London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
A GRAIN OR TWO OF CHAFF.
And when I hint that harshness is sometimes the necessary medicine for rudeness, I would add that kindness is, when possible, the better remedy. As a body of men cabmen are an excellent set of fellows. Considering that they have to be out in all weathers and at all times, they really are wonderfully good-tempered. That they are past-masters of chaff is universally allowed. The other day a friend of mine took a cab a journey which extended to within some three hundred yards of two miles. He gave the driver a shilling. said the man, On another occasion a middle-aged man, after emerging from Lock's in a brand new , gave eighteenpence to a coachman who had carried him from St. James's Street to Sloane Square. | |
said cabby; The man had his joke, but not his Since the establishment of shelters I have noticed | |
144 | a marked improvement in the sobriety of our jehus. Even intoxication, however, on occasions has its advantages-a sentiment which, no doubt, would meet with the stern reprobation of Sir Wilfrid Lawson. In advance of this contention, perhaps, I may instance what occurred on a recent occasion. There was a hurricane in London. It was simply terrible. I was coming home from a newspaper office, and could not see a cab anywhere. At length, about half a mile from , I stumbled upon a four-wheeler. The driver was cheerful and quite tipsy. He made not the slightest difficulty to driving me some three or four miles in a westerly direction. I do not believe that he would have objected to attempting to get to Aldershot, Margate, or, if it comes to that, India, China, or Japan. We were a little tardy in starting, as my coachman thought it necessary to tell me a long anecdote about nothing in particular through the window. Then a policeman interfered, and ordered him to The cabman was exceedingly polite to the constable, and off we went. At first we took the pavement a little too much, but later on proceeded excellently well, Jehu leaving matters in the hands, or rather legs, of the horse. I am glad to say our well-trained steed was evidently a teetotaler. After some short cuts that I fancy must have been favourites with the worthy brute (I refer to the quadruped), we reached our destination. I paid the cabman his fare, |
145 | and remarked that asked the man indistinctly and smilingly. He had evidently not noticed the inclemency of the weather. |
I repeated two or three times. | |
returned Jehu at last with dignified amiability. And then Sammy starting off, I saw no more of either of them. | |
