Omaha daily bee., 1889-04-14
HUMAN NATURE ON WHEELS
Some Types Seen In an Omaha
Gable Oar.
PEOPLE WHO REFUSE TO HURRY.
Many Others Who Contribute to tho
Unnecessary Discomfort or tho
Gentlemaniy Conductor -
Paid In His own Coin,
Trials OF n Gable Conductor

1
tiness so common to the class OF people
which has accidentally grown rich by
the unexpected advancement of real es-
tate, came hurrying across the street
and stepped impatiently upon the plat
| form of the cable car. A frown was
upon her coarse face and the bold eyes
| flashed fire.
nd jes' as soon walk up town rs run
| race acrost the street," she said snap
| pishly.
81 beg your pardon, said the conduc-
tor, politely, "but we are not allowed to
stop the cars so MS to block the street."
well, I'll see whether you'll stop or
not" replied the woman, "for intend
to report you at headquarters" and she
then muttered something to herself
about "smart conductors" He said
nothing, but the blood mounted his
handsome cheeks for moment. He
was gentleman both by instinct and
education and besides this he was to be
married in n short time and WIS very
anxious to hold his situation. He there
fore had double reason for keeping
quiet The woman who had given him
the roasting" tished out $40 gold
piece, the largest coin she had in her
purse, and with crushing air handed
ii to the conductor. The young man
had drawn his salary that day and was
"hush." With q sly twinkle in his eye
he pulled out roll of bills in which
were about $T5 and coolly made change
for the woman. She saw she was beaten
and the blood came rushing to her
checks this time, while the other pas
sengers exchanged significant glances.
The conductor quietly rang up the fare
on his indicator and returned to the
rear platform where BEE reporter
was standing an interested spectator of
this little scene.
DO you have many such people to
deal with?" asked the reporter.
"Ses, we meet u good many cranks,
especially on the Harney street line,"
said the conductor. "Ihey probably
own a few feet of real estate on some
prominent street and imagine they are
better than anybody else. Did you
notice the language of that impudent
hussy who just attempted to humilate
| me? I'll bet ten TO one that she has
done service in a kitchen, although now
she wears diamonds and sealskin
sacque. Such people have no just claim
to gentilitv. Their manners and bad
grammar show that they belong to the
Goldfish aristocracy. They arc strangers
to refinement and delight in regular
display of their wealth. They consider
public servant public dog and kick
him accordingly. and we conductors get
u good share of the kicking. The fault
found by that young woman yonder is q
common one. They are too ignorant to
know that the city ordinances forbid us
10 stop near crossing until we have
passed it. Another source of great
kicking is the gate we have on
one side of the platform. This is for the
safety of the passengers, to keep shem
from stepping off in front of cable
train coming from the opposite direc.
tion and getting either hurt or possibly
killed. A great many insist on having
that gate opened although it is but q
step or two to the other side. The gate
is always kept locked and the key is in
the superintendent's office.
Some passengers expect you to say
good morning. and always have a good
word for you, while there arc others
you chance to say good morning to
them they will stare ut you as though
they thought you were an idiot. Some
persons try to be smart and insulting.
One day Il fellow who was paying for
four or five fares, threw half dollar
down upon the seat with lordly air.
In surprise, | asked him what vas the
matter.
"'I want to see you bend your back
once, said he with an insolent sneer.
| had never seen the fellow before and
there was no possibility of me trying to
excuse hisfreshness as u joke and laugh
at it. 1t was Il downright insult and he
was showing off smart. | said nothing,
but ringing up the five fares I took out
the money due him and threw it on the
floor of the car.
"'There, said l, lis your change;
now you can bend your back, You
ought to have seen the expression that
came over that fellows face. + had
paid him back IN his own manner and
he could say nothing. The car was
full of passengers at the time and they
all gave him the laugh, and he looked
on so uncOmfortably that / almost re-
GREETED resenting his insolence.
There are great many people living
in the neighborhood OF Capitol hill
who think that the cable should wat
for them instead OF them waiting for
the cable. If they are fully block
uway they seem to think that it is our
place to wait for them and they will not
hurry either. One day / held the car
nearly two minutes for one of these i'm
portant personages who has more dol
lars than sense, and was about to signal
the gripman to start when saw an other
person OF the same class coming from
the opposite direction. He gave me
the signal to wait and then meandered
on towards the car at an eXaspe ratingly
slow pace. j got tired Of waiting for
him and gave the double ring for
the gripman TO start. This brought out
yell from the fellow to wait AS he
quickened his pace l stopped the
car again. He came up TO the car
raging mad, and wanted to know, with
an oath, why didn't wait for him. I
told him because he would not hurry.
We'll, Says he, Pm in no hurry, and
propose to take my own time. It's your
place 10 wait for me-" / explained to
him that we had only thirty-six min
utes to make the round trip, and the
superintendent would not accept any ex-
cuse whatever II we fell behind that
time.
We'll, I'll see whether you'll wait for
me or not said the fellow threaten
ingly.
Next day he tried the same trick, and
after waiting q reasonable length OF
time / started the cable and left hlm.
AS looked back l could see his lips