The Man Who Is Standing

1895

"Have you ever noticed," asked an observing young woman recently, "how much politer men are standing up in street cars than men who are sitting down?"

I confessed that I had not.

"Well, you watch, and you will find out that I am right. It is comparatively seldom that I enter a crowded car and have a man rise to offer me his seat. Most men settle themselves comfortably, stick their noses more deeply into their newspapers and pretend they don't see me hanging fast to the strap. But if any one should then vacate a scat and a man was standing by it the chances are 50 to 1 that he would beckon me to come over and take it rather than sit down himself.

"Now, this isn't imagination. I've noticed it scores of times. I think men go on the principle that 'possession is nine-tenths of the law,' or rather, I might say, nine-tenths of politeness. What a man has he keeps, and he says, 'Hang politeness!' But if he is already standing it is just as easy for him to keep on standing, and in that case politeness has some show with him.

"I'm not talking nonsense now," she went on, with a merry laugh. "I'm talking fact, and if you don't believe it you can easily get proof for yourself." — New York Herald.

A Trolley Telephone

1895

Passengers riding on the electric railway between West Farms and Mount Vernon have the privilege of listening to an acoustic manifestation that in a remarkable manner illustrates some of the earlier experiments in developing the telephone.

The track is a single one, and the potential of the current is high. Its amperage is also considerable as a result, when a car is waiting on a switch for one coming in an opposite direction, the approach of the latter is audible at the distance of a mile to the passengers in the waiting car. The sound vibrations are carried along the wire, through the trolley, to the wooden roof of the car. This acts as a diaphragm, which faithfully reproduces the rumble of the approaching car. A mile away the noise of the wheels is distinctly audible, and at the distance of 1,000 feet the sound becomes a loud roar outside the car, however, practically nothing is heard until the moving car is within a few hundred feet of the switch. — Brooklyn Eagle.

He Looked Like a Dude

1895

But Then There Are Occasions When Appearances Prove Deceptive.

People who rode down town in a certain electric car on Washington avenue the other day are inclined to think that they received a liberal return for their investment of a nickel apiece. In addition to being carried, safely and expeditiously, to their destination, they were given an opportunity of becoming acquainted with the bravest young man in all St. Louis. That, at all events, is the light in which they regard him.

He was a good looking, stylishly dressed, boyish young fellow, and next to him sat a shabby woman holding in her lap a whining, unattractive baby. Something about the young man's appearance seemed to please the baby, and it stopped whining long enough to smile brightly and extend its arms toward him. The young man blushed furiously, and two or three girls on an opposite seat tittered, which made the young man blush still more. He edged away as far as possible and tried, with indifferent success, to look unconcerned. When the baby renewed its advances, he refused to respond to them, and the mother, annoyed and embarrassed, made an effort to distract its attention.

But the baby was not to be put off. It liked that young man and wanted to see more of him. When it became evident that there was a combination to prevent it doing so, the little one fell back upon childhood's last resort and cried lustily.

Vainly the mother tried to sooth her. Whispered assurances that "she was a good girl" had no effect. Endearing epithets made her cry more loudly. She had eyes and ears only for a very badly "rattled" young man, who did not seem to return her affection. She cried as if her heart were breaking.

And then the young man rose to the occasion. Calmly ignoring the broadening smiles of a car full of passengers, he took the child from its mother, rocked it a moment in his strong arms, then walked forward and sat down. Instantly the baby's wail gave way to laughter. Her towzled little head was laid upon her new friend's shoulder, her arm was about his neck, and not once again until Broadway was reached did she utter a sound, save in glee. The mother didn't quite know what to make of it. Neither did the young man himself, for that matter, and, as for the girls who had tittered, why, it was entirely beyond their comprehension.

And the strangest part of the story is that the young man looked like a dude. One of the girls, however, explained that as she left the car.

"Of course he can't really be a dude," she said to her companions, "because he has lots of sense and a great big heart. He just dresses like a dude to deceive people. I wonder why he does it?" — St. Louis Republic.

Quick Witted

1895

On the battlefield a general must sometimes think quickly and act without hesitation. A motorman recently showed himself to be gifted with these admirable traits.

