Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1891-04-15
It's Time for Reform.


said conductor on one Of the green
cars yesterday as he called attention
to half dozen or so Of mall children
who had boarded the car and sat
holding between their lips the pennies
or nickels for the fare.
"Yes, sir, in my opinion that is the
worst, because for the past 10 years l
have done all sorts of jobs-trom
being superintendent of large can
ming factory, where men, women and
children are employed by tho hun
dreds, down to being car conductor,
and here you have the opportunity to
study life, habits and characters.
Now, l want to relate to you an Incl
dent which came under my observa-
tion, and which was simply case of
habit, and when l finish, you, Of
course, will say have told a false
hood or exaggerated simple incident,
but it is the truth.
"One day last week / managed to
get II standing load at the Lexington
market going north. Naturally
everybody wanted seat, and space
was at premium. In the corner sat
a handsomely dressed lady, who SEEM
ed somewhat excited and nervous, be-
cause of the jostle and her inability to
obtain sufficient room to work her
elbows and put on her gloves, which
she held in her hand. However, as |
forced to the front Of the car / noticed
that she had a dime between her lips
and began to pull on her gloves. Be-
side the lady sat a small, consumptive
looking Chinaman, clinging to mar
ket basket almost the size Of himself,
and his aim ond eyes gave sheepish
glances at the lady as she occasional
ly jabbed him in the ribs. Well, |
had collected all my fares up to the
pair, and the lady was still pulling on
her gloves.
"When / said, Fare, please with
out looking she took the dime from
her mouth and placed it in my right
hand, while rang up the fare on the
Indicator with the left. | then reach
ed to the Chinaman for his fare be-
fore returning the change to the lady.
To my surprise the Mongolian, with
his thumb and forefnger, picked a
dirty looking nickel from his right
ear and placed it in my hand. With
out thinking ! gave this to the lady,
and, woman like, she paid no atten-
ton to the nickel's condition, but put
it in her mouth. Now that was mere
habit. Several passengers had a
good laugh at her expense, but she
never know what they were laughing
about. Had she done 50 am sure
she would have become deathly sick,
for l myself imagined / smelled opium
all day long"
The conductor vouched for the truth
fulness of the Chinaman's carrying
his fare in the small cuplike part of
the ear below the cavity Of entrance
to the drum. He also stated that he
had known cases Of persons poisoned
from the dirt of coins, especially pen
nies, which are made of a composition
tie greater part of which is copper.
The conductors themselves often get
sore hands in handling change. To
show that poisonous matter accumu-
lates OH coins the conductor exhibited
the lining Of one of his pockets, which
had almost been eaten through.
"Now, if it will eat q fabric" said
he, "what must it do to the flesh, es-
pecially if you hold the coins in your
mouth? tell you parents should
break their children Of this habit.
Just for curiosity, when you ride
in car watch what women and child
rem do with their fares. The habit is
not so strong with men but l have
even seen them mouth a nickel, as
we call it. | know some conductors
who will not take such money unless
the passenger wipes the coin. ."-Balti-