St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-07-16
WOMEN AND STREET CARS.

on record Is the modern woman and a
street car. My hair has turned gray
and fallen out while have vainly strug-
gled for information as to the reason of
|,some of her most remarkable antics. 1t
was all waste of time, what does the
woman of today want with reason"
INCLINATION is reason enough for her
She always begins to signal when the
car Is at least block distant. When it
starts from the corner of the distant
|lstreet she raises one finger in very
b1adyiike manner, in a minute she
rwaVeS her hand, then up flies her para
sol. If the grip man does not begin to
SLOW up when he is half block from
| her she PUSHES wildly into the middle of
the street irrespective of the rights of
horses or wagons, and frantcally waves
her hands, parasol, Shopping-bag, baby,
and anything else she happens to
he burdened with. Meanwhile she
argues with the gripman. says the rail
road company is altogether too indie
pendent.and nothing on earth can make
zler believe that they have stopped at
precisely the proper place on the far
crossing. 1t is pretty sight to see how
the long-suffering gripmau receives this
oratorical effort. He puts on the same
expression that the Egyptian sphinx
habitualiy wears, and continues to say
Yes, am" TO every remark the long
winded female is pleased to shower on
his devoted head. He thinks it would
be useless for mortal man to argue with
an ocean wave. or a woman, and she
gives up IL despair of getting satlsfac-
ton from all animated photograph that
will say only Yes am"
-
l have friend who says she is never
cOmDellpd fO stand in an oman nor fDbiC
Is her method: She takes firm grip OF
the back Of one of the reversible seats,
then she Jumps AMI SsaggerS every time
tile ear bumps, and pulls up the back Of
the seat, which nearly removes the cuti-
Gle from the back of the unhappy occu-
pant. She designateS the poor, tired
male who is thus situated ibrute." If
he is too tired to notice that he is slowly,
but surely losing his backbone, as an
additional reminder that there is a
lady" standing she walks all over his
feet and tumbleS his nat into his lap,
and finally slides into the vacated seat
with many apologies for her awkward
ness. lie is only too glad to vacate; his
pet corns have been almost annihilated,
his best hat spoiled, and his back feels
as If he mad been in railroad wreck.
Woe betide the unfortunate standing
male who accidently touches female
headgeaT. She will give him one look
which SubdueS him so etfectually that
he looks fit subject to receive a bene-
ht One passenger passes a hat for
collection for the suffering party, whilst
the conductor goes out on the platform
to see If loose wire had shocked this
unfortunate passenger. This girl got
into car one morning. and was sur
priSed to see only one man seated. She
stood behind him and went through
with her usual programme. Imagine
her chagrin and embarrassment when
the individual whom she determined to
GUST arose, displaying wooden leg and
crutch, and politely offered his seat
with the remark that "he thought she
needed the seat more than he did, and if
the lady who had given him the seat
would allow him lie would prefer
standing" She continued 10 stand, and
the cripple was left 10 enjoy the rest of
+ his ride unmolested; but the young
woman got out at the next corner and
took the DeXl car.
- Why do women always carry their
purses i'll the depths of their innermost
pockets when they ride i'll Il Car? Surely
they understand that the street railway
system was not built by philanthro-
pist. but by financier, and if you wish
To ride you will have to part with a
nickel. When the conductor comes
around to collect she arises, drops a
bag of eggs Oh the man next to her and
a paper of meat on the nicely blackened
shoes OF her other neighbor; her UNI
1rella seems to take wings unto itself
with which to fly across the aisle. to
administer a sounding whack on the
cranlnm of some unlucky baldhead "a few
hnn6lQS "A oil nj inff faaX
men get hit with her elbows, causing a
few swear words to dim the hitherto
perfect atmosphere. She then dives
into her pocket, loses her balance, steps
on all old gentieman's (?) toes, where
upon he Jumps up with howl and uses
an expression that rips few feet of
wood off the moulding. Finally, she
manages to extract a $40 bill from
pocketbook filled with change, and
almost argues the nose off the conductor
because he refuses to change it. After
five minutes sputtering. they compro-
mise on S5'b bill. Then she sits down
and begins 10 count her change. whilst
the conductor receives few remarks,
more forcible than polite, from halt
dozen people who have been carried
beyond their destination while he was
collecting that wOman's fare. Some
want the car backed, some refuse to pay
fare, and others decide to throw the
offending conductor off and run the car
themselves. Luckily their attention
is diverted by a timely falling
When the trouble has been remedied.
and the trolley has decided to stick
to the wire for that trip any way,
up jumps that female with warWhoop
that puts out the lights and scares the
timid passengers into fits. She has
found that her change isn't correct
She grabs the conductor firmly by the
coat tails and demands her money. After
much squabbling she consents to be
convinced that what she took for a
three-cent piece is in reality silver five
cents; the conductor changes it for a
common nickel, she settles herself in
Ter place with bounce that rattIes the
false teeth belonging to her neighbor,
gathers what eggs are left, and once
more peace reignS. Surely. street car
conductor deserves martyrs crown.
When woman wishes to vacate the
car she fixes her eagle eye On the con-
ductor block before she reaches her
destination. Never for minute does
she remove that stony glare, until lie
feels like an escaped convict. and won
ders If it would hurt him much to Jump
off the moving car and take to the
woods. But she might think a theft
was the cause Of his flight and run after
him. He decides to stick manfuily to
his post and endure that awful eye until
she signals for the car to stop. From
long experience he knows she will sig
nal at the wrong place and then abuse
him because he has gone too far.
was in a car last week when a
healthy-looking woman boarded it.