Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1894-11-15
SATIN HER ESCORTS LAP.

y
the laps of young men in crowde d
street car was excitedly discussed in
Brooklyn trolley car on Sunday even
ing. 1t was decided in the negative.
Shortly after II o'clock cross town
car whizzed along on its way from Hun
ter's Point to the City Hall. A crowd
of well-dressed, highly respectable peo-
pie, all in various stages of drowsiness,
tiled all but four seats
At Park and North Portland avenues
the car stopped, and party of young
people boarded it. There were just eight
of them, four girls and four young men
They were laughing and chatting, evil
IDENTIFY in high spirits. When the girls
stared for the empty seats they were
stopped by one OF the young men, who
said:
Look here, girls if you sit down
we'll have to stand up. Say, what's
the matter with you sitting on our
laps?"
The girls hestated a minute, then
one of them, q pretty blonde, said
"If you'll do it, Jennie, ! will
Jennie was not going to be dared; so,
without more ado, she pumped herself
down in one of the waiting laps. and
the other girls, with much laughing and
talking, followed her example.
If the other people in the car had
been sleepy before the merry party ap-
peared, they were wide awake now.
One old woman with little gray curls
over her temples. who had been doing
quietly in one corner, woke up with a
start and gasped, Land sakes! What
uext?" A stern-looking woman who
sat opposite drew herself up stiff as
poker, and tried TO freeze the lap sitters
with stony glare, while two youths
in another part of the car blushed and
eiggled alternately. But all this didn't
phssa the girls or the young men in
whose laps they sat.
Finally Father Wagner, of st. Ber
nards Church, who was in the car,
Jumped from his seat aud said sternly
to one of the girls:
Here, young woman, take this seat
ID leave that shocking position"
The girl, looking little alarmed at
the priests stern tone, took the empty
seat. Then three other men got up
rather sheepishly and offered their seats
to the other girls. Two of them ac-
cepted, but Jennie, who had been the
first one 10 sit in her escorts lap, sat
there with far away look in her eyes
as if she heard or saw nothing of what
was going on.
If there had been q tempest in tea
pot before there was a bowling gale
now. The stern-looking woman with
the stony gaze motioned to the con-
ductor to stop the car, and majestically
sailed out at least four blocks from her
stopping place a man who had been
having lot of fun out Of the proceed
ing was taken in hand by his wife and
marched out to the front platform, while
the old woman with gray Ours was
nearly weeping with indignation.
Father Wagner made up his mind to
force that girl to get off her young
mans lap. Turning to Conductor Bray
he said /:
Conductor, 1 insist that you put
those young people off the car. Their
actions are positively shocking"
The conductor made weak attempt
to persuade Jennie to conform with the
rules of good form, but Jennie only
looked at him blankly, while her young
man griEned and the rest of the party
twittered. Then Conductor Bray be.
gan to get angry.
"See here, if you don't get off that
mans lap I'll put you off the car"
Jennie was getting mad now, and she
made up her mind not to comply.
''You can't do it," she snapped back.
Affairs seemed to be getting serious.
Bray was mad, Father Wagner was
msdder, while Jennie was maddest of
all, and the rest of the passengers were
divided between indignation and mirtb.
Finally, when the car got to Atlantic
avenue and Clinton street, Bray decid-
ed to summon e.enforcements, so he
stopped the car, called in Motorman
Reardon, and the two gently picked up
Jennie, carried her out of the car, and
put her on the sidewalk. Her young
man didn't try to stop them, neither
did the others They all followed
meekly, and the car left them standing
on the corner, Jennie evidently bitter.
" reproaching the others for not hav-
ing backed her up in her fight.
1t is said the company intend to put
notices in the cars requesting theil
'lady patrons" not to sit on mems laps.
N. Y. Sun.