St. Paul daily globe., 1891-08-28
WOMEN AND STREET CARS.

One Of the funniest combinations on rec
ord is the modern woman and street car,
and would like to gain little information,
il reason there be. for some Of their extraor-
binary antics connected with car travelling.
1 wonder why she always begins to signal
the gripman half a mile away9 First she
raises one finger, then her hand, then her
parasol and then, if he does not begin to
slow up when within two blocks of ner, she
rushes headlong into the middle of the street
and frantically waves her handkerchief, para
sol, shopping bag and the baby, If she has it
handy, and, in her mind, abuses the inde-
pendent street car company. She knows
that the car would not have stopped for her,
but for fear that it would run over her, and
is very indignant if the conductor, unlucky
man, points out to her that the car
stopped in exactly the right spot.
I wonder conductor does not
shrivel up and die anyway in a week from
the number of whitening looks that he re-
ceived from "lovely women" She glares at
him when he changes her dime as though
she thought it would pay him 10 jump
through the window with her nickel, and she
squabbles with him while he endeavors
to explain that what she takes for three
cent piece is silver five cents. She finally
pockets it, but still looks uncOnvinced, and
fixes him with her eagle eye in such dis
tressing manner that he wonders if he is
really an escaped convict. and thinks seri-
ously of trying to make his escape over the
rear end of the train, but, remembering that
he once saw woman run. and fearing for
the lives of the male passengers, who would
surely watch her if she followed him, ne de-
cides to stick manfully to his post and give
up his job at the end of this trip.
friend of my sisters undertook to show
her a method of always obtaining seat. She
| always gets into the open car ana takes firm
grip on to the back of one of the reversible
seats, then jumps at every lurch and pulls up
the back of the seat until it pokes the
brute" translated, the tired clerk who
never has chance to sit down, except in
carr in the back; as an additional reminder
of his impolite behavior, walks all over his
! feet and falls against his new hat all amid
profuse apologies. aud finally sinks down
! into the seat of torture Ito him), which he is
| only too glad to vacate. Then, when he
| accidentally falls against her bonnet she
| gives him one look, which subdues him so
| effectually that the conductor stops the car
and looks for the loose wire which he thinks
killed the man. My friend tried it with my
sister, and you can imagine their discomfort
| when One-legged man, whose crutch they
| had overlooked, arose and told them he
| thought they needed that seat more than he
| did.
| Why do they always put their purses in the
| depths of their innermost pockets? Surely
| they understood that the fare must be paid,
| and then when they protest against any one
else paying, while the poor conductor stands
! by looking like statue of patience and hop
| ing he has not rung up the fares too previ-
| ously. why can't they settle who is to pay the
fare either before entering or after leaving
the car? And when they wish to vacate they
begin to fidget around, blocks before they
reach their destination. until they even make
the motor car nervous and it promptly pro-
ceeds to burn out And then they signal,
finally, to stop, and in hangdog manner
the long suffering conductor pulls the bell,
| knowing from experience that it must be the
! wrong corner, and that he will be abused be-
| cause it Is not the street She wants, as though
he was responsible for the manner in which
the town is laid out.
5 S 5
One woman got i'll with the remark to her
| companion that IF there were any men
seated in that car she would GUST them in one
minute" but no one stirred. The only two
who were seated was blind man and one
| was so thin that could read the newspaper
| right through him. l had feared all the way
that some one would take him for shadow
and sit on him. There was also girl on that
! car who didn't care to sit down, even after
seat was vacated. 1t may have looked like
madness to the people on the front car, par
ticularly as she was on the platform, but the
| back car people saw how shaky the Car was
and how handy her best fellows arm came
in 70 prevent her falling, and understood
| why she would "rather stand" There
was also the girl on the seat with
the man that went to sleep and snored, and
| il was touching to see the apologetic manner
| in which she kept looking around for fear
| people would think she was responsible for
that horrible noise. And then a man and
| wife got i'll with nine children. One of the
| babies yelled all the way, and the other four
chimed in every few minutes, presumably to
keep up the courage of No. 1. The conduc-
tor collected just 10 cents from that crowd,
and the passengers felt personally offended
to think he didn't take up collection from
! those babies relatives for artificial eardrums
| for them. l believe ill reforms, and my idea
| of perfect car system is a separate car for
! men, another for women, and q box car for
|