In Plainfield, N. J., an electric car was dashing along when the motorman saw a child balancing itself on a high window ledge. The man saw at once that the child would fall on a pile of bricks. Giving the brake a sudden turn and twisting off the current, he sprang from the platform before the car stopped and reached the sidewalk just in time to catch the baby.

Probably nothing will ever sound sweeter to him than the thanks of the child's mother and the hearty praise bestowed on him by the occupants of the car. — Youth's Companion.

A Smuggler

1895

Some years ago a tame long haired goat formed part of the regular crew of a passenger steamer on service between an English port and a continental one. After a time the customs authorities discovered that it wore a false coat many sizes too large for it. The goat's own hair was clipped very close. Round its body were packed cigars, lace, etc., and then the false coat was skillfully put on and fastened by books and eyes. — Notes and Queries.


Electric Travel Almost Universal

Twenty-four cities in the United States, having a population of from 100,000 to 500,000 each are said to possess between them something over 3,000 miles of street railways. Of those railways 65 per cent are worked by electricity, 20 per cent by horses, 10 per cent by cable and the small remainder by other systems. — From a Kansas City newspaper.

Street Car Discipline

1895

The street car companies, like other concerns employing large numbers of men, have a system of rewards and punishment corresponding to those of the schoolroom.

If a conductor keeps his record clear, he is moved forward in the list toward a job with better pay as fast as men ahead of him either resign or are discharged. If, however, after having been set forward 20 times, he comes to the barn a half minute behind the time fixed for taking out his car, he goes back to the foot of the list. If he is sick, he must send a man to sign him off, and if this man is a half minute late the consequences are equally severe. — Chicago Tribune.


Injured In the Accident

Sufferer — I suppose we shall sue the railway company for about $3,000 damages.
Lawyer — Three thousand dollars damages! Nonsense! Thirteen thousand at the very lowest, man!
Sufferer (surprised) — Why, I think I should be quite content if I got $3,000 damages.
Lawyer — Yes, probably you would, but I want at least $10,000 for myself. — Somerville Journal.


The Boy's Explanation

It was a Buffalo small boy who came home from one of our model schools and was asked by his father how he was coming on. "Well," said the candid child, "Jimmy — has got ahead of me in the class." "Dear, dear," said the father, "and how does that happen?" "Oh, you know his parents are very bright!" — Buffalo Commercial.


Brooklyn

Brooklyn was named by the Dutch from a small village near Amsterdam named Breucklen. The name is found in the city archives spelled Bereuckelen, Breucklen, Breucklyn, Broucklyn, Breuklyn, Brockland, Brucklynd and finally Brooklyn.

Strike to Help Jitneys?

1916

Wilkesbarre, Pa., Sept. 10. — A general strike of all crafts of labor, numbering approximately 75,000, is a contingency that faces Wilkesbarre and the Wyoming Valley as the result of efforts of labor union officials to obtain an immediate stay in the enforcement of the city ordinance which jitney owners say will make it impossible for them to continue in business. The result, union leaders say, would be to break the street car strike that has been in effect since October 14, 1915.

Mayor John V. Kosek announced on Friday that the ordinance will go into effect at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 7.

Sympathetic Strike Threatened

1916

New York, Sept. 10. — A strike of stage employes, longshoremen, brewery workers, machinists, bartenders, moulders and printers in sympathy with the unionized car men who quit their places four days ago, was decided upon at a meeting of the heads of their unions tonight, according to an announcement by Hugh Frayne, State organizer of the American Federation of Labor.

A resolution was passed calling upon all unionized wage earners in Greater New York, Yonkers, Mount Vernon, White Plains and New Rochelle to sanction a strike "in support of the contention, of the street railway men of their right to organize." The resolution recommends that the workers in the various trades "lay down their tools until the companies are forced to recognize the carmen's union."

According to Frayne approximately 750,000 men and women are enrolled in the unions which were represented at the meeting tonight.

Before a sympathetic strike can be declared, however, the union leaders explained, it will be necessary for them to call mass meetings of their respective unions and put the proposition to a vote of the members.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 6.

