| ALEXANDER GEORGE
MACOWEN, would never look where he was going. When walking in
the park or street he'd gravely contemplate his feet, or gaze
with an abstracted stare at pilots stunting in the air. Some
distant point of the horizon he'd keep his dim unseeing eyes
on, ignoring folk who wished to pass and signs that said : |
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| "KEEP OFF THE
GRASS!" |
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| Observe the
boy ! Where'er he walks he leaves a trail of broken stalks.
Municipal geraniums turn pale as snowdrops when he comes, and
keepers of the public parks all show their teeth like angry
sharks! |
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| He'd frequently
the peace disturb by pushing people off the curb, then hurry
on without a word, his eye upon some distant bird. But if he
hit a post or tree he'd like as not say : |
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| " Pardon me
! " |
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| At crossing
streets he was the worst. He'd never heard of SAFETY FIRST.
He never looked to left or right, he never saw a coloured light,
nor noticed people one by one, like fowls along a chicken-run
follow the Hunt until they found the safety of ' Tom Tiddler's
Ground.' |
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| A beacon by
the pavement's rim no solemn warning held for him ; it seemed
to GEORGE no guiding sun, he'd never even noticed one! And buses
on their varied routes would hoot at GEORGE with angry hoots,
and drivers of electric trams would get in most unheard-of jams,
using what skill they could employ in trying to avoid the boy. |
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| The things the
lorry drivers said! They might have made GEORGE go quite red;
they might have made GEORGE feel quite queer, if only GEORGE
had stopped to hear. |
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| But on he plunged
between the trams, the motor-bikes, the nursemaids' prams, a
tangled mass of carts and vans and terrified pedestrians. |
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| Yes, you are
right! The boy was caught ! And ALEXANDER GEORGE was brought
to face, with weak and trembling knees, the suitable authorities. |
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| "You're charged,"
they said to GEORGE MACOWEN," with never looking where you're
going, ignoring signs and traffic lights and giving people horrid
frights." |
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| The Minister
of Transport rose and looked at GEORGE from head to toes. "I
ask you," cried the Minister, "are you ashamed or aren't you,
sir? I ask you for the second time, do you regret your life
of crime? Ah, you may wilt, sir! You may weaken— for such as
you I planned the beacon. To you I gave the traffic signs, the
coloured lights, the studs, the lines." |
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"For when the
light is round and red
Pedestrians may forge ahead,
But when you see an amber light
To start across is hardly right
For 'ere the farther curb is seen
That amber light may turn to green
And then the traffic with a rush
From Pimlico and Shepherd's Bush
To Oxford Circus and the Zoo
May make a frightful mess of you ! " |
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| " I'd take your
licence right away," with heavy heart GEORGE heard him say,
"but as you're not possessed of one that obviously can't be
done. So this is what I'm going to do—I'm going to fix an '
L ' on you, and when you've learnt the highway code we'll let
you out upon the road. Repeat this slowly after me," then said
the Minister of T. |
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"When the light
is round and red
Pedestrians may forge ahead,
But when you see an amber light
To start across is hardly right,
For 'ere the farther curb is seen
That amber light may turn to green
And motors, trams and lorries, too,
May make a frightful mess of you !
"You look to left, you look to right,
You keep the signals well in sight,
Don't step out quickly from behind
And once you start...
DON'T CHANGE YOUR MIND!" |
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So George has
learnt the highway code.
He knows each signal on the road,
And now he's fitted with an ' L'
He's really doing rather well. . . . |
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But though it's
safer
far for us,
It makes him
SO
conspicuous! |
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