| Transcript |
- THE LATE MR. T. GEIGER 235
CHAPTER XXXIV.
THE LATE MR. T. GEIGER.
ABOUT thirty-five years ago, maybe a little more, it was a fine bright summer afternoon and rather warm. The sun beat down on the awnings on the east side of Government Street. It was the custom then for all stores to have wooden awnings with a kind of drop curtain awning which rolled up and down, and on the summer afternoons it was sure to be down. But to proceed; when all these drop curtains were down the side-walk was enclosed from one end of the street to the other. Before I proceed to say anything more about these awnings and sidewalks, I will have to admit that our city was not the Victoria of to-day, and I am sure I shall hardly be credited if I assert that a cannon might have been fired down the centre of Government Street, and chances taken of not striking anyone. I mean that a time could have been chosen when it could have been done with perfect safety. On any of these quiet afternoons, a sudden uproar might have been heard of a flock of geese alighting from a distance on Government Street to feed on the sides of the streets on the grass that grew there. As they passed up the street they chattered away, likely discussing the quiet times which permitted them to make a feeding ground of the chief business street of the city. During the time the geese are chatting with one another, several little groups of Victoria's respected citizens are having
234
their afternoon chat on the several topics of the day. I see them now, as I saw them then, a row of chairs, some of them tipped back and the occupier perhaps smoking. There was, likely, Alexander Gilmore, merchant tailor. Then half a dozen guests in the front of the Colonial Hotel, which was next door to Fletcher's music store; then Joe Lovett of Lovett's Exchange, and then the subject of my little sketch, Tommy Geiger. He was well known and well liked by all, and fond of a joke was Tommy. No one ever thought of calling him other than " Tommy " in those good old days. Very few fortunes were made in those days on Government Street, or those summer afternoon chats, sitting on tipped-up chairs would not have been held.
It must have been a slack time of the day to be able to enjoy themselves in this free and easy manner. A customer goes into one of these stores, the proprietor gets up, goes in to serve him, and then returns to his seat to resume the conversation. They did not worry, they lived quietly, were able to bring up their families as they should, and to-day these families represent some of our best business men. So I say " requiescat in pace." He was an enthusiastic fireman in those days when volunteer firemen did so much for nothing and that efficiently, too.
|
|---|
