Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-11-28
WHEN A HORSE FALLS

1T suppose that that word 'helpfulness'
has as many different meanings IN dnerent
parts of the world az ships cat has va
rieties Of foreign feas." said 81 gentleman
who was formerly attached to the American
consulate I'm London.
Did you ever see horse. hitched TO
| vehicle. fall down In London? 1 have, many
many times. and the proceedings following
the little calamity are always and inevita-
bly, the same.
THE horse. say. hitched to a London ham
som cab slips on the grassy pavement and
goes down. All Of the other drivers on cabs
and buses and carts and all sorts of con-
veyances Immediately begin to bawl with all
their might at the driver Of the fallen horse,
those behind execrating him for getting his
trap in their way. those who are In 'front.'
and clear turning around in their seats to
yell derision at him for being such 'tike
of driver as to permit his horse to go
down
THE bobby jumps out of the mass of We
| hicles and shouts stream of cockney Will
| flea ton at the hard-luck hanson driver.
telling him that it's pretty near time Tor
| him to be In the work US If he can't hold
| his beast up. The bobby stands around and
| bulldozes the cabby until the thing Is all
| over. threatening to lock him up II ne
| doesn't make haste to clear the thorough
/ fare. Not a solitary driver or foot passen-
ger makes the slightest effort to help the
| fallen horse or the driver of the hanson
| cab.
''If there Is a passenger in the cab, he
| Jumps out as soon as the horse goes down.
| and begins to shake his fist at the caoby,
| and to call him low names. and TO threaten
| to have him locked up for incompetent or
| reckless driving and have his license taken
| away from him.
Under this stream of abuse the cabby
| climbs down from his perch, only making
1 +l,1 ,r{li tfnr, tr-hnY
| particularly bitter and personal. He has to
| pull and tug and struggle with the horse
| If it is Impossible for the horse to get up
| without being unhitched, the cabby mas TO
| do 1t all himself. If there's a broken shaft.
| the thing is complicated. The cabby I'M
| bitches the animal, yanks him to his feet,
| and. followed by the TRADING bobby, he
| takes him to stall in the nearest livery
| stable. Then he has to walk back to where
| the stranded cab rests, and haul 1t out or
| the way to side street or to the livery
| stable where thH horse Is slowed, all the
time enduring the deriSive yellS or the
! other drivers and the remarks of the tads
| on the sidewalks. AS he pulls the cab
| through the streets the crowd of drivers or
other vehicles even lash out at him with
| their whips If he is slow to move aside out
| of their path. and it not uncommonly hap
pens that the hard-luck cabby, reused to
! fury by such treatment, tackles driver
who goes this length. pulls him off his
seat, and then there is an out-and-out fight
in the middle of the street blocking traffic,
and generally winding up in the arrest of
| the fighters.
seen scores of times when horses have
| gone down on the slippery streets of the
| English capital. And it perfectly represents
| the English idea of the thing known as
| 'helpfulness It's each man for himself
and the devil take the hndmost' over there
sure enough, and L am bound to say that
| that sort of thing leaves a grisly sort Of
| impression upon the mind.
| ''WaIl Yesterday afternoon 7 a ham
| som cab horse slip and fall down at the
| corner of 9th street and New York avenue
! Nothing was broken, but the horse fell IN
| such a position. with his legs partly mixed
| UP with the shaft harness. that there
was no possibility of his getting up him.
self.
well. sir, the horse was hardly down
| before at least fifteen men had rushed over
| to do what they could to right the stua-
ton. Most of them were well-dressed men,
men of business by their appearance. and
willing to let anything they had In mind
slide so as to give the horse and the driver
| of the horse little lift.
THE passenger himself. f1ne-looking
man, evidently bound for a railroad sta
| ton, hoped out lightly and promptly
| proceeded to sit on the horses head, sos
| to hold him down and keep him from
! struggling while he was being unhitcbed
i About seven men attended to the unhitch-
| inS-the cabman himself could hardly
| wedge his way In to take hold Of a strap
or buckle; the whole thing was being
| done for him. The big policeman on the
corner was on hand with shrewd little
! words of encouragement and cheer. and
| when the horse was unhitched 1t was the
| cop who pulled the horse to his feet
while the rest of the helpers. including
| the cabs passenger. pulled the vehicle
| to the rear to give the horse a chance to
find his legs and cool out bit. Even
| when examination showed that every
| thing was unbrOken and all right and
| trig. the helpers didn't dispense. They
| stayed right on hand and hitched the
horse up again. W hen everything was
| right again the passenger. perfectly good
| ratured, climbed back into the cab, the
! driver, saying, Much obliged, you fellers'
! got up to his place. clucked to his horse
| and. amid the CHEEKY words from the
crowd, Away you go, jack the cab was
! on its way again.
| There's whole lot of meaning In this
| little comparison of the different versions
OF the word 'helpfulness when you view
| 1t from the right angle"