Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-13
Open CAR ETIQUETTE
SeasonabIe, Hints for Patrons
of Trolley Lines.
THE END SEAT HOG AGAIN
Treatment Suggested for This Ever
Z, Present Evil.
RIGHTS OF THE SMOKERS
Tips on Moving Over" the "Turn-
Around" Conversation and the
Use Of Scents.
THE END SEAT HOG AGAIN
RIGHTS OF THE SMOKERS

Use Of Scents.
Now that the open car season Is fully
| under way. q few hints as to the etiquette
to be followed by patrons Of the open car
| ought to b in order.
End-Seat Hog.
Some modern authorities maintain that
there is no such species as the end seat
hog. These learned persons asseverate
| that the person who desires to displace the
so-called end seat hog from his end seat,
and who complains loudly and bitterly be-
cause he is not permitted to do so, Is the
| real end seat hog. On the other hand, there
! is a school Of sage savants who contend
| that the sure-enough end seat hog GER
tainly does exist a distinctive species,
| and that he is to be easily distinguished
even by the most casual observer by the
| fact that he extracts the most patent and
| keen enjoyment, not merely from his oc-
| cupancy Of the end seat, but from the
discomfort, misery and inconvenience which
| his occupancy Of that seat enables him to
| infiict upon others. We leave that problem
In the domain Of conjecture. where it prop
| erly belongs, our lationship to the con-
| troversy being purely that Of an etiquetter.
| 1t is desirable. then, that the holder of
| the end seat, whether or not he is a bona
| fde end seat hog, should do the right
! thing. He should be no palterer or piker.
| He should go the entire distance For
| example, he shouldn't make the least eff
fort to move or in the slightest degree
change his position when somebody-either
man. woman or child, old or young-de
sires to get past him. 1t would be in the
| worst possible form for him to so much
as shift bis chewing gum in any effort to-
ward helping anybody whomsoever to get
| by him to take one of the inside seats. He
| should sit perfectly rigid, looking straight
ahead. paying not the least attention to the
struggles of the individual frantically en-
| deavoring to wedge by him.
| II anything, he should sink deep Into his
outside seat, thus pushing his knees to
their farthest possible forward position. If
| he has very sharp bony knees. all the bet
ter; A person meditatins hanging on to the
| end seat throughout the open car season
| should cultivate bony knees. He should
| not make any effort whatever to pull his
| feet back, the more to facilitate the brush
| ing by the would-be grabber of an inside
seat. The feet should be allowed to rest
| smack against the slightly raised foot rest
| under the seat Immediately forward. The
occupant of the end seat should always
| keep 1t in mind that, having beaten every
| body else to his end seat and dug up his
nickel to the conductor. it is his right as
we'll as his duty to make 1t Just as difficult
and disagreeable for anybody else to climb
| past him as he possibly 1t would
| be good thing, as an additional means
| of destroying the comfort of the person
| striving to get past him, for him to hold a
newspaper straight out in front Of ...m.
! Thus the striver Is put to the necessity of
| cropping as II for his life in his attempt to
gain some sort Of a foothold that will en-
| able him to eventually reach an inside seat.
1t Is considered banal for the occupant
| of the end seat to offer any sort of apology
| for the rigidity of his position or for the
obviousness of his intention to make 1t just
as horrible for the striver for an inside
seat as he possibly can. To apologize in
such a case is an unfailing sign of mental
| weakness and ornery rearing. The occu-
| pant Of the end seat should in every case
stand pat. His basis for so doing Is of the
best He has paid his nickel. The others
pay their nickels. too, but he has paid his
| first, and therefore he is entitled to make
| the pathway of the others just as craggy
make 1t.
The Remedy.
Various views are entertained as to this
matter. Some persons Of the more mill
tant sort believe in disciplining the occu-
pant Of the end seat. There are quite
number of ways Of doing this One Of
| these ways is to tread with the greatest
imaginable and intentional violence upon
| the feet Of the occupant Of the end seat in
brushing by him. Another is to acct
| dentally- on-purpose knock the hat from
| the head of the occupant of the end seat.
| This is deemed by some a pretty good
| system. lH6 occupant u tllo cIlu Beat 49,
| of course, In such case bound to scramble
out of the seat and off the car to get his
haiti should always be knocked into the
street alongside the car-and in this case
| the hat-knocker often has the opportunity
| to slip into the end seat himself, for the
reason that the conductor quite occasion
ally starts up the car before the proprietor
| OF the knocked hat has chance to pick
| the lid up and board the car again.
Another way employed by the militant
| class is to Intentionally delay getting
actually by the occupant Of the end seat
| until the car starts up, and then, as If
| from the shock Of the sudden starting
plunge and sprawl into the lap Of lie oc-
cupant Of the end seat. or. as IL in the eff
fort to grab hold of the top of seat. plant
a tremendous wallop right in the midriff
Of the end seat person. When the militant
one, Tuning over the fact that the occu
pant of the end seat won't give 1t up, Is a
225- FOUNDER and sprawls smack into the
Flap of the outside one, the treatment Is
considered especially effectual, partaking,
as 1t does, of certain humorous sug
gestion. Those who hesitate to employ a
method quite SO violent and so creative of
laughter on the part Of the other pas
sengers sometimes arrange matters SO that
when the car starts up, and they are
ploughing past the end one. they acci-
dentally- oh-yes poke either the forefinger
or thumb into the eye Of the end one, thus
rendering it imperatively necessary for the
latter to leave the car at the next corner
for the purpose of consulting an oculist or
being guided to a hospital
There many, however, who do not
like to go quite far in visiting their
vengeance upon the occupant of the end
seat. They do not infiict any personal yio-
lence upon him, but merely take 1t out in
glaring and growing. When they per-
ceive. upon boarding the running board,
| that the occupant Of the end seat is not
going to move over. they glover upon ann
in manner intended to convey the idea
that they regard him as something pecu-
liariy malignant and dwarfish in the insect
line. Then, in pushing past him. they emit
q series Of contemptuous grunts and exude
certain derogatory remarks in a muffied
tone of wrath. all expressive of the con-
victlon that the occupant of the end seat
had probably been reared in barn or
chicken coop. or that he has the manners
of a resident Of Zambesiland, or that his
resemblance to the porcine species Is SO
absurdly manifest as to require COM
ment, or that he must think he Is the
president of the car line, or that he ought
| to live with his companion breed, the
| hyenas, or something equally incisive. witty