into some of
his many pockets, oopversing with
his associates in a jargon only in.
termittently ineligible to alien
ears, ! should like to know lin a
general way) what they talk about,
After living together a few years,
they must have exhausted all topics
available from their previous expe-
rienoes; current events are, Of
course, exhausted and turned in
side out as fast as they OCCUR, they
never road, or think ahstraotly,
their jokes, their Sarcasms, their
humors, must be more threadbare
than their elbows. What, in the
name of mystery, can they find to
lay their tongues toy SO far as ]
have been able to make out, their
most unaVailing oolloquial diversion
oangists in trying who can most
frequently introduce the word
"bloody" into an ordinary sentence.
twenty-five per cent. is a moderate
proportion TO reach in rapid and
appropriated delivery; fifty pei
cent. is attained by experts with
OCCASIONAL hesitations; one hundred
per cent. is the achievement of q
few grand masters; but all these
pale before the inspiration Of ge
MUS of q certain small hoy, Whl
showed the way to two hpndred pei
cent. by TINS giving vent to hi
feelings at sight Of . circus wagon
! Z" Bloody hurrayI hur'blOOdy-ray!'