Bangor Strike Declared Off

Maine, 1916

Bangor, Sept. 9. — Bangor's street car strike, which has been on since Saturday, August 26, was declared off at 5 o'clock tonight by unanimous vote of the two-thirds of the strikers who had remained loyal to the union. The other third had returned to the jobs as individuals during the past two weeks.

The strike, which lasted two weeks, has been accompanied by violence, which cannot be attributed to the strikers. Bricks have been hurled through car windows, granite blocks and sleepers have been placed on car tracks, an imported workman was arrested charged with brandishing a revolver and the feeling on both sides of the controversy has run high. For a time, 80 per cent of the electric car patrons refused to ride on the cars, the electric company carried fewer passengers than ever before. Last Saturday night there was a public demonstration in favor of the strikers.

The strike was declared off by vote of the men following a conference between their leaders and representatives of the Central Labor Union, at which it developed that after September 16, support from the Central Labor Union would be forthcoming.

At the offices of the railway company tonight, it was said that few of the strikers would be taken back, as their places have been filled.

—The Fryeburg Post, Fryeburg, Maine, Sept. 12, 1916, p. 6.

State May Intervene in New York Strike

1916

Governor Whitman in City to Watch Developments in Struggle Between Street Car Men and Companies.

NEW YORK — Efforts at State intervention were expected when the strike of the street car men's union reached its sixth day. The report gained more credence from the fact that Governor Whitman established headquarters here to watch developments.

The danger of a great general strike to help enforce the demands of the traction employes seemed remote in view of the statement that the only unions likely to be involved in such a movement were those directly concerned with the operations of the street cars. Hugh Frayne, State organizer for the American Federation of Labor, who made this assertion, said that if a sympathetic strike were called it probably would not involve more than 60,000 workers. In this class he named engineers, firemen, longshoremen and teamsters.

The strike involves three counties and the residents of Yonkers, Mount Vernon and New Rochelle are entirely without street car service. Every trolley car in Manhattan and the Bronx stood still Monday night and service was resumed on only a fraction of normal schedules.

The Interborough Rapid Transit Company maintains that subway and elevated trains are running regularly, but the strikers declare that they have made inroads in the ranks of the company's motormen. As a result of the limited service on the surface lines, elevated and subway trains are crowded and the suburban service of the New York Central and the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway systems is congested.

Two Killed in Crash.

The first tragedy of the strike occurred when a trolley car, operated by a "green" motorman, got beyond control as it started down a grade at One Hundred and Seventy-fourth street and Boston road, crashing into two jitney buses.

Two persons were killed and nine injured. Four of the injured were so badly hurt that their death was believed to be only a matter of a few hours.

—The Saturday Blade, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 3.

The "False Alarm Fiend" and His Deadly Joke

(Click graphic for bigger.)

Chicago, 1916

More Firemen Killed and Maimed Responding to Calls of Mischievous Adults and Children Than in Going to Real Fires — St. Louis Fire-fighters Find One in Eight Alarms Are Fictitious — How Jack O'Connor Was Killed

The practical joker is always with us, and while the world may sometimes cry, "The joker is dead — long live the joker," it has long been acknowledged that the human zero in chronic deviltry is the chap who sends in a false alarm just to see the boys or "hosses" run. These hopeless boneheads are constantly bobbing up in nearly every community in our land, with results that sometimes land them in deep trouble or cause them to part with more or less of their precious dollars as penalty for their indulgence in a foolish and sometimes tragic amusement. However, a good, stiff monetary fine, or a term behind jail bars, seldom fails to cure the city or village cut-up of all further desire to "monkey" with fire alarm box, telephone or any other means of sending the fire lads on a hazardous run when no reason for it exists further than the silly joker's ambition to startle the public.

A St. Louis paper has found it quite necessary to take up this subject, and with good reasons, as the "false alarm fiend" seems to have carried his deadly joke far beyond the limit of tolerance in that city, with the result that lives have been lost and much human and mechanical energy expended for naught.

