The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1905-10-17
TOWN TOPICS
TERSELY TOLD.

lEkSELl iULD.
a woman from neighboring town
rushed into the Barre post Office in very
much OF a hurry the other day. Busting
mp to the stamp and postal card window
she demanded:
Gimme live souvenir postal cards..
The post Office clerk gave her an in
suited look, and then said:
They have fine assortment down the
street.
The woman forgot that Uncle Sam
does not both write and illustrate your
letters for you, but leaves a blank space
for that.
Il guess we've got about 1870 people
on this car, said the motorman OF a
Barre and Montpelier trolley as he sur
veyed the jammed and jamming crowd
on his conveyance the other day. Men,
women and children were hanging on,
for all the world like brown-tail moths
clinging to a tree. Where there was
room for a foot and grip for hand
there was a passenger. The normal ca
pacity OF one OF the cars is 80 people.
The conductor went through the ear and
rang up 135 fares, while two .deadheadsD
We're also occupying space, making a
total of 1877. The carmen have got so
accustomed to carrying big crowds that
they are pretty accurate on AN estimate.
l"That's nothing, declared the motor
man, when the conductor had finished
ringing up the 1875 fares. ssI've carried
l172 and 173 people on successive trips.
The road has given up the practice of
allowing people to ride on the tenders,
| however.
| One Barre girl who returned from her
vacation with twelve more pounds in
weight and with muscles hardened by
rowing and swimming has been engaged
for four weeks in trying to remove two
little but very noticeable freckles from
the tip of her we'll proportional nose.
She is wondering il it is worth while
after all.
The eye and ear test in public schools
ordered by law Of the Vermont legisla-
ture OF 1904, is causing no little pertur-
baton among the young people, as will
be inferred from the remark Of one
Barre school boy the other day. He
said:
If they're going to make those tests
Of my ears ! wish they would be about
lit; I've Kept my ears washed out for
-four days, and they havnt inspected EN-
yet. I'm gettin' sick Of it."
Although it seems ike a simple word
the name Barre is twister for great
Il many people, and some OF the attempts
at pronunciation are amusing. Jacob
Riis, in his lecture at the opera house
the other evening, told how he was corr
rected in New York. Said Mr.. Riis:
/. The morning left New York to come
here, ! told the ticket seller at the Grand
Central station that | wanted to 20 to
BaT-r-r-re, VT"
! "Ob, no, you don't want to go to
Barr-r-r-re, VT" replied the ticket sell
ler,n you want to 90 to Ba-ara-rre with
a pronounced nasal) VT"
"All right, acquiesced Mr.. Riis, then
give me ticket to Ba-a-arre, VT
SO Mr. Riis came and found that nei-
Their pronunciation was right, but that
a sound just about half way between
the two was correct by usage.
But there il another more amusing
ing the name. Two Vermonters, who
, reside not great distance from Barre,
were visiting in far western city when
they ran across q shop, over which was
! the sign Granite and Marble Tie Ner-
. monters were naturally interested in
learning if the dealer had Barre granite.
So they asked him if he dealt in granite
from Vermont
| ooh, yes, was tile ready response,
there's some Barr (pronomciag it as
IL it were the last syllable of crowbar)
lgranite over there.
The Vermonters didn't recognize the
| stone, but they now introduce their
Barre friends as coming from Barr.
O.
4 A Central Vermont train pulled up
the grade at North Barre on the way to
Montpelier one day last week and then
there was a hitch much the same as
human beings drop stitch Finally
the train came to a stop. The fifty pass
engers began to wonder. One young
lady who has been riding on the electric
cars suggested that "the power was off .
A young man gave out the information
that the engine had thrown a shoe.
Then the conductor came along collect
ing fares as if the train was going SO
miles an hour and feeling certain it was
going to get there. He declared that
he intended to get the fares anyway. To
the chorus Of questions as to the cause
Of the delay he shrugged his shoulders
and announced that the engine had just
lost off a Wheel.
The passengers got interested and sent
out a delegation to learn the trouble
They found that the poor loco, in its
exertions had broken one OF its wings
: a piston rod was waving mournfully
The engineer, who was apparently use5
to such things ished down and brought
I out string With that string he pro.
\ ceeded to mend the engine. That is, ht
patched up the piston rod so that il
4 wouldn't be in the way of locomotion.
.The very divil's in her, Tom," aolilo
4 quized the conductor as he swung onto
& ire fn4 I.x,. fTn,4.N