The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-11-24


1t was thick 1 observed. land it
seems to have left ~ feeling rather
tired"
Il am tired" said the colonel 1T
wasn't the fog that tired me so much
as the after effects. do you know that
/ spent this morning at the polce-sta-
ton. and paid a fine, ali on account eof
that beastly fog? III tell YOU about it
If you've nothing better to do than to
listen
Last night I went 20 the Lyceum thea
ter. and when I came out I found that the
fog was so thick that I couldn't even see
d lamp post until ] walked into it. I
enjoyed it al first, FOR it was new eX-
perience, and 1 started to walk home,
thinking that I could find my way with
out difficulty. y man who has found his
way down from the tenth story of Chi
cago hotel when the building was burn
ing and the corridors We're black with
smoke, ought, / thought TO be able 20
get the better Of any British monarchi-
cal fog that was ever yet made But 1
found before long that / had made a mis-
take. l lost my way. and after wander
ing for an hour or so 1 was mighty glad
to walk into a cabman who was leading
his horse, and, as 1 supposed, knew the
London streets as well in a fog as in
clear weather So 1 just climbed into
the cab and told the man where to take
me; and then / pulled up the windows to
keep the choke-damp out, and started
cigar, and felt pretty comfortable. The
cabman didn't dare to get on the box
and drive, though there didn't seem 10 be
any traffic in the street However,
didn't concern myself with the cabman,
for there is no use in hiring a cab and
then doing your own driving.
We had been slowly cruising around
ENTHUSIASTICALLY running into an ASH
box or wandering on TO the sidewalk
for about an hour (as / should judge
when the cab stopped and the cabmah
opened the door. / mad reached my hotel,
but the man stopped me and said, Bet
ter stop where you are, sir.
." And where's that? said !.
" Blest if ! know said the cabman.
TO tell the bloomin' truth, sir, 1 don't
know where we are any more than the
dead. 1t may be Whitechapel (thougn
it don't smell like iD and it may De
Camden Town Though the road is a H.
tie TO rough for thaQ., Anyway, we r.
where you want to go and that's the only
thing Pm sure about
don't see, said 1, that this con-
Germs me. / hired you to take me 10
my hotel. I'm In no sort of a hurry;
but all the same if 1 We're you ia earn
that fare instead of remaTkng on the
There amt no sort of use i'm wan
dering round in this way said the man.
You must see that yourself, sir! Wen
never get nowhere-unless perhaps we
walks into the river or some bloomin
canal l put it TO you. sir if that's the
sort of thing you'd like
I began to see that there was more
or less force in what the cabman said,
about it.
4 think, sir said he. that ia better
leave "A
try to md a public house-if there is one
opener police station, so as We can
know in general way whore we are.
You can sit quite comfortable in the
cab till / come back
An right says l. only you'd bet
ter md lamp post and make the horse
fast to it, or else anchor him with a
weight or something OF that sort. / don't
want him to. start for Piccadily on his
own responsibility
"Well. the cabman led the horse along
little further till he came TO a lamp
post, which he hit middling fair with his
nose or his forehead Judging by the re-
marks he made, and then he tied the
horse and went of, saying that he
wouldn't be gone very long.
Il dom know whether he found a pub
lie house open and got drunk, or whether
he found a police station and got Locked
up, or whether he was run over and kill
ed, or just suffocated by the fog. All
! know is that have never laid eyes on
that cabman since he left me.
We'll, l sat in that cab until morning
and trying TO find my way on foot-f
had had quite enough of that.
1t was just beginning to get a little
light, when man lurched up against the
door, and after doing a little general
swearing got il opened and climbed in
He told me to drive to somewhere that
sounded like Victoria street, but might
have been almost anything else, and i'm
mediately fell fast asleep on the seat be-
side me. ! struck match and managed
TO make out that he wore a good hat,
from which il was clear that he wasn't
a vagabond, and SO | decided to let him
have his nap out He leaned up in the
corner and snored like a high-pressure
About o'clock the fog thinned so
much that decided TO make a start for
Piccadily. Ny intoxicated friend was
still fast asleep, and now that | could
see him l saw that he was middle
aged old party who looked as if he might
be bank president or something of that
kind, with too much fondness for port
wine. / did not think it worth while to
loose, climbed the box and drove off at
slow walk, keeping close to the curb
stone. had my slouched hat on. and
when l had pulled the cabby's blankets
well up to my neck l didn't look at an
out of place on the box. So ! proceeded
cautiously, and met with no accident
worth mentioning. All of a sudden my
passenger wakes up, and leaning out of
the window begins to abuse me for be
ing SO slow on the road. Begging your
pardon, sir, says l, but this here bloom
ing fog is so thick that l daren't drive
faster than a walk At that he got
very angry and said that he'd get out
and take my number and wouldn't pay
me farthing. l was glad enough to
get rid of him, but when he bolted round
the corner l began to see that a Cabman
may have things to trouble him which
we folks don't often think about
Pretty soon a woman hailed me- and
as the cab was moving very slowly She
managed to get the door open and to
climb inside in spite OF my telling her
that / was engaged. A very likely story.
said she, settling herself in the cab as
If she meant to stay there. You can't
refuse to take a passenger when you've
got nobody she said making as if she
was going TO stir me up with her UNI
brella, and you know it. You'll drive
me to Bloomsbury square, or I'll make it
'ot for your
Now, know too much to get into an
argument with a woman, and so 1 drove
TO Bloomsbury square. But when ] had
stopped at the number that she had given
me she did not attempt to get out. She
was perfectly sober, but in my opinion
she was stark crazy, for she insisted
that / had lost my way, and that we
were not in Bloomsbury square. / got
down from my seat and tried to argue
the matter with her. l asked her to look
at the corner of the street where She
would see bloomsbury Square, North
in large letters, but she told me not to
be impairment or she would summons