they gently
step ahead of you and take the seat you are aiming for, and if they can
sit sidewise and occupy one and a half seats, and if you beg two of
them to move closer together and let you have the remaining space, the
two men may rise, one nearly always does and takes off his hat and begs
you to have his place. Then all the eyes in the car are fixed on
you--not reprovingly, or smilingly, or in derision or reproach, but
earnestly, as if you form a social study which it might be worth their
while to investigate. Never once during a year's observance of
surface-car phenomena have I seen a row of luxuriously seated people
make a movement to give place to a new-comer, no matter how old or how
well gowned she may be. Even ladies will sometimes give their seats to
each other. But they won't 'move up.'"

"In Denver," said Jimmie, "I once heard a conductor call out 'The gents
will please step forward and the ladies set closter.' If I knew where
that man was I would try to get him a position with the Metropolitan,
for most of them feel as a conductor said here in New York when I
jumped on him for not obeying my signal, 'Schmall bit do _I_ care!'"

"Then the cars themselves," I cried, "Aren't they the most awful
things! I can earnestly commend the surface cars of New York as the
most awkward and uncomfortable to climb in and out of that I have ever
seen. I use the word 'climb' advisedly, as the step is so high that
one must take both hands to hoist oneself, while the conductor is
generally obliged to reach down and seize the ambitious woman by the
arm to assist her. The bell rings while you are still on the lower
step; the conductor says, 'Step lively, please;' the car attains its
maximum of speed at one jump; the conductor puts his dirty hand on your
white silk back and gives you a forward shove, and you plunge into the
nearest seat, apologizing to the people on each side of you for having
sat in their laps. Then comes a cry, 'Hold fast,' and around a curve
you go at a speed which throws people down, and on one occasion I saw a
woman pitched from her seat.

"The Boston street railway system is the most perfect of any American
city that I know of. There they pursue such a leisurely course that a
Boston woman never rises from her seat until the car has come to a full
stop. In fact, Bee and I were identified as strangers in town by the
husband of our friend who met us at the terminus of one of the
street-car line