The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1880-04-08
Street Car Etiquette.

The etiquette of the street car is
worthy of place in the list of fine arts.
a morning down town car presents the
appearance of a newspaper folding ma
chine. The gentlemen passengers hold
their journals at convenient angles of
vision, showing wide range of eye.
sight. AS the car gradually fills the
journals are raised and brought nearer
to the faces Of the readers, until, when
the last vacant seat is occupied, they
completely hide the passengers, like
succession of window shades drawn
close. Then an extraordinary quality
of human vision is developed. If the
last conner, for whom there is no seat, is
a cook, washerwoman, or an ugly sew
ing girl, the shades remain close drawn,
and the intense application of the jour
nalistic readers is something wonderful
to behold. Accidents, crimes, politics,
religion, suicides, divorces, the markets,
everything is devoured with the relish
Of an epicure. No man man raises his
eyes Or lowers his paper. But at the
next crossing pretty woman, dressed
to the top of the mode, trips lightly
into the car, and displays we'll rounded
arm as she extends her hand to seize
trap. Instantly all the eyes are raised
and all the papers lowered. The goutv
old fellow who appeared to be devoted
to the markets is the first to totter to
his feet. He stumbles over his neigh
Dor in endeavoring to attract the atten-
ton of the coquettish looking beauty.
His eye glass falls into the hay on the
floor, and the old gentleman falls back
into his scat, loses his hat, and displays
shining bald head, while the young
merchant, the old doctor, and the mid
die aged lawyer struggle for the honor
of surrendering a seat in exchange foi
smile from the young lady. How did
all these excellent fathers of family
/ happen to observe the entrance of the
beautiful young womanl There are
women who will dispute the fact just
stated, and they will relate experiences
in fat contradiction of il, But careful
observation of them will disclose defects
in their list of personal attractions, or
faults of toilet. lie would be rash to
assert that no beautiful woman was
ever forced to depend upon a strap in a
street car between two rows of gentle
men devoted to newspapers. But the
rule is nevertheless as stated.
There is class of street car passen-
gers of the male sex who refuse to give
up their seats on the ground of high
moral principle. They assert with
much warmth that the company is
bound to provide every passenger with
seat. To rise, with them, is to pan
der to the selfish interest Of the COM
pany, and to prolong the continuance OF
public abuse. BY holding firmly to
their seats while women stand, they pre-
sent in strong light the odious charac-
ter of the outrage of which the company
is guilty. If they sit in the presence of
venerable old lady, or woman on
the verge of fainting from exhaustion
while forced to stand, the heinous ma
ture Of the company's grasping and mig
gardly conduct is made the more appar
ent. This class of passengers remain in
their seats while the tired seamstress
stands, in obedience to strong sense of
public duty, and suffer all the agony Of
suppressed sympathy while they sit.
They look forward to the time when a
seat will be provided for every passen-
ger, and meantime are becoming gray or
bald. Western paper