the cabby has his point of view.it is more single-minded, perhaps, than that of a follower of any other called Swaying seat of his hansom he looks upon his fellow-men as nomadic particles, of no account except when possessed of migratory desires; And you are goods in transit.be you president or vagabond, to cabby you are only a Fare, he takes you up, cracks his whip, Jog gles your vertebrae and sets you down.
when time for payment arrives, if you exhibit a familiarity with legal rate If you find that you have left your pocket book behind you are made to realize the mildness of Dante's imagination.
it is not an extravagant theory that the cabby's singleness of purpose and concentrated view of life are the results of the Hanson Construction.the cock-of-the-roost sits aloft like Jupiter on an un sharable seat, Holding your fate between two thongs of inconstant leather.helpless, ridiculous, confined, bobbing like a toy mandarin, You sit like a rat in a trap--you, Before whom butlers cringe on solid land-and must squeak upward through a slit in your peripatetic sarcophagus to make your feeble wishes knour P>
Then, in a cab, you are not even an occupant；; You are contents.you are a cargo at sea, and the "cherub that sits up aloft" has Davy jone
S's street and number by heart.
one night there were sounds of revelry in the big brick tenement-house next door but one to MC Gary's family cafe.the sofe E from the apartments of the Walsh family.the sidewalk was obstructed by an assortment of interested neighbors, Who opened a lane from time to time for a hurrying messenger bearing from MC Gary's goods pertinent to festivity and diversion.the sidewalk co. Was engaged in comment and discussion from which it made no effort to eliminate the news that norah Walsh was being married.
in the fullness of time there was an eruption of the merry-makers to the sidewalk.the uninvited guests enveloped and perment And upon the night air rose joyous cries, congratulations, Laughter and unclassified noises born of MC Gary's oblations to the hymen eal scene.
close to the curb stood Jerry o But no more lustrous or cleaner hansom than his ever closed its doors upon point lace and November violets.and Jerry's horse! I am within bounds when I tell you that he was stuffed with oats until one of those old ladies who leave their dishes unwashed at home and go about hav Ing expressmen arrested, would have smiled--yes, smiled-to have seen him.
among the shifting
Red by the winds and rains of many years; Of his nose like a carrot, battered by the frolicsome, athletic progeny of millionaires and by contumacious fares; Of his brass-buttoned green coat, admired in the vicinity of MC Gary 's. it was plain that Jerry had usurped the functions of his cab And was carrying a "load." Indeed, the figure may be extended and he be likened to a bread-wagon if we admit the testimony of a youthe Who was heard to remark "Jerry has got a bun."
from somewhere among the throng in the street or else out of the thin stream of pedestrians a young woman tripped and stood by the cab > Ofessional hawk's eye of Jerry caught the movement.he made a lurch for the cab, overturning three or four onlookers and himself- He caught the cap of a water-plug and kept his feet.like a sailor shinning up the rat Lins during a squall Jerry mounted to his professional seal E he was there MC Gary's liquids were baffled.he see sawed on the mizzenmast of his craft as safe as a steeple jack rigged to the flag pole of a sky Er ..
"step in, lady," said Jerry, gathering his lines.the young woman stepped into the cab; The doors shut with a bang；; Jerry's whip cracked in the air；; The crowd in the gutter scattered, and the fine hansom dashed away' cross town.
when the oat-spry horse had
E lid of his cab and called down through the aperture in the voice of a cracked megaphone, Trying to please:
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *. "< /p>
"Anywhere you please," came up the answer, musical and contented.
"'tis "thought jerry. and then he suggested as a matter of course:
" take a th rip around in the park, Lady ..' twill be ilegant cool and fine. "
" just as you like, "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 MC And they sent new fumes to his head.he sang an ancient song of killisnook 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 shadowed hansom 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 turned in through E old familiar nocturnal round. and then the fare leaned back, entranced, 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 grour
The road.
habit also struggled successfully against Jerry's increasing torpor.he raised the hatch of his storm-tossed vessed Ies do make in the park.
"like shtop at the cas-sino, lady? Gezzer r'freshm's,' n lish' n the music.ev' body shtops. "
" I think that would be nice "said the fare.
they reined up with a plunge at the casino entrance.the cab doors flew open.the fare stepped directly upon the floor.at A web of ravishing music and dazzled by a panorama of lights and colors.some one slipped a little square card into her hand on which was printed a num Ber-34. she looked around and saw her cab twenty yards away already lining up in its place among the waiting mass of carriages, Cabs and motor cars.and then a man who seemed to be all shirt-front danced backward before her; And next she was seated at a little table by a railing over which climbed a jessamine vine.
there seemed to be a wordless invine She consulted a collection of small coins in a thin purse, and received from them license to order a glass of beer.there shesat, Inhaling and absorbing 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
Y's fare.they saw a plain figure dressed in a pink silk of the kind that is tempered by the word "foulard, "and a plain face that wore a look of love of life that the queens envied.
twice the long hands of the clocks went round, Royalties thinned from their ~ al fresco ~ thrones, And buzzed or clattered away in their vehicles of state.the music retired into cases of wood and bags of leather and baize.waiters removed clip Inte dly near the plain figure sitting almost alone.
Jerry's fare rose, and held out her numbered card simply She asked.a waiter told her it was her cab check, and that she should give it to the man at the entrance.this man took it, And called the number.only three hansoms stood in line.the driver of one of them went and routed out Jerry asleep in his cab.he swore deepper Climbed to the captain's bridge and steered his craft to the pier.his fare entered, And the cab whirled into the cool fastness es of the park along the shortest homeward cuts.
at the gate a glimmer of reason in the form of sudden suspicion seized upon Jerry's be clouded mind.one or two things occurrer His horse, raised the trap and dropped his phonograph IC voice, like a lead plummet, Through the aperture:
"I want to see four dollars before goin 'any further on th' th rip. have ye got th' ""
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"Four dollars! " Laughed the fare, softly, "dear me, No.i've only got a few pennies and a dime or two. "
Jerry shutdown the trap and slashed his oat-fed horse.the clatter of hoofs strangled but could not drown the sound of his pris Choking and gurgling curses at the starry heavens; He cut viciously with his whip at passing vehicles; He scattered fierce and ever-changing oaths and imprecations along the streets, so that a late truck driver, crawling homeward, Heard and was abashed.but he knew his recourse, And made for it at a gallop.
at the house with the green lights beside the steps he pulled up.he flung wide the cab doors and tumbled heavily to the ground .. You, "he said, Roughly ..
his fare came forth with the casino dreamy smile still on her plain face. Jerry took her by the arm and led her into the police station Ust ached sergeant looked keenly across the desk.he and the cabby were no strangers.
"sarge ant," began jeen Thunderous tones of complaint. "I've got a fare here that-"
Jerry paused.he drew a knotted, Red hand across his brow.the fog set up by MC Gary was beginning to clear away.
"a fare, sargeant," he cocos "that I want to inthroduce to ye.it's me wife that I married at Ould man Walsh's this av ening.and a divil of a time we ha
D, is thrue.shake hands wid th' sarge ant, Norah, and we' ll be off to home. "
before stepping