Life — December 1, 1921 — page 8: what you’re looking at

What you’re looking at

# Analysis This page contains "The New Sport" by James Healy, a short story about motormen (streetcar operators) and a dangerous game they play: jerking the streetcar suddenly to throw standing passengers off balance onto the floor or into each other's laps. The accompanying photograph shows what appears to be the interior of a crowded streetcar with passengers. The story describes this as a learned "skill" taught at the company's training school—calculating precisely how much acceleration will dislodge riders without causing them to fall completely. The narrator notes older passengers are harder targets than younger ones, as they hold tighter to straps. The humor derives from presenting this reckless, dangerous prank as a legitimate competitive "sport" among operators, satirizing both workplace hazing and the cavalier disregard for passenger safety in early 20th-century public transit.