At 11:15 o'clock on the night of Aug. 8 some person, perhaps bibulous and certainly with a perverted sense of humor, observed a fire alarm box at Natural Bridge road and Sophia avenue, says the Post-Dispatch. At once he conceived the outlines of what appeared to be a brilliant joke. He walked up to the box, broke the glass in its front and pressed on a lever. Then, perhaps, he chuckled and walked to a safe spot and waited to see the fun.

Most of the firemen of Engine Company No. 31 were in their bunks when the alarm came in. They sprang to their places. The horses flew to their positions and, when the automatic harness fell, pawed impatiently to be away.

John O'Connor, a fine, stalwart, courageous man. sprang to the driver's seat and reached for the reins. One of them dropped. As he tried to recover it, the horses lunged and he fell headfirst to the floor, where he lay all crumpled up. Somebody pulled him to one side, another driver took his place, the engine went on its way.

Then a doctor came and looked at Jack O'Connor. Jack was dead, with a broken neck.

It is interesting to wonder whether the man who pulled the hook enjoyed his joke. It is interesting also to speculate on the nature of the mental make-up of such a man — whether it permits him to feel that he is guilty of Jack O'Connor's death.

"Hooks" in Bad Wreck.

It was a similar "joke" that sent Hook and Ladder Company No. 15 to Euclid and Cote Brilliante avenues on the night of July 4. The truck collided with a street car at Euclid. Captain Farrell and Firemen A. Gradell and J. Haberstroh were thrown to the ground and so cruelly mangled that they are not yet able to return to duty.

Capt. John Detwiler lay on a bed of suffering for 67 days, early in 1914, with both arms and his nose broken and his back badly wrenched because another idiot turned in a false alarm from Klemm street and Flora boulevard. Fireman George Harbaugh was out of service for 53 days with a fractured skull and Fireman E. Sedivec was out 30 days with a wrenched back from the same accident, a collision between their truck and a street car.

On the night of Nov. 7, 1915, Edward A. Murphy, a citizen, was run over by a fire truck responding to a false alarm, and was sent to the city hospital with both legs broken.

On the night of Dec. 5, 1915, Lieut. William Haas of Engine Company No. 11 was thrown from his wagon when responding to a false alarm and was severely injured.

On the night of July 27 last, G. Wadsack, a fireman, was badly hurt when the truck on which he was riding, after a false alarm, struck a tree.

In every one of these affairs, honest, decent, law-abiding men, trying to do their perilous duty for the public, were hurt because of a quirk in the brain of some other person. It is part of a fireman's job to take risks, but he has risks enough, heaven knows, in his regular work without having these added to them.

When Firemen Get Sore.

"You see, it is this way," one of them said to the writer recently. "We know we are taking chances all the time. You never hear a holler from us, tho, when we get hurt at a fire or going to one. It's when some fool turns in a false alarm and an accident smashes up some of our fellows that we get sore. Whoever sent Jack O'Connor to his death, for instance, is a murderer, pure and simple, in our eyes. It'll go hard some of these days with one of those guys if the boys ever get him dead to rights."

Every man from the Chief on down to the newest hostler in the department believes that there is a strange and especial danger in going to false alarms. They declare that their records prove it. It is comparatively rare, they say, that there is a collision or an upset in going to an actual fire.

The number of false alarms turned in is simply amazing. The total from Jan. 1, 1913, to Aug. 1, 1916, was 1,934, an average of a little more than 45 a month. Last year one out of every eight alarms recorded was a false one. The smallest number in any month was 20 for August, 1914, and the largest was 72, for November, 1913. Thus far in the current year the smallest number was 35, for April, while January and February each had 41.

There is a popular impression that most of these alarms are turned in by children. This is not true, according to Chief Henderson. Most of them, the Chief says, are turned in by men and particularly by men who drive various kinds of delivery wagons late at night. One of these sees a box, the Chief declares, turns in an alarm, drives on a block or so and waits to see what happens. The streets usually are deserted at the time, they are not detected at their work and consequently escape all punishment. The law provides a maximum penalty of imprisonment in the penitentiary for this offense, yet it is rarely inflicted because it is hard to obtain evidence for an arrest, to say nothing of conviction.

Children Sometimes "Jokers.”

