Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1879-01-23
lNOLD DSTREBF.CiR DRIVER.

dCq idliittiilNS " III NAOiiA AsliS = -
Exchange ordinary salutations il
'fpassing, but as a man with whom
II was intimate, and knew jus
how he lived and what he liyeC
Cor. 9s
] considered that / haditakeI
him in some curious way into
Imy confidence. In winter ant
summer, rain, sunshine, storm
during light and darkness, ST
mon Lindsay passed the door of
my residence twelve times day
six round-tl'ips. Idon'tthinl
he even missed a Sunday.
/ always nodded to him, at first
to stop the car, but subsequent
ly in less formal manner, till al
length we bobbed our heads al
each other in quite a frateinal
way, and. though, as I said be-
fore, we never exchanged words
for years, l considered myself
quite well acquainted with this
particular driver.
Il is impossible for man who
takes an interest in his fellows not
to single out one here and there,
from the people we. see to whom
he becomes particularly attached.
Simon Lindsay was not an at
tractive-looking man, in the. or
binary acceptance of the word.
He was an old man, gray-haired
and white-bearded, and the por-
ton of his weather. beaten face,
not hidden by his beard and
colorless, slouched hat, had a
beaten, subd u c Il expression,
which, with his rounded shoul-
ders and STOPPING form, bespoke
man who had long since made
up his mind to endure the iney-
liable without complaint. -
| never saw him without
gloves even in warm weather.
As for the rest Of his dress, ii
seemed to change but little.
An old army-overcoat with the
cape gone, indicated that he
thought it a very cold day, and
a mufller, much the worse ior
wear,w was worn when the wealth
er was unusually severe.
The line for which the old
man worked did not allow seats
for their drivers. / understand
that the management had had
the question Of seats for the
drivers before them, when the
road first opened, and majoli-
Ity favored the convenience.
But Mr.. Thomas Skinner, the
president, opposed seats. Said
he, in a very loud and swelling
way, enormously proud Of the
work represented III him:
"Thc drivers will have to
work seventeen hours out of the
twenty-four. I've been a hard
working man myselfin my time,
and / know seventeen hours is
about as much as a man can
stand, the year round, and do
his work well. We want good
drivers, and the way TO make
them good and careful is to
keep them awake. Now, I'd
like 10 know how yop are going
TO keep a driver awake when
you place a nice seat behind
him for him TO sit on, a nice
dashboard in front for him 20
lean on, and then put musical
bells Un the horses to make
him go to sleep? | tell you il
won't work. The drivers will
go to sleep and pay no attention
to passengers, and they will be
slanghtering children and help
less old people at every cross
ing. 30, under the clrcumStan-
ces, and as man who knows
what work is, and how men
must be treated, I oppose seatsr'
Z When Mr.. Thomas Skinncl
sat down, all the directors were
on his side, and SO the Peoples
] Accommodation Line had nc
seats for the drivers.
} Ithink,now that Mr.. Skinner
was right, for often, when re-
turning from my newspaper of
flee, very late at night, | have
seen old Simon Lindsay looking
so tired that the lines seemed
ready to drop from his hand
and he to fall asleep, If he could
: find anything to lean against.
! often wondered when th'
old car driver got time to sleep