Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1895-02-03
RIDING.
AMUSING AND WORRYING INCL
DENTS OFTEN WITNESSED.
Of Following y Fune-
ral-Transfers to Forest-Hil Park
and southside-Mani festations of
Temper That Are Lausbabie.

Temper That Are Lausbabie.
Street-cars are mighty handy things
when You are In hurry and they happen
to be going your way, but should you
miss the electrical transportation ar
rangement and have TO walt few mo-
ments you will likely think 1t half
hour; and II you are not church-mem,
Der you will possibly cuss Mr. Fisher
when he is really no more to blame
than Is John Jasper because the sun
doesn't move. OF course 1t grieves me
to record such thing about my poor
weak brethren. but it's fact, and as
this IL not South Carolina the fellow
can swear al libitum. While / am on
street-cars. or rather the subject. which
Is analogous In that while on the car
you are thinking of anothers business,
and while on the subject you talk about
IT, am reminded that some very
amusing incidents are often witnessed.
10 say nothing OF the remarkable ex-
pressions that are frequently heard In
the trolley carriages as they rumble
and thunder along the streets. Why, the
other night two cars going In opposite
directions met and stopped while this
motor-men snapped a few yarns and a
chew OF tobacco. and passengers grum'
bled about the trifiing little occurrence.
People Will complain, however. and /
really believe that there are some folks
who would kick IL they were going to
be hung.
Just why a person who wants transfer
to another line will take car
when he is In a block OF the transfer
station is about as clear TO me as the
relationship that exists between Presi-
Dent Grover and Queen LII. but why
some Manchesterians ask for transfers
10 "Southside" and "Forest-Hill Park"
is as easy to understand as why n few
people In the Free State object TO annex
alton. A few days ago while in n west
bound Main-street trolley car lady got
on at Eighth street. She had her arms
full OF bundles. and by the time she had
settled down in the seats formerly oc-
cupied by three men she called for the
conductor TO stop the car and asked
FOR transfer TO Forest Hill Park. Won
dering why any one would get on a car
when they only had block to walk,
and who 1t could possibly be that want
en- to take trip to the park al this sea-
son of the year when there are no leave,
on the trees and no ice on the lake,
l looked up and my eyes fell upon a
Manchester lady whom I knew and also
thought / knew had no business at the
park. Like some people who live In Man
chester and when they go away from
home register as Richmond, this lady
evidently did not want those In the car
to know she lived in Manchester OF
course this makes fellow smile, but
when the cities are annexed these vexing
occurrences viii be at an end. and Man,
chesterians need not be ashamed to tell
where they live or ask for n transfer
TO the place that they wish to go to.
There Is something very pathetic, ten
der, and solemn about a funeral process
sion that usually inspires one with awe
and reverence. You stand upon the side
walk and view with dignity and heartfelt
sympathy the slowly-moving line of car.
riages. and. mayhaps. think that some
day a long string Of friends will ride
behind all that was once mortal Of your
dear self, and, possibly, eyes not used 10
weeping will fill with tears. But, alas,
how different 1t is II you happen to be
on a street-car going in the same direc-
ton as the procession. or course, you are
In hurry, or you wouldn't be in the
car. and though the motor-man rings his
Dell continuously. those carriages move
along In the even tenor of their way or
the street-car track. Then you view the
line OF carriages with anything on earth
but heart filed with sympathetic ten
derness. These things will happen how
ever, in all big cities. and must be borne
with patience.
Bad people as well as good folk find
refuge for their weary bodies in the
street-cars, and the ups and downs of the
fellow who rides often are many, particu-
larly II ne rides to and from his home
every day. In fact. II might be said that
his ups and downs in this respect are
possibly as many as with the baby the
night before. but these little troubles are
nothing when compared with seat in
car next 10 person with a bucket
or stale fish or a small boy with a ven
tilated dinner-bucket. which, while you
cannot see its contents, you are willing
TO gamble contains cabbage. And then
there is the bad man, who will persist in
entering the car from the front door, and
who is deserving Of death and burial at
the hands Of the cannibal inhabitants of
the Fiji Islands. Another annoying man
is he who insists upon getting on the
car with transfer-ticket at a point
where there Is no station. The conductor
refuses to honor the ticket, and the
passenger refuses TO pay another fare.
The car stops, and refuses to move until
the fellow pays or gets off. A policeman
is 'phoned for. but cannot arrest the man
without a warrant. In the mean time.
the cars have hqCornQ hlorka1 half
hour has been lost, and twenty other
passengers are made to suffer.
And then 1t is equal to being at the
minstre-show II you happen to be on a
car that is blocked by a shifting train
on some railroad. The kickers begin by
asserting that the motor-man is slow in
not having gotten over the track before
the train came along, when. II they could
see Linn half hour later talking to the
girls at the end OF the line. they would
think he was fast enough for all ordinary
purposes. Then they will cuss in their
minds the City Council for allowing trains
to be run in the city. except between the
hours of midnight and daybreak. They
fuss with themselves, quarrel with the
passenger next to them, turn red in the
face with anger, wish in audible tones
that they had walked home. make
geese of themselves, appear as laughing
stocks for the other passengers, and, after
all. don't get to their destination a mo-
ment sooner than the fellow who quietly
counts the cars as they run up and back
back on the tracks in front OF him.
BILL GOSSErTE.
Saved the Army.