And so they did; Harry was as clever at stable-work as a much older boy,
and always wanted to do what he could. Then Polly and Dolly used to come
in the morning to help with the cab--to brush and beat the cushions,
and rub the glass, while Jerry was giving us a cleaning in the yard, and
Harry was rubbing the harness. There used to be a great deal of laughing
and fun between them, and it put Captain and me in much better spirits
than if we had heard scolding and hard words. They were always early in
the morning, for Jerry would say:
If you in the morning
Throw minutes away,
You can't pick them up
In the course of a day.
You may hurry and scurry,
And flurry and worry,
You've lost them forever,
Forever and aye.
He could not bear any careless loitering and waste of time; and nothing
was so near making him angry as to find people, who were always late,
wanting a cab horse to be driven hard, to make up for their idleness.
One day two wild-looking young men came out of a tavern close by the
stand, and called Jerry.
Here, cabby! look sharp, we are rather late; put on the steam, will
you, and take us to the Victoria in time for the one o'clock train? You
shall have a shilling extra.
I will take you at the regular pace, gentlemen; shillings don't pay for
putting on the steam like that.
Larry's cab was standing next to ours; he flung open the door, and said,
I'm your man, gentlemen! take my cab, my horse will get you there all
right; and as he shut them in, with a wink toward Jerry, said, It's
against his conscience to go beyond a jog-trot. Then slashing his jaded
horse, he set off as hard as he could. Jerry patted me on the neck: No,
Jack, a shilling would not pay for that sort of thing, would it, old
boy?
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