Madison times. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1884-1???, 1884-05-10

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yourself. The dishonesty of the individ
ual members Of the crowd may be a.
sumed. Their assurance is sublime. 4
city up north j saw two ragamufin
follow party of strangers a mile from
the station to the hotel-the latter al
unconscious that the attention wa
meant for tbem-and then coolly sen,
In bill for Is cents for sevices rendered
THE STREET CARS.
III we have no inpediments we will
take to the tramway, The street cal
lines in this city radiate in every direc
from the central plaza. Trips are infre
quent, say once in half an hour, not al
intervals of three or five minutes. Horse
railway traffic is light in Mexico. The
clty is compact, lacking the magnificent
distances" of st. Louis or Washington
and there is but a small proportion OF
inhabitants too rich to walk or too poor
TO take carriage. Street cars, according.
lly, are in waiting fer every train. 1t is
hardly possible to take the wrong one
for they all go to the same place by par
allel routes, if, indeed, more than one
line reaches your railway station. There
are three classes of street cars. One can
ride tor three cents, or he may pay six
cents, or perhaps twelve cents. The
three start together and make the round
trip together, one a ter the other only a
short distance apart. One would think
the public would be better served if the
flrst-class car, were TO leave the plaza on
Its regular journey at 10 o'clock, the sec
ond-class at 1910, the third-class at 10: 20
and the first-class again at 10 80. But
that is not the style. The three start
together at 10 o'clock, and there is no
other before 1890.
The hrst class cars are as large, as hand
some and as clean as any in st. Louis.
and OF the common American style.
Most Of them have come from the John
Stephenson Company of New York,
whose name appears on these vehicles
in every city in the United States.
have seen only one city with horse rail-
roads In which the first class are not
really what their name implies. Even
little Orizaba has an excellent outfit.
Zacatecas alone is behind the times.
The second class cars are not greatly in
ferior to the first, but third are a little
better than cattle-pens. They are mere
shells, painted some dirty color, if at sll,
with little bits of windows, short, high
platforms, no end of dirt and a stuffy
appearance. Besides the ordinary seats,
two more run lengthwise in the center,
back to back, with the rarrowest posi-
bic aisle on either side. The seats are
OF the hardest coarse wood. 4 third
class car full of poems of both sexes.
smoking vile tobacco, and generally
loaded down with dirty bundles, is not
an inviting apartment. Smoking is al.
lowed in vehicles of every class, first as
well as third, and on steam no less than
horse railroads.
Once aboard and under way we shall
make some interesting discoveries. Con-
duetors on some lines use the bell regis
ter, but one device to keep the employees
honest, apparently to be super-excellent,
prevails everywhere. One man! collects
the money, giving ticket in return, and
this ticket is taken up by a second serv-
ant of the company. The conductor car.
Ties curious book like check-book, or
a railway Communication coupon ticket,
whose leaves make succession Of lit
tie, square street-car tickets.
These bear the name of the company
and the price of the ride. The conduc-
tor is also provided with a formidable
pair of shears. Drawing these out of
his pocket with the book, ships off.
one corner and hands it over to YOU
Presently the collector boards the car,
and going through it, gathers in the in
significant bits of cheap paper. This
a. apparently precludes
knocking down." except by collusiou
between the conductor, the collector and
the passenger. 1t prevails everywhere.
The conductors are slow and awkward. |
To calculate change seems to require |
herculeen efforts.
AS a rule, unless you have the right |
coin, you will be cheated out of a cent or |
two. The conductors often find it con-
veniently impossible 10 gave back exact |
ly the right when offered a 25-cent or |
90-cent piece, and of course no one can |
he mean enough to make fuss over a |
or even a quartillo! The driv- |
ers, l should say, are all short-sighted. |
They seldom see the would-be passenger |
until they are close upon him, and then |
the way they screw down the brake is a |
caution! One would think the driver |
tancied his life depended on coming to |
4 full stop in half a car-length. The |
mules are unusually small. have seen
hem driven two abreast, as in the
States, doubled up," two teams togeth-
sr, and tandem, according to the charac.
,er Of the grades and the style of the
inc.
Narrow gauge roads are not infrequent.
The cars everywhere make excellent
lime, the drivers, in fact, drive like
Jehu, for they drive fu-iously-not too
but just fast enough to put the
'oads at home to shame. But 1t is to be
aid for Mexico that the lines are every |
where level. There are no grades in
his city. The rails of the track are
heavier than with us, and
hey often lie wholly above ground, like
'team railroad iron. Throughout the
country car-drivers are provided with
in horns, which they blow vigorously
when approaching intersecting streets,
This constant footing is the greatest nov
,lty about tram-car riding here. One
an sometimes easily imagine himself
It home on the night before the Fourth.