Lincoln County leader. [volume] (Toledo, Lincoln County, Or.) 1893-1987, 1913-05-16
NEW YoRK,o TINE HoNoRrD VEHICLE

PARIS recently they held fu-
neral" for the last of the horse
omnibuses. Three thousand peo-
pie, some in motor cars and 9TH
ers on foot and wearing crepe,
formed in the Place st. Sulpice and
marched in solemn procession behind
bus that was making its last jour-
ney as public conveyance in the
city streets. They hung magnificent
wreaths about the old-timer. and twice
the legal allowance of thirty-four pas
sengers crowded aboard for the last
trip. An automobile, draped in black.
followed close behind spilling silver
paper tears as it went, and that night
every music hall revue included q
song in its program that was sup
posed to be sung by the last conduc-
tor, the last driver, or one Of the
last two horses
1t will not be long before New York
may have an opportunity to perform
similar rites in honor of the horse car.
for that time-honored vehicle which
has stubbornly refused to die" these
many years is destined soon to disap-
pear from our streets. VIII New
York deign to pay it's respects to that
last horse car after the fashion of the
Parisians with their late-lamented
horse bus? 1t is possible. but un-
likely.
Ashamed of Them.
New York is just bit ashamed Of
the longevity of it's horse car. That
the second largest city in the world
still travels in vehicle that would
be hooted at in many less preten-
tious western town, has been pointed
out SO presistently that 1t has
begun to hurt. 1t Is doubtful If New
York will mourn = at any rate
in public - the passing of the
horse car. There are too many
strangers in town who have come on
from the west to cape at the subway
and remain grinning on the sidewalk
as some jingling relic of the fifties
goes clambering along West street.
A few there may be, however, who
really might feel a pang Of regret at
the sight of the last horse car jour-
neying through Manhattan's streets.
To them, 1t would mean the passing of
an institution that did all that could
!. be expected of it, and did it well, too,
in the days when New York was not
so dreadfully grown up. So long as
the city did not demand the impossi-
BILE, the horse car carried people to
business in the morning, and home in
the evening; and it took them to the
, theaters at night in a manner that me-
, all the requirements of the day and
age. But in these pay-as-you-enter
days It doesn't even pretend to be
able to fulfil its share of the contract
tract.
"You will have to excuse me-" II
seems to say, as 1t journeys through
, the thick of the waterfront traffic
, these days. 'I used to be able to d,
your transportation work. but you've
? grown altogether too fast for me an(
r / can no longer manage you. So take
, your subway express or taxi or YOU
| Fifth avenue motor bus, and leave m,
alone. I'll not be here to disgrace yo,
r much longer"
The horse car that says this to yol
is almost the identical horse car tha
, supplied rapid transit on nearly al
the main thoroughfares fifty or sixt!
, years ago. Its style hasn't changet
: much. II you board one today, 20,
are very likely to find that you ar,
even being driven by an ancient VIII,
has been horse-car driver most @
, his life. There's old George Lent who
, at the venerable age of sixty-nine, 4
, still commander-in-chief Of his car OF
| the Belt Line that runs along the wa
, terfront from the Battery to Fifty
, fourth street. In the forty-three year
r that Lent has been driver, he ha
, had only the one route, and 1t
said he can tell what street he
driving past, even with his eye