Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1902-05-10
POLITE TO WOMEN

| q long-desired opportunity to comment upon
the manifold differences between the car
conductors, not to mention the nIotormen, of
Washington and those of my home city,
SAID a New York woman, a prominent men,
Der OF the Sorosis Club, who has been visit
Ing here for several months. 1T is from
no desire to indulge in the commonplace
ness OF fattery that 1 unequiyoealIy pro-
hounce the car conductors of Washington
the most competent, civil and courteous in
the nlted States, and there are few large
cities In this country that 1 haven't visited
Moreover, observing the conduct of car
conductors in the various cities I visit is
Tather fad with me, and therefore | be-
IieVe L am In position to deliver fair
opinion. -
have been riding on all of the Wash
my .oH car INES for several months, both
uroah ana suburban. and 1 have yet to
near conductor give utterance to a sin
gle cross or peevish word addressed 10
passenger. have seen Washington street
car conductors alight from the rear plat
forms OF their cars to assist old hla ctx
mammes with market baskets onto tbe
cars with their burdens, and this is some
tning that most of them habftr,aIIy do II,
.he cases or children and old and decrepit
persons L think if a New Yorker were
TO see the conductor, say of A 9th avenue
surface car get off his car for the purnose
Oh iending hand to burdened or more
iSos' iiSipieSS passenger IN getting aboard
tne New Yorker would either imagine him.
sell TO be dreaming or reach the conclu-
sion that his wits were astray.
maven t heard Washington conductor
TO change bill. The New York con
uuctor doesn't stop with the mere ennis
sion of groans in such circumstances
. Hey, Is dis de smallest youse is got?'
Is tiie way the average New York car con-
duclor comes at one when one perforce
hands him bill to be changed and the
way ne glares at you as he waves il I'm
anu al GOWN within few inches of your face
~ something frightful to see. He keeps
up steady growing under his breath
over your outrageous conduct as long as
you are on the car, and when you alight
you feel thankful that he hasn't made an
attempt 10 throttle you. He carries on in
much the same manner when he is given
hve pennies for fare
Amt youse got nOttin' but dis junk?
is the usual remark that he addresses to
passengers who hand him pennies. as he
rattles the money up and down in his
palm. F
washington car conductors invariably
incline their heads courteously to repIy Tn
questions put to them by passengers who
are strangers in the city. but that is some
tnlng that the New York car conductor
n never even dreams of, He may be passing
right in front of you when you submit
query to him. but, in nine cases out of
ten no matter how audiby and clearly
you may address him, he passes on with
49, pay hi6 any more attention to
than II you were in British Honduras. If
by any chance, he does feel like replying
TO your question, he always does so with
sheer Only short time before | cana
down mere for my visit l asked a 23d street
car conductor for a transfer to the Broad
way line, having quite forgotten that such
transfers are not issued. The conductor
happened to be in a mood to answer me-
Wot dye t'ink youse is ridn' in an
automobile?' he asked me out of the lower
left-hand corner of his facial orifice, and,
OF course. there was nothing for me to do
put to subside crushed to jelly. On an
other occasion l asked a Broadway con.
ductor to let me off at certain unfamiliar
street. in the wholesale dry goods district.
incredible as it may seem, this is the way
he replied to my request:
Kin youSe read figgerS?' he asked me
Il Stammered that thought So
Wen, Jes keep y'r lamps open an
youse IL see de number O de street on de
lamp when youse gifts to it said he and
then he passed to the front of the car
while a number of cheerful young plumb
ers apprentices, carrying their kits packed
up in pieces of carpet laughed ,Iproa riously
at the conductors wit.
1T is not often that one hears I. Wash
ing car conductor urging dilatory passen-
gers to quicken their movements but when
they do their invariable formula; delivered
in a perfectly courteous tone is Step lively
please The New York car conductors
style In this respect is entirely different
With one hand menacingly grasing the bell
cord he scowls ferociousy at the husttine
men and women who are doing their very
pest TO make their way to the car platform
steps, and he gives utterance to voley of
urgent converse ton something like this:
Git move on, dere, youse geezers!
Wot dye tink dis is hearse? Come
a-runnln. amt a-goin t tie up here all
and move up de asle.' And as often as not !
when you do precariously land on the plat
form ne will take you by the back of the
shoulders and crush you into the packed
o he,h .,j
it in mind to get all hands into a solid bale
and then nail strips around them, ready for
shipping from a steamship dock
washington car conductors carry in |
their heads the destinations of passengers
that specify in getting at what street
they desire to debark, and they very rarely
carry passengers past their deba rking
points. When they do this it is always bV |
accident and the conductors express regret |
to the passengers that they have over
looked them. But you've got to know when |
to get off of New York car or ride m
and down the line all day, SO to speak. |
You'll not get one conductor in forty to let
you off at street you name I rode on
surface car up to Harlem a few months |
ago. AS l live well down town Harlem Is
rather an unfamiliar district to me- I |
wanted to get off at 115th street and 1 was
when l boarded the car at 4Sth street Now
they haven't got the beautiful street letter |
ing and numbering system on the lamps in !
New York that is in use here and in fact
the upper streets of New York are not |
named at all on the lamps.
What street is this?' l asked the con- |
ductor when the car had seemed to me TO |
taking mighty long time for the journey, |
it's speed
Hammered n forty-sevent',' replied the |
conductor.
But, said I. chagrined. didn't I ask |
you to let me know when we reached 115th |
street,
. m kim O def this mornin' he replied. |
with grin, and then, as he made for the |
nlatfOrm he winkan al he ott,o
sengers, who enjoyed it all hugely I got |
off and boarded a down car aga in CLING |