Children are caught more frequently. They are invariably turned over to the Juvenile Court and an official of the Fire Department takes a hand in the prosecution. Whenever it is found to be a case merely of prankishness, the matter is usually ended by a stiff reprimand and by a recommendation that a parent of the child administer a sound spanking. This recommendation is generally followed and the result, Chief Henderson says, in most cases is salutary.

"It is with adults that the real trouble comes," the Chief added. "If we could only get the public to realize the enormity of the offense and to look upon the man who turns in a false alarm as an individual dangerous to the public welfare, who ought at once to be surrendered to the authorities, we could soon break up the practice.

Most of the serious accidents to trucks going to fires come from collisions with street cars. City ordinances require that when the bells of the fire engines are heard, motormen must stop their cars and drivers of all vehicles must draw up to the nearest curb and stop. Most of the motormen do this, the Chief says. Some of them do not but try to beat the engines across a street intersection.

"The United Railways, as a corporation, invariably cooperate with us," the Chief explained. "Some of the individual motormen do not. They usually advance the plea that, shut up in their vestibules, they did not hear the bells. It is often hard to disprove this. When we can do so, the street car company always fires the man and he cannot get his job back again. As a general thing, we have little trouble with motorists. They nearly always give us right of way when they can."

Want Better Traffic Regulations.

Most firemen believe that the traffic regulations of St. Louis for such emergencies are antiquated and insufficient. Altho our ordinances require all cars and autos to stop when the fire engines are coming, they are not rigidly obeyed as they are in other cities — in New York for instance. There the law says that traffic shall stop and it does stop. However, there are three or four traffic policemen on all corners in congested districts to see that it does.

Kansas City and other towns also have an admirable arrangement to stop traffic in congested districts. There on downtown corners are electric gongs. As soon as engines are started these gongs begin ringing, much like the bells at block signals on certain railroads. This is a signal to clear the thorofare, and the fire engines have an open road for minutes before they actually appear.

Chief Henderson has tried to get a similar arrangement authorized by the St. Louis Board of Aldermen. It would cost about $30,000 if electricity is furnished free by public service corporations, and our city lawmakers have not seen fit to incur the expense.

"If we had such gong signals, tho," the chief declared, "I would rather put them at places outside the downtown district. Really we have very few accidents downtown. They usually happen out in the quiet neighborhoods, late at night.

"I'll tell you what our worst trouble is, tho, and it's going to cost St. Louis a big conflagration some day. It is the congestion of traffic on downtown streets, where autos are parked. Some of these days we are going to have a fire on a street where it will take us half an hour or maybe more to get these cars out of our way, and by the time we have got a place cleared to work in the fire will be out of our control. A loss of five minutes getting to a fire is likely at any time to mean two or three additional hours getting the fire under control."

Some Motormen Are Reckless.

Curiously enough, many of the drivers of fire wagons believe that most collisions are really unavoidable accidents. "The bust-up usually comes so quick you don't know what has happened or how," one of them said, "until somebody is pouring water in your face and bringing you to. We always try to get the horses under control when we approach a street car crossing and most of the motormen do the best they can. But sometimes you are going along at a good clip and a street car is going at a good clip and before either you or the motorman realizes the danger — zowie!

"We are always afraid of the motorman who tries to beat us to the crossing. Maybe he is a minute or two behind schedule or is trying to get to the end of the line a minute or two before so he can stop for a bit of lunch. There is usually a bunch of excited people on the corner. Some of them motion to us to come on and maybe some of them motion to the motorman that he can make it. The law says he oughtn't to try to make it, but he goes ahead anyhow — there always are a few fools like that — and then it happens!

"The public could do a lot of good and save a lot of danger in these cases if it could only be properly educated. If a few of these reckless motormen were reported to the street car company once in a while, it would stop such foolishness. Understand, we haven't any quarrel with the motor men in general. Most of them try to obey the law and help us out all they can. It's the occasional fellow that takes a chance who makes all the trouble.

Public Should Help, Say Firemen.

"Maybe I feel pretty strongly about this, but it's a serious matter for us fellows. You just put it into your paper that if the public will cooperate with us in this matter and, above all, help us put the false alarm fiend out of business, we'll be satisfied."

