Crusoe in New York, and other talesHale, Edward Everett
General
Crusoe in New York, and other tales
Hale, Edward Everett
New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Short stories, American; United States -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
"The rails," said Max coolly, "belong to the public. They are a part of
the pavement of the street, as has been determined again and again. If
I chose to have a coach built to run in the track, nobody could hinder
me. This is my hackney-coach, and you and I are friends of the people."
So Bertha's conscience was appeased, and they went happily to bed.
The next morning Max came home in great glee. He had seen Mr.
Federshall, his old foreman, who always was cordial and sympathetic. He
had told Mr. Federshall where he lived; that he had an old stable on
the premises, and that, for a little, he was keeping a pair of horses
there; that he had no other regular employment. And Mr. Federshall, of
his own accord, had asked him to keep his covered buggy. "I have had to
sell my horses long ago," he said, laughing. And Max was to store the
buggy, and take his pay in the use of it for nothing.
So they might go to ride that living morning with the span, take the
baby, and have no end of a "good time."
A lovely day, and a lovely ride they had of it. The baby chirruped, and
was delighted, and pretended to know cows when they were pointed out to
her, as if, in fact, the poor wretch knew a cow from a smoke-stack. All
the same, they enjoyed their new toy--and freedom.
With this bright omen "regular work" began. But they soon found that as
"regular work" meant two round trips every evening, they must not often
take the horses out in the morning. As Max pointed out to Bertha, they
had better hire a horse for three dollars and a half than lose one
round trip. So, in the long run, they only treated themselves to a
drive on a birthday or other anniversary.
A good deal of the work was a mere dragging grind, as is true of most
work. Bertha declared that it came by streaks. Some nights the
passengers were all crazy: women would stop the car when they did not
want to get out; people would come rushing down side-streets to come on
board, who found they wanted to be put out as soon as they had entered;
a sweet-faced little woman would discover, after she was well in, that
she was going into town when she should be going out; another would
make a great row, and declare she had paid a fare, and afterward find
that she had it in her glove. And all these things would happen on the
same night. On another night everything would be serene, and the people
as regular as if they were checker-men or other puppets. They would sit
where they ought, stand where they should, enter at the right place,
leave where they meant to; and Bertha would have as little need to
bother herself about them as about that dear little baby who was
sleeping at home so sweetly.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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