Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 06, May 7, 1870 — John Shaqi
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 06, May 7, 1870Various
General
Punchinello, Volume 1, No. 06, May 7, 1870
Various
American wit and humor -- Periodicals
The stage is full. "Twelve inside." The driver does not seem to get
along. He is constantly stopping or turning his horses to the sidewalk,
right or left. You wonder what is the matter. You begin to think the
whole town is striving to get a ride down with you in that particular
"'bus." At every street-corner we linger or stop. Suddenly the door is
pulled open with a jerk and our enemy leaps in. He sees the seats are
filled, but he does not hesitate. There is always room for him. Indeed,
his "spirit rises with the occasion." He becomes pertinacious as he is
offensive. He tramples upon more than one pair of feet in his struggle
to reach the middle of the omnibus. The passengers patiently submit to
the intrusion with that quiet good nature with which Americans usually
suffer imposition invasive of good manners, or petty social rights.
They seem to feel they can "stand it" if he can.
His mode of paying his fare evolves a climax of unconscious
impertinence. In order to have free use of one hand to pass up his
money, he grasps cane or umbrella with the other hand, by which he
holds the pendent strap. By this means he loses control of the lower
end of his stick, which thereby becomes an automatic instrument of
torture, menacing your face and eyes in quite a savage way. Indeed, his
apparent unconsciousness that he is a nuisance, and ought to be kicked
out, really approaches the sublime.
He is a pet of the driver, of course. Some innocent people wonder that
the drivers of omnibuses or cars should feel so very charitably
disposed toward the human family in general, as to take up extra
passengers when all seats are filled. Short-sighted mortals! Do you not
see it! The more passengers, beyond the complement of the "'bus," the
more perquisites for an ill-requited profession.
To return to our black sheep. Look where he stands. As he grows weary,
he grasps the straps on either side to steady him. His attitude is a
cunningly devised mode of tormenting his fellow-passengers. Either
elbow of our nondescript just reaches the hat of your opposite neighbor
or yourself. With each jolt of the stage, by a little dexterity of
movement, or want of it, he can knock the hats over the eyes of two
persons at a time, and by a little shifting of his position he can
frequently bring down four by a single spasmodic lunge. When he is
fresher, as in the morning, and can hold his own weight, he falls in
his more natural posture. Would you know what that may be? Did you ever
observe one of the descendants of the Lost Tribes who inhabit Chatham
street dreamily waiting for a passing rustic? He is apparently in a
comatose state. His abdomen is drawn in; his body is bent like a
section of a hoop; his eyes are cast down; while both his hands are
thrust deeply into his trowser's pockets.
But I grow weary of the subject, and stop by commending the Thirteenth
Man in the Omnibus to curiosity-hunters as a fungus growth of humanity
nursed by over-virtuous forbearance.
Hyperborean.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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