The morning call., 1892-12-20
IN THE OMNIBUS.

1t was not SO much day as burning,
fiery furnace. The roar of London's traffic
reverberated under sky of coppery blue;
the pavements threw out waves Of heat.
thickened with the reek of restaurants and
pertumery shops. and dust became cinders
and the wearing of flesh a WEAKNESS.
Streams of sweat ran from the bellies of
bus horses when they halted. Men went
up and down with unDuttoned waistcoats,
turned into drinking bars, and were no
sooner inside than they longed to be out
again and baking in an ampler oven. Other
men, who had given up drinking because of
the expense. hung about the fountains in
Trafalgar square and listened TO the splash
of running water. Ii was the time when
London is supposed to be empty, and when
those who remain in town feel there Is not
room for soul more.
We were eleven inside the omnibus " hen
il pulled up a. Charing Cross, so that
legally there was room for just one more. /
had travelled enough in omnibuses to know
my fellow-passeugers by heart-a gov
eTneSs with some sheets Of music In her
satchel; minor actress going to rehearsal;
a woman carrying her incGrable complaint
for the hundFedth time TO the hospital;
three middle-aged city clerks; couple OF
reporters with weak eyes and low collars :;
an old loose-cheeked woman exhaling
patchOuii; bald-headed man with hairy
hands. violent breastpin and the indie
scri6able air OF matrimonial agent. Not
a word passed. We were ell failures in
life, and could not trouble to dissemble it
ia that heat. Moreover. we were used TO
each other. as types If not as persons, and
bad lost curiosity. So we sat listleSs,
dispirited, drawing difficult breath and star
ing yaeuously. The hope we shared in COM
men-that nobody would claim the vacant
seat-was too obvious to be discussed.
Butat Charing Cross the twelfth passen-
ger got ina boy with stick, and bundle
in b ne handkerchief. He was about 10;
bound for the docks, we could tell at a
glance, to sail on bis first voyage; and, by
the way he looked about, we could tell as
easily that IN stepping outside Charing
Cross station he had set foot on London
stones for the first time. When we pulled
ap he was standing on the opposite pave
DIent with dazed eyes like hare's, wonder
Ing at the new world-the hansOms, the
yelling neWsboys, the fower-womeD, the
crowd pushing him this way and that, the
ugly shopfronts, the hurry and stink and
din of 1t all. Then, hailing our bus. he
started to run across - faltered - almo st
dropped his bundle-was snatched by our
conductor out OF the path Of running ham
som and hauled on board. His eyeliGs were
pink and swollen, but he was not CRYING.
L "a
gulp, as lie pushed between our knees to
his seat, and tried to look brave as lion
The passengers turned an injurious, half
resendul stare upon him, and then re-
pented. / think that more than one of US
wanted to speak, but dared not.
1t was not so much the little chaps look.
But 10 the knot Of his seakit there was tied
bunch of cottage-d williams,
boys love, lOve-lles- bleeding. a few common
striped carnations. and a rose or two-and
fhac ) tf a all
bus were like tears on thirsty eyelids. We
had ceased to pity what we were, but the
heart is far wthered that cannot pity what
it has been: and ii made US shudder to look
on the young face set toward the road along
which we had travelled so far. Only the
minor actress dropped tear; but she was
usedtO expressing emotion, and halfway
down the Strand the bus stopped and she
left US.
The woman with an incurable complaint
touched me on the knee.
"Speak to him." she whispered
But the whisper did not reach, tor I was
200 miles away, and occupied in starting off
TO school for the first time. / had two sb IL
liDgs IN my pocket; and at the first town
where the coach baited l was to exchange
these for cocoanut and a clasp-knife. Also,
was to break the knife in opening the nut,
and the nut, when opened, wonld be sour
sense Of coming evil. therefore, possessed
me.
why DON'T you speak 10 him?"
Inc boy glanced up, not catching her
WORDS, but suspicious, then frowned and
looked defiant
.Ab." she went on in the same whisper.
IT'S only the young that pity. Sometimes.
sir-for my illness keeps me much awake
lie at night IN my lodgings and listen. and
the whole of London seems filled with the
sound of children's feet running. Even by
day l can hear them, at the back of the mn
roar"
The matrimonial agent grunted ana rose
as we halted at the top of Essex street. /
saw bin slip couple of half-crowns into
the conductors hand, and he whispered
something. jerked his head back toward
the interior of the bus. The boy was
brushing his eyes. under pretense of putting
his cap forward, and by the time be stole q
look around to see IL any one had observed
we had started again. j pretended to stare
out of the window, bur marked the wet
smear on his hand as he laid it on his lap.
In less than a minute 1t was my turn
to slight. Unlike the matrimonial agent
had not two half-crowns, but catching the
sick woman's eye, forced up courage to nod
and say
Good luck, my boy"
Good day. SIR"
A moment after was In the hot Gro wd.
whose roar rolled east and west for miles.
And at the back of it, as the woman had
said, In street and side line aud blind alley.
/ heard the football ef crowd more terrible
than an army with banners, the ceaseless
pelting feet of chiidren-of Whittingtons
turning and turning again.
Herding With Criminals.