Not Trying.

It was at the Durham Street railway crossing that a diminutive engine was struggling to push an enormous rake of trucks towards the station (says the Christchurch Sun). As truck after truck crawled past, a little knot of pedestrians became more restive with each passing minute. At last the engine snorted up, putting its lost ounce of power into its job and one old lady, pointing to the driver and fireman leaning nonchalantly out of their cab windows, exclaimed to her companion, “Just look at them! Us waiting to cross more than five minutes, and them lolling there not trying!”—D.S.

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