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
As we get into the city a little before ten, four or five of our party
are regular passengers. We always take them up at the same places, and
they generally occupy the same seats; they are always dressed in the
same manner, and invariably discuss the same topics—the increasing
rapidity of cabs, and the disregard of moral obligations evinced by
omnibus men. There is a little testy old man, with a powdered head, who
always sits on the right-hand side of the door as you enter, with his
hands folded on the top of his umbrella. He is extremely impatient, and
sits there for the purpose of keeping a sharp eye on the cad, with whom
he generally holds a running dialogue. He is very officious in helping
people in and out, and always volunteers to give the cad a poke with
his umbrella, when any one wants to alight. He usually recommends
ladies to have sixpence ready, to prevent delay; and if anybody puts a
window down, that he can reach, he immediately puts it up again.
‘Now, what are you stopping for?’ says the little man every morning,
the moment there is the slightest indication of ‘pulling up’ at the
corner of Regent-street, when some such dialogue as the following takes
place between him and the cad:
‘What are you stopping for?’
Here the cad whistles, and affects not to hear the question.
‘I say [a poke], what are you stopping for?’
‘For passengers, sir. Ba—nk.—Ty.’
‘I know you’re stopping for passengers; but you’ve no business to do
so. _Why_ are you stopping?’
‘Vy, sir, that’s a difficult question. I think it is because we perfer
stopping here to going on.’
‘Now mind,’ exclaims the little old man, with great vehemence, ‘I’ll
pull you up to-morrow; I’ve often threatened to do it; now I will.’
‘Thankee, sir,’ replies the cad, touching his hat with a mock
expression of gratitude;—‘werry much obliged to you indeed, sir.’ Here
the young men in the omnibus laugh very heartily, and the old gentleman
gets very red in the face, and seems highly exasperated.
The stout gentleman in the white neckcloth, at the other end of the
vehicle, looks very prophetic, and says that something must shortly be
done with these fellows, or there’s no saying where all this will end;
and the shabby-genteel man with the green bag, expresses his entire
concurrence in the opinion, as he has done regularly every morning for
the last six months.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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