The Springfield herald., 1913-04-04

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
a bus that was making its last jour
ney as a public conveyance in the
city streets. They hung magnificent
wrsaths about the old-timer. and twice
the legal allowance of thirty-four pas
seHgers crowded aboard for the last
trip. An automobile. draped in black
followed close behind spilling silver
paper tears as 1t went. and that night
every music hall revue included a
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 its 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 its horse car. That
the second largest city in the world
still travels in vehicle that would
be hooted at in many a less preten.
tious western town, has been pointed
out so presistently that 1t has
begun to hurt 1t is doubtful II 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 q 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 1t, and did 1t 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 manner that met
all the requirements of the day and
age. But in these pay-as-you-enter
days 1t 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 It journeys through
the thick of the waterfront traffic
these days. II used to be able to dc
your transportation work. but you've
grown altogether too fast for me and
l can no longer manage you. So take
your subway express or taxi or your
Fifth avenue motor bus. and leave me
alone. I'll not be here to disgrace you
much longer"
The horse car that says this to you
is almost the identical horse car that
supplied rapid transit on nearly all
the main thoroughfares fifty or sixty
years ago. Its style hasn't changed
much. II you board one today, you
are very likely to find that you are
even being driven by an ancient who
has been a horse-car driver most o
his life. There's old George Lent who
at the venerable age Of sixty-nine. is
still commander-in-chiefo of his car on
the Belt Line that runs along the wa
terfront from the Battery to Fifty.
fourth street. In the forty-three years
that Lent has been driver. he has
had only the one route. AID It is
said he can tell what street he Ia
driving past. even with his eyes