The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-12-14

inside. When, however, the conductor
comes to collect the fare. and charges
tup-pence for a penny ride, or four
pence for a tup-penny ride. 1t suddenly
dawns upon your disgusted intelligence
that you have inadvertently got into
Pirate or bus that goes on its own
hook, or rather that of its conductor.
who is its owner and that 1t 'is not a
company bus at all. This error can al
ways be guarded against by looking for
the words: London General Omnibus
Company" on the outside of the
bus, and If they be not there. why, Of
course, it's a Pirate. There would not
be so much that Is mortifying In finding
ones self on Pirate, II the extra fare
were all the difference, but Pirate
generally goes SO slowly that it is an
actual waste of precious time to ride,
the conductor and driver are not bound
to be civil If they haven't mind to.
and the horses are generally so skinny
and weak looking that one has sneak
ing feeling that he ought in all justice
be arrested by the first Society for the
Prevention of Cruelty to Animals officer
that comes along for riding behind
them. Sometimes the Pirate conduc-
tors are anything but civil, and some-
times on the contrary, they are quite as
nice as the incest company conductors.
The bus is generally one of the London
company's worn-out ones, which they
have bought. and which they. with the
help of the driver, run, taking all they
can get for fares, and either sharing it
with the driver, who may be half-own-
er, or giving him salary. Owning the
bus themselves, they are monarch of
all they survey, every possible passen-
ger is fair game, and as all they get is
their own, they get all they can, and
how they get it does not much matter
to them, though such an arrangement
may not be agreeable to their passen-
gers.
Not Delightful Career.
Taken at its best, the life of these
bus conductors and drivers is not de-
lightful one. They drive from early
morning until dark, eating their meals
cold on the conveyance, and in severe
and stormy weather are afforded little
or no shelter from the elements. The
than the conductor, unless he be one of
the favored employees of the Umbrella
Busses," which Is the only line which
boasts of umbrellas at all. All the rest,
though they mayhave oil skins and rugs
in plenty, are not sufficiently shielded
either from the wet or cold, and last
winter, which was the coolest that Lon
don had seen for many years, not few
bus drivers We're discovered frozen to
death in their places, and with the lines
still in their helpless hand. Both con-
ductor and driver are in every case
shabby, for their salaries are. by no
means magnificent, their only virtue
being their unfailing regularity, and
one can see that their sufferings from
the cold in winter are intense. Never
theless the company are never at a loss
for new man, for as one falls out of
the ranks. killed, perhaps, by long con-
tinued exposure, a hundred more are
ready and begging with actual prayers
for the vacant place. The wages are
beggarly, but in this city, where pow
erty in all Its most hideous aspects
stares one in the face at every turn,
these posts are fought for with a dog
gedness and a determination and des-
peration that are terrible to see.
Some Picturesque Characters.
They tell me that it is very peculiar
and well-not CONNIE faut to keep
noticing the people meet on the street
and in the busses. However, I cannot
help it, and I dare say 1t does not much
matter. but ] always have to take note
of my bus conductor every day. al
ways have to think and wonder about
him. He is such an interesting person.
age-shabby, as I said before, and