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Aviation History
1917
1917 - 0131.PDF
FEBRUARY 8. 1917. PERHAPSIhere is something in a man's occupation that stamps him indelibly with the label of his profession ; certain it is that with most one has not to study them very long before being able to make a shrewd guess. It is one of my little amusements to study people I meet in trains and other public places, and to try to satisfy myself as to their probable field of activity in drawing in the wherewithal to satisfy the butcher and the baker. In one of 0. Henry's inimitable stories of American life I read of a raid on a night- club, where, in order to allay suspicion, the raiders all went disguised as policemen, and there is something more in this than meets the eye at first glance, if you know America. With alljhonour to the London detective, or man in plain clothes, it has been one of the pleasures of my life that I could tell him a mile away. Not that I have I * had. any great reason to make a special study of policemen, for I have only had to keep my eye open for them for my own special benefit on one occasion, and then I failed in my discovery utterly, but that only goes to prove the rule. No, it was nothing very serious, but as a story told against oneself it may possess a touch of general interest, and as I wish to clear the air of any suspicion of serious crime committed by me, I will give it to you. It was nothing more terrible than an action for trespass, and it was of such a trivial nature, in my opinion, that, on the day of trial, I stayed away from the court, went for a day's outing with a party of friends instead. In the result I got fined forty and costs for my contempt. Now, this happened in quite a small country town, and it also happened that I knew most of the constables by sight, and more than sight. It also happened that the Chief Constable was my own particular crony in the cosy sanctum of a local hostelry, where summer and winter we used to sample things comforting according unto the custom of recognised society in that particular town at that particular time. There- fore the news of my indebtedness to the legalised highwayman who sat in the court to lay by the heels simple souls and relieve them of their cash, was made known to me in a way not strictly according to established routine. As a fact, it was made known to me every night in the same manner for a good many weeks, not to mention that every constable I met in the daytime would ask me when I was " going to come round and pay the Old Man that money " I was beginning to think that I was going to " wangle " it tofmy great benefit, when, as I have said, came the great event; I failed to recognise a policeman for once in my life. I had a splendid little photographic studio in those days, which was carpeted with a lovely " pile " carpet, but which the Clergy, Nobility and Gentry of the district appeared to take no interest in what- ever, with the result that many of my days were passed " cum camera." But one morning I thought that I had a real live sitter. I was on my knees lighting the fire (the three housemaids, together with the footman and butler having been given the day off) when he walked in, and in my best professional manner I started in to make myself acquainted with his wishes, hoping for at least an order for a dozen 12 by 10 pictures, for my visitor was dressed equal to that expenditure. Well, he didn't want anything of the sort, and because I hadn't the necessary in my pocket at the moment, I had to go with him to the station and remain there whilst a constable went to my house to collect it. However, I had one of those local " comforters " with the chief in the interval. But as I was saying, whenever any great personage appears in public with the usual bevy of plain-clothes protection, I could go round and pin a ribbon on every one of them. Somebody has said that the reason one can always tell a stableman is because he cannot do the least little thing without making a hissing noise with his mouth. That is not at all necessary. I could tell a coachman in silent reverie, dressed up in chain mail, provided I could see his face. Doubtless clothes and mannerisms have a lot to do with marking the man as this or as that. In London, with its busy streets and the rapid passing of pedes- trians, it is not so easy, but whoever saw an insurance agent in a suburban street without being able to place him immediately ? He ap- pears, as a body, to dress in a peculiar way, yet just where he differs from the average person in his own rank in life, I cannot say. Then he has, in con- junction with the policeman, a queer, interested way 01 looking at everybody, a kind of looking for business sort of thing. He may have his book in his pocket, but his stick is a recognised trade mark. There is something funny about the sticks carried by insurance agents. A man late of the army can be told by his upright, marching style of walking, and a sailorman by his free rolling swing of arms and legs. Newspaper men have the same way of looking at everybody as the constable and the insurance agent, amplified by THE PIILOT
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