Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-05
Some Pointed Observations of a Con-
ductor.
BE THINKS THERE HAS BEEN ACHANGE
Men Do Not Give Up Their Seats
and Women Are Thankless.
THE SCRAMBLE ATTRANSFERS

A reporter Of The Star had chat with a
| street car conductor the other dav on
the subject OF street car manners, and he
| was sure things had changed This is what
| he said
| "A few years ago, WHEN a lady entered
a crowded car, every man who saw her
immediately proffered her his seat With
| gracious smile, the lady accepted II.
| Things have been changing rapidly sine.
| tnen. And 1t Is largely the fault Of the wo-
| men. Ihey became so used to the cour-
| tesy OF the men that they forgot the smile
and Thank you. SIR Finding i,Ieir eti-
| quette unappreciated, the men began to
change AT first 1 noticed they did not
| rise with the same alacrity, and each
| waited for the other to get up Now they
ara beginning to keep their seats. a short
| time ago the men waited for the ladies to
get seated at transfer points; now they ali
! participate IN the scramble. l think / am
| competent to judge, and 1 have no hesita-
| ton in giving 1T my opinion that the
| women are responsible for il all When a
| man offers his seat to lady, he is entitled
| to some recompense. 1t is small thing to
smile and say a pleasant word of thanks
| L have seen man who has been standing
| all day in a store give lady his seat will
| ingly, and she taking it. forgot to thank
| him.
Reading Character
There are some very amusing things we
| railroad men see every day, and 1 have
! often thought that one of those fellows
| VINO believe they can read human nature
| by looking at people could find big field
for experiment. 1 became somewhat in
| terested il the subject d while ago. l read
| story in The Star of how people could
| read the character of others by certain
characteristics, such as the color of the
eyes, the prominence of the nose, the walk
| the mouth and other things. l tried 1t my
| self, and, do you know. it worked SO WELL
| l have unconSciously made it q part of my
| business, and it has served me well and
] saved the company many dollar in fares
| l never would have collected had l not been
| able to read peoples faces"
| You don't mean to say people try to
| beat the rairoad?'
| mo; it's stronger than that They sue
| coed too often, and all the luck 1 would
| wish for is to have annually the money the
| railroads lose through fares uncolected.
| Conductors have only one pair of eyes, and
| our memory for faces is bad. When our
back is turned man gets on and sits in a
| vacant seat. He takes out a newspaper
and begins to read. If we suspect him and
| ask for his fare, he either pays no atten-
| ton to US, or gets indignant and threatens
| TO report US to the company.
A Servant of the Public.
You knew all about the GROWERS we
| have to contend with and the insults we are
| subjected to. man TO be a successful con-
| ductor must kill his feelings and pocket
| his pride. He is pre-emnently a servant of
| the people and must not forget it for a mo-
| ment. But there is funny side to the
business, and l almost go into Mysteries
| sometimes over the ludicrous things l see.
| For instance, there are some people vino
| are miserable unless they get a corner seat,
| and the way they plan to get there would
| do credit to the great chess experts. Then
| there is the chronic fresh-air crank, who
/ al he Ia fnrs
even on the coolest days, and his opposite,
who shivers when the door is open to let
| off a passenger. There is also the woman
with the small child too old to ride free.
We used to haul a man in the old days
| when conductors were not used, the pass
enger acting as his own conductor and de-
posting his fare in the old-fas hioned box
| l was driver in those days, and we'll
| known real estate man in this city, when
| he rode with me, would invariably take the
seat nearest the box and when a nickel was
passed to him to deposit in the box would
substitute ticket.
He Whacl&cd Up.
II reported the case to the superintend-
| ent and he told me to call the man down.
When the opportunity came 1 opened the
door and told him the company was not in
partners with him and did not propose to
| divide profits with him; that when a nickel
was passed up it was intended for the COM
pany and not for him. He got very red and
said he didn't see what kick the company
had long as it received a fare, and that
one-Sixth of a cent was too little to talk
about. 1 rejoined that it was apparently
not too little for him to scheme for, where
upon he put a nickel in and added, There
are thirty siXthS. hope you are satisfied
He never rode in my car again. Then l re-
call in later years the case of a woman who
| never had the exact change. Four con-
secutive times she worked the five-dollar
| bill scheme on me. OF course, 1 didn't have
| change for that amount and each time she
rode free. But caught her at last. Every
time she handed me the bill she added that
it didn't make any difference to her what
kind of change she received. knowing full
we'll had no kind to give her. Well, got
a five-dollar bill changed into pennies and
| waited for her. 1t was my own money,
and once or twice I got so hard up 1 was
about to spend some of it, but I was so
l forgot my wants and waited. / carried
that bag of pennies for nearly a week,
when one morning met her waiting for a
car. 1 had been transferred to a different
| car in the meantime and had despaired of
catching her. But there she was, and she
tripped on with glance at me, as much as
to say Have ever worked your carr
He Made Change.
Il trembled as I thought of the posi-
bility of her not having that FLYER. and l
thought my trouble had all been in vain,
when after fumbling in every pocket she
put on puzzled expression and hauled
out new five-dollar bill, adding: 1 hope
you can change. it as it is the only money
have with me. To make sure asked her
if she was certain she had nothing smaller,
and she sad she was sure she had not, but
L could give her change in silver, no
matter how small, as she realized it was
her fault. 1 came very near laughing out
right in her fece. Here was my long
scught-for-chance. 1 turned my back
pulled out the bag and counting out five
coppers handed her the remaining 495
pennies with a pleasant Here you are
| madam; 1 have been waiting to change
that fve-dollar bill for a week She
colored to the roots of her hair, but
was game, and pocketed the bag of pen
mes without so much as counting them
Your conversation reminds me of some
funny things 1 see every day." put in a
roughly clad fellow leaning against the
railing. II am the driver of herdic, and
since the cable has stopped running on
14th street we drivers have harder work
and see funny sights You spoke awhile
ago about the scramble for corner seats
Why, man. the corner seat nearest the box
Is the most undesirable seat we have. The
men would sooner sit on a red-hot stove
Working His Passage.