The weekly Portage sentinel. [volume] (Ravenna, Ohio) 1854-1861, 1857-12-10
=, From Household Words.
A Railway Adventure.

them regularly for the last fifteen years, l
must have spent at least twelvemonth of
my existence in first class carriage; /,
therefore, may be supposed to know little
about the passengers. l know almost ev.
e:ybody's name who gets into the train at
the half dozen stations between my own
and London, and whether he will return by
our five. thirty, ur, not, to dead certainty.
know which are the stock brokers, and
which the lawyers, and which the bill dis.
counters, and the places of business Of every
one Of them, although our Acquaintance is
only acknowledged by nod, nor ever ex-
tends beyond the terminus at the London
Bridge. When A or 3 is not in eleven.
forty.five up twice running, we look for him
in the Times, and find him Under Deaths or
Bunkrupts; and when / myself, x, am mis-
sing, feel confident that the rest of the al.
phdbet will as easily understand what is
become of me. We do not pretend to en-
tertain the sympathetic feelings of Rous-
seau, or a Lnmurtine, towards our friends
of the South Angular; our conversations
which are carried on Under cover of our re.
spective newspapers--are kept studiously
general, for there is no knowing what reli-
gion or politics any of us may profess, or
whether we profess them at all; we discuss
principally the money market Only, and the
Misunderstanding that. if there be homi-
eide or two in the same carriage, any often.
sive remark may be understood not to apply
to the present company. We season ticket
holders are, of course, well, known to the
'company's cfficers, SO that they rarely give
us the trouble OF producing cur passes at
all, nor is one Of US more recognisable than
e, The levalhan banker, who makes the
train stop inalront of his own house, where
there is no station, to the concentrated dis.
gust of the three classes. He is called by
us, familiarly, "the Old Cock" but, altho'
he knows this, It's not, OF course, customary
to address him by that Oppellation. My
brother, however, who is stranger to the
South Angular, going down with me once
upon visit by the fiye-thirty, remarked,
unhappily, upon occasion of the usual stop
pOge in front Of The huge red house, "Oh,
this is " here the Old Cock lives, ho causes
you so much annoyance, is III" Where
upon, the great G, who was sitting opposite,
crimsoned excessively, got out slower than
usual, and has never nodded to me since
a little utter this, new ticket collector
having been appointed by the company, he
called upon the whole carriage full, which
included but one casual passenger, to pro-
duce our tickets; which, with the excepticn
Of the Old Cock, we readily did. He con-
fessed that he had it in his waiscoat pocket,
bat that no human power would induce him
to exhibit it; he haransued the unfortunate
collector for nearly quarter of an hour,
During whieh the train was, ofeourse, de.
lsyed, and the business passengers goaded
TO freEzy,) on the absurdity of his (C's)
being unknown to any person on the South
Angular railway, no matter how newly ap.
pointed, or how forgetful by disposition; he
took the official to task, just as though he,
himself, the Old Cock, were the aggrieved
party, and as if he were the Lord Chief
Baroh addressing some offender against the
law. 7 5>& tf " @ |
"Nay, bat" urged the poor man, sit is my
duty to see your ticket, sir, whether you
have compounded for the year or not. You
may, for all am supposed to know to the
contrary, have lent, or even sold your"
II sell my ticket-I abuse my prvilege!"
cried the old fellow in terrible voice.
"Give the rascal into my hand, John" (To
his son, who was sitting opposite.) where
upon the collector got off the step with
great agility. -.r.- "a I.
"What ain / to do!" said.the discounted,
appealing to the rest of us, 81 ought to take
the gentleman into custody.
C had relapsed behind his paper in high
dudgeon. and would reply to no mans inter-
cession upon this subject further, while his
son John shook his head very decidedly
saying: S
! "He won't give it up. | have known him
1 for forty years. He won't give it up. |
know him SO WE'LL" z t9 sa9fyv tga
/ Indeed, so it happened, and after a con-
sultatfon among the officials upon the plat.
fern, and d very prolonged stoppage Of the
train, the Old Cock was carried on in tri-
fumph, still stertoreas with Indignation.
b. These little incidsnts are the only ones
as have said, which to my knowledge ever
interfered with the strictly business charac
ter Of our daily transits; but when have
chanced to be detained longer than usua
in town, and to miss the fve.thirty, l have
met with more interesting companions. -
Three times, by the evening express, | have
travelled with gentleman bound for tht
other side of the channel, from whom al
ways parted with regret; middle aged
rather ruddy complexioned man, tall ant
i spare. with an intimate acquaintance witt
foreign countries, and fund Of stories o
adventure, which II was very pleasant t
draw upon. Though We. exchanged cards
y Mr.. Settler never told me what was hi
profession, but Isset him down as q trayele
1 for some great house, at d salary, perhaps