How To Start You Own School

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THE TRANSFER: A FREE SCHOOL FABLE

by Walter Toman

Eric was setting in the middle of the streetcar, and opposite him there was an elegant, elderly gentleman. At the next stop several people got on and hurried to the center in order to get a seat. But none were vacant. The first person who came from one side was a well-dressed, elderly lady; the first person from the other side was a little old woman who was carrying a bundle of kindling wood on her shoulder. The elegant gentleman sitting opposite Eric jumped up in order to make room for the well-dressed lady. But at the last moment he noticed that the old lady with the sticks was about to slip into the vacant seat behind his back, and he blocked her path. The well-dressed lady, who had reached the seat, gave him a smile, whereupon he tipped his hat and she sat down.

After a few seconds, during which the three people concerned began to settle down in their new positions—the old woman put her bundle on the floor, the gentleman put on his gloves and reached for one of the straps, the well-dressed lady pulled her coat down over her knee—after a few seconds, then, Eric got up and offered his seat to the old lady with the wood.

She was a bit surprised, but sat down immediately, and after she had put her bundle to her knees, she moved her hand up to Eric's face and stroked his cheek.

Eric blushed and looked to the left and to the right to see if anyone had noticed it, for he had not wanted the caress. Now the well-dressed lady stood up and offered her seat to the old woman. But since this would only have meant a change of seat for the old woman, she stayed put, but also stroked the well-dressed lady's cheek. Dazed, the elegant lady offered her seat to the elegant gentleman who had given it up for her, but he refused to sit down again. She offered her seat to Eric, and perhaps because he also declined her offer, she stroked his cheek. She also stroked the cheek of the elegant gentleman and Eric's again. Thereupon the plain gentleman who had the window seat next to the well-dressed lady jumped up and offered his seat to her. Then the young lady who was sitting next to the woman with the bundle offered her window seat to her and Eric could not resist the temptation to stroke this young lady's cheek. Smiling, the young lady stroked the cheek of the old woman who had refused her offer, and then turning, she bent far over the back of her seat toward the people on the back seats and stroked the cheeks of two of them.

Suddenly it was impossible to keep the activity confined to the center group of seats, and people on the entire streetcar began to stroke one another and offer one another their seats. Nobody wanted to sit down any more; but still, some people kept getting pushed down into seats. They arose again the moment they thought themselves unobserved, and mingled with the tender jostling of the standees . . .All had their cheeks stroked, everybody stroked somebody else's cheek, and finally all were standing and all the seats were unoccupied. Even the old woman with the wood stood up, held her bundle in one arm, and used her other hand to participate in the caresses which everybody was bestowing with grear feeling. She joined gladly, for after all, she had started it.

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