Page:Omnibuses and Cabs.djvu/167

 An eccentric person, well known to 'busmen in one part of London is a gentleman who stands, almost every night at certain corners where omnibuses stop and gives a searching look at each one as it comes up. When he started that practice, ten to fifteen years ago, the 'busmen thought that he was some omnibus official, but they soon discovered that he was not. Who or what he has been looking for all these years neither 'busmen, policemen, nor any one else, know. Sometimes conductors say to him, "Coming our way, sir?" Whereupon he answers sharply. "Take your departure." Usually he allows about one hundred omnibuses to pass before he enters one, but sometimes he lets the last go by and then walks home.

Omnibus conductors are, on the whole, a very respectable and intelligent class of men, and this is scarcely to be wondered at, for their pay, after one year's service, is six shillings a day. These wages cause hundreds of clerks and shopmen to resign their positions and become conductors. Many men who have been in business for themselves, but failed to earn a good living, are to be seen wearing the conductor's badge and punch.