Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day PeopleDickens, Charles
General
Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People
Dickens, Charles
London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century; London (England) -- Social life and customs -- 19th century -- Fiction
goes the door; the parcel is immediately found; off starts the coach
again; and the guard plays the key-bugle as loud as he can play it, as
if in mockery of your wretchedness.
Now, you meet with none of these afflictions in an omnibus; sameness
there can never be. The passengers change as often in the course of one
journey as the figures in a kaleidoscope, and though not so glittering,
are far more amusing. We believe there is no instance on record, of a
man’s having gone to sleep in one of these vehicles. As to long
stories, would any man venture to tell a long story in an omnibus? and
even if he did, where would be the harm? nobody could possibly hear
what he was talking about. Again; children, though occasionally, are
not often to be found in an omnibus; and even when they are, if the
vehicle be full, as is generally the case, somebody sits upon them, and
we are unconscious of their presence. Yes, after mature reflection, and
considerable experience, we are decidedly of opinion, that of all known
vehicles, from the glass-coach in which we were taken to be christened,
to that sombre caravan in which we must one day make our last earthly
journey, there is nothing like an omnibus.
We will back the machine in which we make our daily peregrination from
the top of Oxford-street to the city, against any ‘buss’ on the road,
whether it be for the gaudiness of its exterior, the perfect simplicity
of its interior, or the native coolness of its cad. This young
gentleman is a singular instance of self-devotion; his somewhat
intemperate zeal on behalf of his employers, is constantly getting him
into trouble, and occasionally into the house of correction. He is no
sooner emancipated, however, than he resumes the duties of his
profession with unabated ardour. His principal distinction is his
activity. His great boast is, ‘that he can chuck an old gen’lm’n into
the buss, shut him in, and rattle off, afore he knows where it’s
a-going to’—a feat which he frequently performs, to the infinite
amusement of every one but the old gentleman concerned, who, somehow or
other, never can see the joke of the thing.
We are not aware that it has ever been precisely ascertained, how many
passengers our omnibus will contain. The impression on the cad’s mind
evidently is, that it is amply sufficient for the accommodation of any
number of persons that can be enticed into it. ‘Any room?’ cries a hot
pedestrian. ‘Plenty o’ room, sir,’ replies the conductor, gradually
opening the door, and not disclosing the real state of the case, until
the wretched man is on the steps. ‘Where?’ inquires the entrapped
individual, with an attempt to back out again. ‘Either side, sir,’
rejoins the cad, shoving him in, and slamming the door. ‘All right,
Bill.’ Retreat is impossible; the new-comer rolls about, till he falls
down somewhere, and there he stops.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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