The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1891-02-25
THE LOST DIME.

was sitting in the parlor of a New
York friend, indulging in an after-din-
ner chat when the subject of horse car
strikes was mentioned and my friend
remarked: II believe l understand
both sides of the story pretty well, for l
was conductor on the-avenue line for
nearly year"
You a conductorr' 1 said in sur.
prise, Il never knew that before, but
then," / added, "as our acquaintance
extends only over little more than
two years you might have been high
wayman before that for all l know to
the contrary"
Il hardly think car conductor can
be classed with that fraternity, though
perhaps some of the bosses think they
are little better. when they abuse them
of having so much of the company's
money stick to their fingers; but
never speculated in Wall street or
bought brown stone front with my
accumulations in that line. I came to
New York about four years ago with
the promise of a situation in the office
of the-avenue Horse Railroad COM
pany, but as there was no vacancy at
that time, and,a nothing better offered.
l Iaccepted place as conductor while
waiting; but nearly year passed be-
fore they were ready for me in the
Office, and in the meantime I had an
opportunity of learning considerable
of the ins and outs of the business. l
added something to my knowledge OF
human nature if not to my bank ac-
count"
His Oldest child. bright-eyed, mis-
chievous little sprite of 8 years, came
up at that moment and laid her cheek
against his shoulder, while her hands
tightly clasped his arm.
'.Ah, Puss!' he said, catching her up
and giving her a toss in the air, then
setting her on his knee as he resumed:
You'd be surprised at all the in.
genious devices to beat conductor out
of fare, from the well-dressed gentle
men who have left their pocket books
in the other trousers pockets. to the
half drunken hummer who never has
another pair of trousers to leave a
nickel in, but who rides as far as he
can and when put off for non-payment
of fare, halls the next car and so keeps
on until he reaches his destination.
But the toughest of all is when a
woman claims to have lost her purse,
or something of the kind, and her
helplessness appeals to a fellows gal
lantry. | used to ring in a fare out of
my own pocket as such times until ]
caught some of the schemers laughing
at my softness, then decided wasn't
so green as to get sold that way again.
The company was very strict, it was
all a fellows place was worth to let
any one ride without paying a fare, no
matter what the circumstances; our
orders were to compel women. as well
as men, to leave the car unless they
paid. If we felt in the least lenient in
enforcing this order we could never
tell which passenger might be ''spot-
ter" or how soon we might get called
into the office and discharged. I'll
never forget one case of the kind. 1t
was a cold day in December and the
president of the road was on the car;
what he was there for l never knew,
but he occasionally rode up and down,
for inspection, l suppose. At Grand
street two nicely-dressed ladies got on,
who paid their fare out of well-filled
| purses; not very common occurrence
where ladies are returning from shop.
ping at the Grand street bargain stores
eh Fanny?" with laughing glance al
his wife, who was rocking in an easy
chair with the baby, a fine plump little
fellow year old. in her lap.
You ought to know best" was the
response, ''seeing you had year tt
study up the subject"
II shouldn't have noticed these sc
particularly only for what followed
At the next crossing woman wa!
waiting. I saw that she was young
was dressed in black. and had a very
sad expression. She had large bun
die and feeble looking baby in hel
arms, while holding to her dress was ,
3-year-old toddler with round, rosy
cheeks and bright blue eyes. I stepped
| off to help the woman on and took tn,
little girl in my arms. 1 always had .
soft spot in my heart for children o
the genuine sort, not little old men an(
women. My friends used to chaff MI
on liking pretty little girls better thai
1 did the big ones, and l think the.
were about right. This one was 81
bright and pretty wanted to give he
hug and kiss, but had learned tina
it isn't always wise to try it with tn,
little girls any more than with tn,
| older ones"
"I yikes to wider the little pus'
said, looking up into my face all smiles
and dimples, and showing her prett,
white teeth between her rosy lips, i
makes my tootsies told to walk. hold
ing up plump little foot poorly pro
tected from the cold pavement by
well-worn shoe"
"'Well, you shall get them all mic
/ : II IL e.
her beside the stove. The mothe