From The Cabby's Seat

The cabby（计程车司机，马车车夫） has his point of view. It is more single-minded, perhaps, than that of a follower¹ of any other calling. From the high, swaying seat of his hansom（二轮轻马车） he looks upon his fellowmen as nomadic²（游牧的，流浪的） particles, of no account except when possessed³ of migratory⁴（迁移的，流浪的） desires. He is Jehu, and you are goods in transit⁵. Be you President or vagabond（流浪者） , to cabby you are only a fare. He takes you up, cracks his whip, joggles your vertebræe and sets you down.

When time for payment arrives, if you exhibit a familiarity（熟悉，精通） with legal rates, you come to know what contempt is; if you find that you have left your pocket-book behind you, you are made to realize the mildness of Dante’s imagination.

It is not an extravagant⁶（奢侈的，浪费的） theory that the cabby’s singleness of purpose and concentrated view of life are the results of the hansom’s peculiar⁷ construction. The cock-of-the-roost sits aloft like Jupiter on an unsharable seat, holding your fate between two thongs⁸（丁字裤，人字拖） of inconstant leather. Helpless, ridiculous, confined, bobbing like a toy mandarin⁹（官话，国语） , you sit like a rat in a trap—you, before whom butlers cringe（畏缩，奉承） on solid land—and must squeak¹⁰（告密，吱吱叫） upward through a slit¹¹ in your peripatetic¹²（漫游的） sarcophagus（石棺，大理石） to make your feeble（微弱的，虚弱的） wishes known.

Then, in a cab, you are not even an occupant（居住者，占有者） ; you are contents. You are a cargo¹³ at sea, and the “cherub（小天使，胖娃娃） that sits up aloft” has Davy Jones’s street and number by heart.

One night there were sounds of revelry（狂欢） in the big brick tenement-house next door but one to McGary’s Family Café. The sounds seemed to emanate¹⁴ from（放射，出自） the apartments of the Walsh family. The sidewalk was obstructed¹⁵ by an assortment¹⁶（分类，混合物） of interested neighbours, who opened a lane from time to time for a hurrying messenger bearing from McGary’s goods pertinent¹⁷ to（与……有关） festivity（欢庆，欢宴） and diversion. The sidewalk contingent¹⁸ was engaged in comment and discussion from which it made no effort to eliminate the news that Norah Walsh was being married.

In the fullness of time there was an eruption¹⁹ of the merry-makers to the sidewalk. The uninvited guests enveloped²⁰ and permeated²¹ them, and upon the night air rose joyous²² cries, congratulations, laughter and unclassified noises born of McGary’s oblations（祭品，奉献物） to the hymeneal（婚姻的） scene.

Close to the kerb（路边石） stood Jerry O’Donovan’s cab. Night-hawk was Jerry called; but no more lustrous²³ or cleaner hansom than his ever closed its doors upon point lace and November violets. And Jerry’s horse! I am within bounds when I tell you that he was stuffed with oats（燕麦） until one of those old ladies who leave their dishes unwashed at home and go about having expressmen arrested, would have smiled—yes, smiled—to have seen him.

Among the shifting, sonorous²⁴（响亮的） , pulsing crowd glimpses could be had of Jerry’s high hat, battered²⁵ by the winds and rains of many years; of his nose like a carrot, battered by the frolicsome²⁶（嬉戏的） , athletic²⁷ progeny²⁸（后裔，子孙） of millionaires and by contumacious²⁹（不听命令的，顽固的） fares; of his brass-buttoned green coat, admired in the vicinity of McGary’s. It was plain that Jerry had usurped（篡夺，夺取） the functions of his cab, and was carrying a “load.” Indeed, the figure may be extended and he be likened to a bread-wagon（货车，四轮马车） if we admit the testimony³⁰ of a youthful spectator（观众，旁观者） , who was heard to remark “Jerry has got a bun.”

From somewhere among the throng³¹（人群） in the street or else out of the thin stream of pedestrians³²（行人） a young woman tripped and stood by the cab. The professional hawk’s eye of Jerry caught the movement. He made a lurch³³（蹒跚，挫折） for the cab, overturning three or four onlookers³⁴ and himself—no! he caught the cap of a water-plug and kept his feet. Like a sailor shinning up the ratlins（梯绳） during a squall（狂风） , Jerry mounted to his professional seat. Once he was there McGary’s liquids were baffled. He see-sawed on the mizzen-mast of his craft as safe as a steeplejack（高空作业工人） rigged to the flagpole of a sky-scraper.

“Step in, lady,” said Jerry, gathering³⁵ his lines.

The young woman stepped into the cab; the doors shut with a bang; Jerry’s whip cracked in the air; the crowd in the gutter³⁶ scattered³⁷, and the fine hansom dashed away.