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95
AUTOMOBILIA.
Oh, the automobile! what shall pedestrians do with it? Scarcely any one but can remember sundry narrow escapes from its swift-whirling wheels, and hundreds and perhaps thousands are in the cemetery, on account of the escapes being left out.
The laws that have been made with which to regulate this newer sort of transportation, seem almost as evasive as the machines themselves: but let us hope that some day it will be made reasonably safe to walk abroad in the public roads.
Ten men walking along the street,Hailing the joys that mortals meet:
Comes an auto of swift design—
Now, alas! there are only nine.
Nine men crossing the public way,
Full of the joy of the golden day;
Sounds the whistle a bit too late—
Now, dear me! there are only eight.
Eight young children upon the road,
Playing in front of their abode:
Comes a smart recruiter of heaven—
Now, you note, there are only seven.
Seven men crossing the busy street,
Little knowing what they will meet:
Comes a craft of the River Styx—
Now, if you count, there are only six.
96
Pondering not how safe, but far;
One of them reaches home alive—
Hospitals shelter the other five.
Five joy-riders unsafe to meet,
Riding amuck in the midnight street,
Fifty miles per the hour or more:
Now there are merely parts of four.
One poor fellow who stays at home,
Never abroad in the streets to roam:
He is in the invalid ranks—
But he as yet is living, thanks.
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