Evening star., 1927-05-29
Students as Taxi Drivers Learn to Study Types of H
by THORNTON FISHER.

<<Y YEY. taxi! Run me down to
seI Union Station, and make 1t
snappy I've only got five
minutes to make my train.
The cab door slams. the
gears slip quickly into mesh ana a
few minutes later an anxious though
considerably relieved fare IS uep1s'
tied at the gray portals Oh the WASH
ington Terminal.
"And believe me, mister" according
TO one cab driver. I've never Yet
picked UP a customer bound LOT the
station that had more than flNe MN
utes. No matter If he halls YOU out
at Chevy Chase Circle or at Four-
teenth and F, he has only fiVe MN
utes to do his stuff.
This statement was not q complaint.
Rather it was an informative obSerNa-
tion of fact.
The taxi driver, be it recorded, Is
s'hard boiled" dealer in facts as Well
as a shrewd connoisseur of motives
He may be ignorant of psychology as
SUCH but he is an unerrlnS appraiser
and discerning analyst of human klnd.
In the vernacular of the street, your
cab driver is n wise guy Eacn pas,
senger he carries Is indeXed ana Ilieo
in the receSseS Of his mind. Inc
s'short snort" the "four-fusher,' low
ers. tourists. inebriates, shoppers and
men of business compose the hetero-
geneous srist of human kind which
passes through his daily mill.
Fortunately for the comfort OF the
public he serves, there IS no visible IN
dication that he is other than hired
autonaton. who ''sees no evil, hears
no evil and speaks no evil" His slo'
gan is ''eyes front.
1t is not strange. therefore, that so
80 l. tr TNc n
the man in the drivers seat once he
has been directed to a destination.
And vet he may be potential law
yer He may possess a college degree
and hold membership in Greek letter
fraternity-and many of them do.
Students of practically every learned
profession may be found at the wheel
of scores of cabs cruising the streets
of the National Capital A scholarly
young American chap holding degrees
from European universities may draw
up at the curb in response to the beck
oning whistle of a prospective fare
whose education ceased with the null
tiplication table.
1t is interesting and noteworthy
, that these students who practice the
fine arts and sciences before or after
business do not attempt to high hat"
the riding public. On the contrary,
LHGy HT6 WtIdt lLlCS dlE-LdAl
speaking in the colloquialism of their
craft, Injured to the tricks of the game
and as ready to accept a two-bit tip as
the next one.
Some day you may hear a patron
shout to a driver: Say, buddy. shoot
us over to No. So-and-So street, and
amt got no time to lose. 1t shouldn't
oughto take you no more than 10 min
utes."
If the driver does not reply, II as
sure you ! will endeavor to expedite
our passage with extraordinary alac-
rity," it will be no indication that he
is not familiar with literary classics
or not leading his third-year college
class in English.
In the language of the street. 'He
knows his onions" and will simply
say, Yes. sir" close the door and
speed away.
WHO are some of these men who
wv cruise about the streets listening
for "Hey, taxi!''
Georgetown University contributes
at least four of them, all of whom are
preparing for foreign service. Rod.
erick Sorel is a third-year man. The
others are Charles o OBrien, Ed Barnes
and Paul Davis.
George Washington is represented,
too, in the taxi service. There are
Norman Hagen, studying architecture;
w. r. King, a student of law, who,