Policemen, as a rule, cooperate with firemen in every way possible. Chief Henderson says he has never made a request of one at a fire without getting immediate and satisfactory response. However, strict enforcement of the rules requiring street cars and autoists to stop at the approach of a fire engine has always been lax and there have been few arrests and prosecutions.

The new parking ordinance for automobiles is proving helpful in keeping some of the downtown streets clear, altho the fire fighters would like to see it extended until no autos were left in the streets without drivers in charge of them.

They Had Better Watch Out.

Ten times in the last five days false alarms of fire have been sent in from the alarm box at Fifty-eighth street and South Wabash avenue. Last night, says the Chicago Journal, when Engine Company No. 51 arrived at the corner, its members questioned a little girl standing at the curbing.

"'Stubby' McGovern and 'Billy' Barry did it," she said. "They do it most every day and then they run away and hide.

"Stubby" and "Billy" are 8 or 9 years old. A policeman will talk to them today.

—The Saturday Blade, Chicago, Sept. 16, 1916, p. 12.

The Faster You Can Get There, The Later You Are?

1910, editorial observations

Is the speedy motor car an obstacle to punctuality? It would seem so.

Certainly the habit of arriving late at the theater and other places of entertainment is growing with the multiplication of the means of rapid transportation. It is seldom that a play or program is not marred or interrupted by these late arrivals. And the disturbance is greater where motor cars carry the larger number of the attendants.

Does this mean that those who have to depend on the street cars are more apt to give themselves reasonable time than are those who have gotten into the habit of thinking that neither time nor distance counts when the automobile is available? At any rate the habit is a bad one.

Many Powers of Intuition in Life

1910

By Lyne S. Metcalfe

A surface motorman awakened a train of thought not long ago when he stopped his ear shortly at a crossing. There was apparently no one there waiting to get on; a woman was standing on the curb not even looking toward the moving car, yet when the car came to this corner the motorman brought it to a standstill and sure enough the women hurried out of the crowd and clambered aboard.

"How'd you know that woman wanted to get on?" he was asked as the controller was thrown on again and the car started with a jerk.

"Just felt it," he laughed, "didn't know it. A fellow's affected that way in this business. How many people nowadays signal the motorman when they want him to stop? It's some sort of power, I guess, that tells me. I can't explain just what it is."

The patient knight of the motor voiced one of the most bewildering psychological truths found in the entire downtown propaganda, where about every nip and tuck of the human habit, custom or peculiarity finds a shining place. Taking metropolitan humanity as a whole, there are few who do not use intuition in the course of the average workday.

A certain teller in a large Chicago bank recognizes intuition so a faithful and valuable ally, one that can be put to good uses, though one that is not infallible. A "J. Rufus Wallingford" may stroll into this man's bank, toss a thousand dollar check over the counter in a blasé manner and something may "tell" the teller that the check isn't any good.

"I just feel it," he explains this strange power at intuition.

And the check may be turned down or, on the other hand, something may "tell" the cashier that the man is good — he just feels it.

Scoffers are referred to the average policeman.

Does the city detective always know a crook when he plucks him out of a downtown crowd, when the man's back perhaps is turned to the officer of the law?

He feels that the shoulders and neck ahead of him — the head crowned with a battered derby — is wanted. Often he does not know the crook's name and could not tell why he arrests him until the man is hauled back to the station and his photo is found gracing the limelight in the rogues' gallery some months or years back, the intuition in a case of this sort being extremely strong, as records prove amply.

Too Many Horse Hides

1896

The hide of the horse has always been valuable for making ladies' fine shoes and thongs for belt-lacing. It is much finer than the hide of the beef, and when split makes a very fine and soft leather.

A few years ago the market could not get enough of them. That was in the days when a horse was a horse, and worth something, before the electric motor drove him from the street car service. As high as $5 was paid for a good hide, and it was a very poor one that would not bring $2.50. But as the horse got cheaper and the advocate of horseflesh as food was reinforced by the butcher who could palm it off for beef, things slowly began to change. Prices went down steadily, until now it takes a No. 1 hide to bring $1.50, while fair ones go for fifty cents and the poorer ones are thrown away.

