The Caldwell tribune. [volume] (Caldwell, Idaho Territory [Idaho]) 1883-1928, 1885-02-27
,upr.u, coNvEYANCEs IN LONDON.
-. tcu,rdian Angelo Of the Past--CabrIo.
lots and Modern Vehicles.

"Xalkcr's OllS inai' ",'C. WAC pun
ishod rather more than half century
.no tho author, who was long a metro
aol;tan police magistrate, tells us, says
E5r london Telegraph, in illustration
- tho changes which had occurred in
'he town and its fashions during his
;thme. that ''retired hackney coach
.,,n oiylnc an account of his life, re-
.ontiy stated that his principal gains
lad been derived from cruising at late
sonrs about particular streets to pick
40 drunken gentlemen. If they were
,ble TO tell their address, he took them
,traight homo; if not, he carried them
10 certain taverns, where the custom
Cas to secure their property and put
.hcn to bed. In the morning he
mllod to take them home, and was
yencrally handsomely rewarded. He
laid ahere were other coachmen who
pursued the same course, and they all
Considered it their policy to be strictly
honest The same calling was pur-
,ued for many years in Paris. The
tariff for taking drunkard home was
20 sous, and his conductor was known
as L'Ange Garden, or The Guardian
Angel. These words were written
about 1880, and they give us strange
peep into the social history of London
ind Paris during the early years of the
presnht century. 1t is encouraging.
At the outset, to find that the French
capital had its drunken gentlemen"
as well as the English, and that the
Partisan "Jarvey" of those days was
satisfied with the modest reward of a
franc for rendering them a service
which would now be thought lire
quilted unless at least five, and per-
maps ten, times as much were given.
Mr.. Walkers typical hackney coach
man did not, it may be pretty safely
affirmed, make enough money to Sc
cure comfortable provision for his
old age upon these self-sacrifcing
terms. The ever-obliging and ubiqui-
sious policeman generally performs
now the voluntary functions discharg-
ed when George Ill. and George ".
we're upon the throne by nigbt-prowl-
ing '.jehus'' who piled for hire. A
story is told of an lncorrigible joker
who, being considerably the worse
for liquor, was picked up one night in
the Strand and safely deposited by
benevolent policeman in a comforta-
BILE "growler." In answer to the in
quiries of his auxiliary for an address
TO which the cabman was to drive, the
bibulous wit, whose sense of fun was
not wholly quenched, could only reply,
in husky voice, ''Kensal Green"
Nowadays it is but too probable that a
gentleman IN the streets who was too
overcome to furnish any address to
his guardian angel would pass an
uneasy night at the police station. 1t
is evident, however, from Mr.. Walk
er's story, that within the lifetime of
many who may chance to read these
words hackney coaches were so scarce
at night that few enterprising driy-
ers Of these ramshackle vehicles found
it worth their while to traverse the
dark streets, into which gas was not
generally introduced until George
Tvs reign, in pursuit of gentlemen
in liquor" Sydney Smith tells us, in
deed, that until he was himself nearly
5Qyears old he could not afford car
riage OF his own, and that the straw
from the bottom of the hackney coach
which conveyed him to dinner stuck
TO the fiOunces of his wife's dress, and
exposed them both to the jeers and
louis Of powdered lackeys in the
service of aristocratic hosts, who had
ss1ed their cards of invitation with
he, words: ITO meet Mr.. Sydney
smith," inscribed at the top.
1t makes a great deal of difference
It what time a man chances TO be
'orn. At present there is no more
lifficulty in hailing four-wheel or a
apsom CAD at any time OF the day or
light in the central parts of London
han in obtaining change before mid
light for good half-crown. Men and
women are all SO accustomed to the
comforts and conveniences of this
ind which surround them on all sides
hat they are apt to forget-if, indeed,
hey knOw-the straits to which their 9
&hers and grandfathers were reduced
'ithin living memory. Not until 1928
ERE those one-horse vehicles-long
nown by the names of "cabriolets,"
ut now universally spoken of as '
cabs"-introduced into the metropo- l
tan streets, and in that year the num- ;.
er Of such conveyances plying for
ire was only twelve. The driver sat
pom perch attached to the right
and of the two-wheeled vehicle, and =
card every word spoken by the two "
lends who were his fares. If the a
orse fell the fares had an excellent II
lance of being flung into the street, "
Id the rain was kept out by leather G
lrtains drawn across the front In p
'3l tile number of cabs had increased @
165, and in that year the licenses to n
i've them were granted to all decent &c
conducted applicants. Prior to o. o.
81, when the trade was thrown open,
e number of carriages or cabs ply IA
e for hire was limited to 1900, and Is
nnibuscs. which were first started in p
20, were few and far between. What o.
contrast to these antediluvian times +
J the London streets now present W
addition TO about $500 omnibuses, n
ey now contain something like A. al
cabs, and, as regards speed, clean
ess, and general comfort, the pub
eonveyances Of this metropolis Ill
mpare favorably with those of any it
her capital upon earth. The young Al
generation of London, who have no nc