ALMOST.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 907, 29 August 1910, Page 4

ALMOST.

"NUTSHELL DRAMA" ON LAMBTOS QUAY.. Dramatis personae: A lady, the driver of a nia|or-car, a tram conductor, and spectators. . • Place: Lambtpn Quay. - Time: Six o'clock on Saturday evening. A lady'is walking quietly along Lambton Quay just as a tramcar is pulling up at a -stopping-place, with a motor-car proceeding at a moderate .pace about ten yards behind, and a few feet from tho footpath. Suddenly, like a shot from a gun. the lady makes up her. mind to board the tram; sho turns at a right angle, and makes straight for-the. tram without looking to the right or the left. It seems inevitable that she. must ,1)9 knocked down by the moto'car, but she is -sublimely unconscious of her peril. The spectators hold their breath, ■ the tram conductor stands like a statue holding the beltropc, and -two seconds of painful suspense pass. It all depends oil the driver of the motor-car, for there is no time for anyone else to act .effectively. In a'flash the man takes in the" situation, and in another flash he has the brake on, bringing his vehicle to a standstill in a few yards. . The startled lady is g-cntly pushed for a couple of feet, the danger is over, and the spectators breathe again. With an indignant glance at the driver, who, in return, looks as though he would .have spoken freely if it-had only been a man, the lady safely, boards /the tram, the conductor pulls the bell, and the car goes on its way. No one speaks. It is a nutshell'drama without words; but for five seconds it ia seen and felt acutely. After all, the. motor-car driver is not always to blame, and who knows how often his presence of mind has averted an accident ? Moral: In a busy street of.a busy city likes Wellington, no man,, woman, or child should cross the road without a glance up and a glance : down, just to see. if .all is clear. •-; . ,