The consumption of horseflesh in Europe, particularly in Paris, seems to have increased wonderfully, judging from the heavy importation of hides to this country, while in this country it is said there is not a large city where the horse is not slaughtered for the market and sold either openly or secretly. The meat-canning establishments are also credited with using a great many broken-down animals.

Thus, while the beef hide market has its fluctuations and days of glut and scarcity, the horse hide market is completely stagnated, and there does not seem to be any possible hope for a revival of it. — St. Louis Globe-Democrat.

Attached to the Bakery

1900

A plausible tale of a man who bought a loaf of bread and took away more property than he paid for, is told by the Pawtucket correspondent of the Providence Telegram. The man was in a hurry to catch a car.

His impatience made the clerk nervous. She forgot to snap the string which bound the paper about the loaf, and away sped the man with the loaf, while the string reeled off behind him.

He caught the car all right, and although the conductor and some of the passengers noticed, as he sat down close to the door, that the twine paid itself out as the car rolled along, the man did not discover the tangle until he alighted. In the meantime the conductor was having a good time; as passengers stepped on the platform he cautioned them not to walk on that string, and they did not.

It might have looked mysterious to the people who saw the string moving along the street, for the unravelling continued until the bakery twine bobbin had been nearly emptied by the connected loaf a mile away. The man with the bread felt a tug at his loaf as he stepped down from the car. Then he followed up the cord, winding as he went.

He was one of those strictly honest men who want nothing that does not belong to them; and the best part of the story is that he followed the string back, winding as he walked, and in due time entered the bakery and restored the ball of twine. — Youth's Companion.

Russia's Awakening

1904

In Russia it is the government only that sleeps. The people are awake and astir, says the author of "Greater Russia." They are making few demands and feeling a new freedom which is apparent every day in the absence of the former rigid repression, and in the frequent indulgence in license that is miscalled liberty.

One will sometimes see on the palace quay in St. Petersburg a line of people waiting for the steamer to take them to the islands. Along comes some high official who, instead of awaiting his turn, drives to the head of the line and crowds in ahead of the others. Formerly such an occurrence would have been received in silence as a matter of course, but now the people hiss and denounce the official, and police do not interfere.

If a street-car is delayed for a connection at some transfer-station, the passengers often become riotous and demand their fare back, or begin to pound on the door and even break windows until the police make the driver go ahead without waiting for the other car; and he is not allowed to stop again until he reaches his destination.

If an officer remonstrates with a street-car conductor for lack of courtesy to a passenger the crowd will at once interfere, and even the offended passenger turns on him. The officer is told to give his orders to Soldiers who have to obey, not to free men who do not, and not to interfere between men who are as good as he is.

These are trifling things in themselves, says the traveller, but to one who has long known Russia they are startling signs of a new spirit of freedom.

She Stops Traffic To Light Her "Fag"

March 1920

KANSAS CITY, Missouri — Street car traffic on a busy street was tied up while a young woman smoked a cigarette. It wouldn't have been so bad if she hadn't chosen to sit down on the street car track and light her "fag." She made matters worse when, after an argument with an angry motorman, she blandly asked him for a match to light a second cigarette.

Dick Allen, former policeman, removed the young woman from the track and escorted her to the police station.

"You're stewed," remarked the booking clerk.

"You tell 'em; I stutter," she said, as she was led away to the matron's room to sober up.


Inmates of Jail Escape

STEUBENVILLE, Ohio — Sheriff W. T. Baker woke on a recent morning to find the county jail empty. Some time after midnight the eight prisoners sawed and cut their way to liberty.


New Electric Dental Engine

A new electric dental engine runs on either direct or alternating current or on that supplied by dry batteries where no other supple of electricity is available.

Listen, World! — "Chivalry and Equality"

1922

By Elsie Robinson

And right now we're going to talk about this business of taking off hats in elevators or giving up seats to ladies on the street cars. It is generally conceded that such acts indicate a chivalrous attitude toward the ladies and the Advocates of Chivalry bitterly deplore the hatted head and the seated seat. My opinion is that the Advocates of Chivalry had better take a cold shower and snap out of it.

