The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-06-10
THE LUXURY OF A CARRIAGE,
Funerals and Theatre Going rs Causes Of
Extravaganza.

'Plenty OF people never ride In q carriage
except when they go to a funeral said
tho liveryman, and then there are plenty
OF people who never ride In one except
when they go to the theatre. So that
we have here, In these two classes, people
who never ride in a carriage except on an
occasion OF great gloom or one OF great
gayety.
"For many people these occasions maj
not really be so far apart as they might
seem, for among those who never ride
in a carriage except to go to a theatre
there are many who ride on such occasions
only on very rainy nights, and a rainy night
being a gloomy thing in itself while to the
gloom of the rain must be added, In many
cases. the additional gloom cast by. the cost
OF the vehicle, 40 the theatre going might
for people Of scant purse be gloomier, In
fact, than their going to some funerals
Here the liveryman paused for a moment,
II this Is getting too eomplicated,' he
said, 4let me know and III stop right here.
Drive on, you say2 All right,
Of the funerals we 20 to we ride for moth
ing, In ono Of the carriages provided for
mourners, while we have to pay every
time we take a carriage for a theatre. and
to many OF us this cost may be a serious
matter. There are to be sure many people
who never go to a theatre on a rainy night
at all, but then there are many people
who buy tickets in advance, and among
these there are many to whom what the
weather lie going to be on the night they
go is a mighty important consideration
Young men OF limited means who are going
In take their best girl.
sShe will be In her best bib and tucker,
| anyway, you may be sure OF that, and she
won't want her fnery. be~draggled, and she
knows that; and so It's up to him. l sup,
pose II we could know the facts that we'd
and that many q young couple that had
been getting 'on pleasantly together and
gradually drawing closer had been thrown
Violently apart forever by the young mans
turning up on a rainy night to take her to
the theatre under an umbrella; and l sup
pose it would be equally true that many a
I Young couple that had not been getting
on very well have been happily brought to-
gether for life by the young mans turning
up blithely on such an occasion with a
proper seagoing hack, though 1t may have
pinched the young man very hard to pro-
vide it.
sBut, IL he's got the sporting blood to do
Il, spending the money so may do him no
harm. It doesn't do a hard headed young
man any harm to get a little sniff of luxury
once in a while, and it may do him good;
prod him up to make good in his work
and earn more 30 that he could afford
that sort of thing when he wanted it.
And still the fact remains that while
we see lots Of carriages in the streets and
quite some people riding. in them, we see
lots more trolley cars, and lots more people
riding in them, or going afoot; and there
are plenty Of people who never ride in a
carriage except to a funeral or a theatre.
THAT Is the proposition We started out
with, to which We have added as matters
Of detail that we may ride TO the funeral
free. But we have to pay for the carriage
we ride to the theatre in, and the further
fact that the paying may crowd us con-
siderable; while, several additional points
we'll, and make any further addition super
1uous; but now IL you think you'd have
room for 1t In the paper you might put in
this:
Among the many. many, wise thin &c
that our old friend Billy Shakespeare said
was that one about the wind, it's an Ill wind
that blows nobody good. You might put
It down now as coming from me~tbet iss
a pretty bum sort OF a rainstoi.-isS~ Rin@
no good to the ~liveryman.'