The Princeton union. [volume] (Princeton, Minn.) 1876-1976, 1910-04-21


sbaMed. He seesawetl on the mizzen.
mast Of his craft as safe as steeple.
jack rugged to the flagpole Of sky
scraper.
"step in. LADY, said Jerry, gather
ing his lines.
The young woman stepped into the
cab, the doors shut with bang, Jcr-
rvs whip cracked in the air, the crowd
in the gutter scattered, and the fine
hanson dashed away crosstown.
When the oat spry horse had hedged
little his first squirt Of speed Jerry
broke the lid Of his cab and called
down through the aperture in the voice
Of a cracked megaphone trying to
please:
Where, now, will We be drivin' to?''
Anywhere you please" came up
the answer, musical and contented.
Tis drivin' for pleasure she isl
thought Jerry, and then he suggested
as matter of course:
Take "Trip around in the park
lady. Twill be Elegant cool and fne.''
"Just as you Ike answered the
fare pleasantly.
The cab headed for Fifth avenue and
sped up that perfect. street Jerry
bounced and swayed in his seat. The
potent fluids Of McGary were disquiet-
ed, and they sent new fumes to his
head.
He sang an ancient song Of Kills.
nook and brandished his whip like a
baton.
Inside the cab the fare sat up
straight on the cushions, looking to
right and left at the lights and houses.
Even in the Swallowed hanson her
eyes shone like stars at twilight.
When they reached Fifty ninth street
Jerry's head was bobbing and his
reins were slack. But his horse turn
ed in through the park gate and be-
gan the old familiar nocturnal round
And then the fare leaned back, en-
tranced, and breathed deep the clean,
wholesome odors Of grass and leaf and
bloom. And the wise beast in the
shafts, knowing his ground, struck
into his by the hour gait and kept to
the right Of the road.
Habit also struggled successfully
against Jerry's increasing torpor. He
raised the hatch of his storm tossed
vessel and made the inquiry that cab
bies do make in the park.
''Like shtop at the Casino, lady :?
Gezzer r'freshm's, N lish'n the music.
Ev'body shtops."
II think that would be nice," said
the fare.
They reined up with plunge at the
Casino entrance. The cab doors flew
open.
The fare stepped directly upon the
floor. At once she was caught in a web
Of ravishing music and dazzled by a
panorama of lights and colors. Some
one slipped little square card into her
hand on which was printed number
"a.
She looked around and saw her cab
twenty yards away, already lining up
in it's place among the waiting mass
of carriages, cabs and motorcars.
And then a man who seemed to be all
shirt front danced backward before
her, and next she was seated at lit
tie table by railing over which climb
ed a jasmine vine.
There seemed to be wordless invi-
tation to purchase. She consulted a
collection of small coins in thin
purse and received from them license
to order glass Of beer.
There she sat, inhaling and absorb
ing it all, the new colored, new shaped
life in a fairy palace in an enchanted
| wood.
At fifty tables sat princes and
queens clad in all the silks and gems
Of the world. And now and then one
of them would look curiously at Jer-
rvs fare.
They saw plain figure dressed in a
pink silk of the kind that is tempered
by the word 'foulard" and a plain
face that wore look Of love of life
that the queens envied.
Twice the long hands of the clocks
went round. Royalties thinned from