The Providence news. (Providence [R.I.]) 1891-1906, 1893-07-27
AS IN A LOOKING GLASS;.
The Doings. Sayings, Happenings ana
Sights of a Day in the CITY.

public as John. is equally as warmly re-
garded by the "boys" on the Boston press.
Peter McNally, a newspaper man, is noted
also as long distance swimmer ana iiie-
saver, having twenty-bhree lives credited
Co his account. He IN absolutely without
fear and as much at home In the water AS
on land. He learned to swim In the
Mystic river in CharlestowD, and wears
proudly several medals for gallantry In
life-saving. 1t is a rather notable family.
I I
Street car conductors have their lives
made miserable in these days OF open
cars. and few wonder il they are some
times cross and grumpy. They travel
about eighty miles day, and AS most
OF their time Is spent on the running
board alongside OF the car collecting
fares, it win be seen that they have no
one OF them make himself solid
with big car load of passengers
yesterday on Broad street electric.
A callow youth with blue and white
band on his straw hat boarded the
car at Elmwood. No sooner had he
seated himself and paid his fare than he
puckered h lips aad began whistling the
chorus after ,he Ball" Over and over
again he whistled he mono onous refrain
To the extreme annoyance of the rest OF
The passengers. Block after block the
Car passed, still he kept IL up.
A number Of middle aged men
threw down their papers Ia
disgust, and gared at the whistler with
looks that would have petrified a bro ME
monkey. Still the ripe old melody flowed
through that puckered mouth. AT
Chestnut street a smile came over the
face Of the conductor. 1t froze immedi-
ately, and he clambered out on the foot
board anu bawled Chestnut Chestnutp
The youth moved not. Walking up to
him the conductor looked him in the eye
and shouted Chestnut Do you get Off
here" He tumbled. and the way he
found the sidewalk and disappeared was
q caution.
The foundations of the Athletic club
house on B Dad street are responsible
for good deal of wasted time In these
days. Lying on the ground under the
shade OF the old elm OH Page street anu
strewn in heaps all over the vacant lot
are pieces Of lumber taken from the Palm
er house and logs waiting until the
builders shall use them. Tney furnish
that the idler delights In and
their allurements frequently gets tie
better If the man In hurry. There's
the little putting, snorting engine that
lifts the pile driver. There's the derrick
drawing out it's loads OF rubbish and
amaz ng how the curiosity of men there
puts To rout valuable time, and how they
will 20 slower in their walk as they try
to pass this exciting scene OF busy work
men aud busy machines. l have seen as
many as fifty men gathered around
in the road and perched on the piles
of lumber watching the work just as
Homer tells US the agile grasshopper
used TO sit on the rail fences In days gone
by and chirp to the grass rs it grew and
grew. This same curiosity sometimes
gets the better of me as am on my wav
home from work in the afternoon. and /
stop too and take off my hat TO let the
gentle breeze blow the wrinkles out OF
my forehead. Then / watch the contests
in human nature. The strong-willed
man comes hurrying along down the
street. He passes the corner. Sh--
ths brawny engineer has started the pile
driver. The frame work .quivers and
creaks. The little man at the grip crank
shivers as though he had st. Vitus dance.
The weight flies up as though it were Off
on n trip to knock the water out OF that
lazy cloud hanging in the sky, but it
doesn't. Then 1t comes down with n
bang as IL it were going down to settle
the Siamese- Franco quarrel on the other
side of the world, but il doesn't. Mean
while. he busy man has noticed that
something's up. He hesitates. His
feet seem weighted. He pulls
out his watch. Great guns
So late No, he won't stop. He rushes off
and takes just about half d zen steps
Puff puff snorts the diabolical little
engine. "Going to bust ?" thinks the
man. "No. well must SEQ this out,
He slows up again. my but I'm hot"
This is cool place. Rness will wait. just
n minute; ont comes his handkerchief.
OF comes his hat. He mops his brow.
Then he stops, and edges his way around
TO a shady spot and stands quietly watch
ing with the rest while his courage. linn p
and bedraggled, oozes out of hi n with th Q
perspiration. Curiosity has conquered
and the attractiveness of that painting,
screaming little pile driver has lost him
an eng cement. II there is any hereaf er
for pile driver it's going to have more
demeri marks for the was ed hours of
meas lives than any machine know of.