THE ARTFUL STRAP-HANGER.

Woodville Examiner, Volume XXII, Issue 3872, 11 May 1906, Page 4 (Supplement)

THE ARTFUL STRAP-HANGER.

Ho entered a crowded carriage on the District Railway the other and, after a look round, he reached out ; his hand to a middle-aged man, and cal- ’ uted him with: , i “ Good-morning, sir. How do you do this morning?” , “Gocd-morning,” was the stiff iepl> of the other. . , “Don’t you remember me.’ queued the man, banging to a strap. “I can’t say that I do. “That’s funny. Six weeks ago la.,t night 1 was in one of these carnages with my wife. You were also a passenger. The train was crowded, and Jon got up ami gave her your seat. Don t i von remember?” , " “I don’t charge my mind with ouch trifles,” replied the man sitting down, who didn’t seem to like the attention attracted. , , “ Yes it was a trifle ; but trifles show i a man’s character! Den t you remember my saying to you then and thoio 1 that yon wore the only gentleman in the carriage besides myself?” Tho mail sitting down began to get red in the face and move about uneasily, and then the man standing up loudly continued : “ I said to my wife as wc got off. ‘Man’, the man who gave yon his seat 1 mav not be rich or famous, but he is a gentleman, and if I over see him again I ,diall express my gratitude, los, su , veil are a gentleman, and I don't care who hears me say so. A thorough gentleman, sir. A true British gentleman.” ... r,., “Please drop tho matter, will ymi. asked tho “true gentleman,” as he grow mere embarrassed and uneasy. “Of course, I will, if you say so. That’s tho way with true modesty. You prnhahlv didn’t think yon did an act oi heroism that night; hut I know, that von did. You could have sat there, and sat and sat; hut you didn’t do it. Iho minute vou saw my wife you got up—so, and smiled—so, and insisted that sbe should take your seat. Did Caesar ever do a thing like that? Mas Brutus a greater hero? One may search the records of the whole world, sir, and not find ” ~ . , Tho “true gentleman conldii t .stand any more. Ho rose up, hurried out on to the platform as the train drew into a, station, whilst tho thankful man dropped with a smile into the scat thus vacated, and finished: —-the records of tho whole woild, and not find another such act of un.solfit,:h ■heroism.” “Why am I like a pin?” asked Mr. Jones triumphantly of his wife. Ho expected she was going to .say: “ Because you are so sharp. Ho was sorely disappointed when she replied: “Because if you got lost, you wouldn't ho worth looking for!” * “Ho!” screamed the park orator, “who puts his hand to the plough must not turn back.” “ What’s ho to do when ho gets to tho cud of tho furrow ” asked a man in tho crowd.