" Lhr pertatar " September 22, 1849
HUMAN GOODS Something to be carried and paid for—that is the conductorial idea of human beings. Something rather troublesome to pack, from its vary- ing sizes, but not easily damaged ; not forbidden, like caps, to be squeezed, nor like glass, to be shaken. This something is to be carried somewhere —it does not, to the conductorial mind, much matter whither. Indeed, there are minds of such breadth that they look upon passengers only es things that go, independently of any destination—a something concen- trated about the Bank, and to be dispersed at so much a head for that public service. A passenger is a piece of goods that belongs, by law of bailment, not to himself, but to the conductor. Conductors fight for passengers as boys for windfall apples ; the poor passenger, especially if it be a woman, often being injured in the contest. A case is reported this week of a lady who was thus the subject of conflict, and was much damaged. We have seen parent and child seized by rival cads and lodged in separate vehicles, kicking and screaming like fowls put into a market-basket--screaming like hens and chickens sent to different market towns, and as remorselessly sundered.
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