I too believe in chivalrous attitudes and marks of honor. But the highest mark of honor, to my mind, which a man can give a woman is to treat her as an equal. None of this pedestal stuff. I would feel much more honored if a tired man would ask me to help him carry his bundles than if he should take off his hat in the elevator in which we are rising. There's infinitely more freedom, dignity and true comradeship for me in sharing 50-50 with a man on amusement expenses than in all the knightly jousts that ever kicked up the dust in honor of some fair lady's glove. I would much rather stand while a busy man tells me of his work though he does it with a cigar in his mouth and his coat off than have him honor me by giving me his chair while he inwardly curses at the interruption.

And why, in the name of common sense and fairness, should the average man give his seat to a woman in the street car — provided she be neither old nor infirm? Does a man not grow tired as well as a woman? He does. Doesn't he have back aches and headaches and heartaches and fallen arches just as frequently? He does. Can't the average Young Person to whom he is supposed to give that seat out dance him and outrun him? She can. Can't the average Dowager out eat him and out-window shop him? She can. Then that's that.

What I want are the tokens of Equality. I don't give two hoots for the politeness that's handed out to me because I'm a Woman. But beautiful to me as a sunrise and as full of golden promises are the indifferences and rudenesses which I encounter as a FELLOW WORKER.

The Trolley Wagon

1898

A New Thing Which Makes Fifteen Miles an Hour

The very latest vehicle to transport people around is called the trolley wagon. This interesting contrivance is really a happy medium between the trolley car and the ordinary vehicle. We have had auto-cars and motor-cars, but the trolley wagon is neither. It is an invention all by itself, and its source of power is the one thing that enables the trolley car to call it a first cousin.

The motor of the wagon is connected to the rear wheel by suitable gearing. It is about 15-horsepower. It is a powerful affair, for its two rear wheels are eight feet in diameter. The two front wheels are four feet in diameter. The frame supporting the motor is suspended from the wagon frame.

The width of the wheels is considerable, and as the front wheels are much nearer together than the rear wheels the wagon acts to quite a degree as a road roller. One of the advantages of the trolley wagon is that the worst road in the country has no terrors for it. The width of its wheels and the way they are adjusted make it possible for it to even ride over plowed ground in safety, and without that disagreeable jar that a rough road generally causes.

The trolley itself is adapted to run either on two or three wires. Everyone who has seen a trolley car must have noticed the little wheel that runs along on the wire. This is called the locking wheel, and its movement, which has heretofore been on a vertical plane, is arranged in this instance to operate on a horizontal plane, thus changing complication to simplicity and reducing the cost and weight of the wheel.

The inventor of the vehicle believes there are wonderful prospects in store for it. He sees no reason why it may not be utilized in many sections of the country, particularly where street cars do not run, and the building of a street car line would involve tremendous expense. He thinks the trolley wires could be erected, and then all that is needful will have been accomplished, as the trolley wagon can run over any kind of a road.

The wagon referred to has made a speed on a road of not over good construction of 15 miles an hour without great jar or accident. The invention certainly possesses the merit of being unique, and in attracting no little interest among those who are interested in the future of the trolley. — Philadelphia Press.

Woman Tickled, Then Flogs Innocent Man

New York, July 1914

Man Smiles When Feather of One Woman Brushes Another

The feather projecting from a woman's hat brushed across the neck of Mrs. Alice Tamraz, of 224 Somerville place, Yonkers, as she stood waiting for a street car in Getty square, Yonkers yesterday, and she wheeled around to see who had tickled her.

Peter Doyle of 42 Orchard street standing nearby, thrust one hand into his pocket, stroked his chin with the other and smiled. Mrs. Tamraz was sure the hand Doyle held in his pocket concealed a tickler, and that he was laughing at her discomfort.

So she raised her umbrella and flogged him until such a crowd surged around that Policeman Ryan had difficulty elbowing his way through and rescuing Doyle. The two made counter charges of assault against each other and went around to the station house.

There Doyle persuaded Mrs. Tamraz that a passing woman's feather tickled her neck, and that he had nothing to do with it. — New York Tribune.