Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1901-07-18

10 be admired. She evidently thinks
he is a mind reader for she makes no
signal. IL the car goes by q loot or so
with every pound of motOrman drag
EinE on the brake, she looks da ggcrs at
him and stepping spitefully on the fat
mans corn settles down between two
sisters in a space that was held for
the dog There's a whole seat ahead
but this is the particular one she
wants and she claims 1t with all the
assurance of the holder of a reserved
seat check at the theatre. The other
people don't count.
But everyone lives through it and
the conductor manages to wait patient
~ in the hot sun while she fishes a
nickel out of some secure spot. You
expect to see $1,000 bank note come
out from the care with which 1t has
evidently been stored away but it is
only battered nickle. She punches
an elbow into n woman on either side
of her as she settles back and with
the sweetest of smiles says that she
wants to stop at Smiths. Well now
the conductors have never taken the
pains to count up all the Smiths along
the line but they find new one about
every day. Oh. no she doesn't know
what the number is but its the third
house from the fourth from the big
white one and he can't miss II for
.here'll be a dog in the front yard.
Real definite isn't it? While the con-
ductor is making a mental note of this
another woman tells him she wants to
get off at Sarah Jane Jones. This
goes down in brain waves with the in
StruCtion of the woman who got on
down on the Plains and wants to stop
somewhere near the end of the line in
Fairfield. Other women get on with
out saying anything about stopping
and the conductor is lead to believe
that they are going to Benton Falls
for picnic. The man who stood be
tween the stop cards and saw the car
sail by him tunes up about this time
and wants to know what in thunder3-
ton they run the road for anyway.
Judging by the way they run by pas
sengers he'd think it was simply to
wear out wheels. Then a man discov-
ers a mistake in his change. He's
had il in his pocket 10 minutes and has
paid 4 man a bet since the conductor
gave it to him. but he awakes to the
awful mistake and wants satisfaction.
Between the man who had to walk
two yards to get his ear, the one who
finds his change two cents shy and
the prominent jag on the rear seat a
few Smiths slip by unnoticed. The
woman who wanted to stop at Smith S
is busy telling a companion how hot
70 Lif,h,, al q n'tInrE Mnn1 a
afternoon. SO the conductor decides it
must he another Smith farther up the
line. He hasn't seen any dog in a
front yard anyway. But III" woman
comes up all standing as she sees the
residence of "A certain Smith rapidly
going towards the rear. That
where she wanted to stop and the
stupid conductor has carried her by.
Well. she's going right on to Fairfield
and he'll have to carry her back and
she won't pay another cent fare any
way and she'll just give the company
her idea of the kind of men they en-
ploy. She didn't make any sign at all
although she must have seen the Smith
huuse she wanted long before the car
passed it. on the way back she tells
how she told the conductor just where
she wanted to stop and he forgot her
while the superintendent on the rear
seat hears it all and asks about it
afterwards. But. madam" explains
the conductor as she leaves the car. Il
didn't see any dog in any Smith front
yard and you said he'd surely be
there" The woman looks at him in
speechlcss establishment Mt his stupid
ity and goes off across the street like
a queen to tell Mrs. Smith all about
il.
While persuading the jag that he
certainly is the best man for Scrapping
in the county and that he could lick
| him in two minutes. the conductor for
gets another woman. She's in a hurry
and wont so on to Fairfield SO the
conductor has to give three bells and
| run back rod or two for her. one
| Of the kids in the womans flock UP
ahead loses his hat and the conductor
has to run back after it. When he re-
| turns it the woman looks as if she
| thought electric ears ought to be pro
vded with safety appliances for keep
| ing children'S hats on their heads and
| forgnts to thank him for his trouble
These delays make the car late and
the travelling man loses his train. He
| says things that q woman wouldn't
but which cut less and the conductor
wonders whether the cigar he got for
| making the try for the train is worth
smoking or better to give to the motor
man.
While he thinks about it a nervous
youth who is escorting a young lady
for the first time on an electric pulls
in three fares in an effort to stop the
car. The youth manages to escape
without paying and the Is cents with
the half dollar dropped down the
crack in the car and lost reduces the
conductors pay to less than his boy
earns selling papers.
When the conductor pulls down the
trolley at the end Of the line it means
that he has got to do it all over again
and he really wishes that he was out
pitching hay on to the biggest load
that was ever hauled into a barn. AL
ways signal when you want to stop a