Wyandot County Republican. [volume] (Upper Sandusky, Ohio) 1869-1903, 1871-05-25
poorly purchased at the risk of fractured
In,Ic or in tho nollufion of fnnl air

poorly purchased at the risk of fractured
limbs, or in the pollution of foul air.
4. We are disposed to urge, as fourth
rule, the propriety of avoiding nighttrav
in railway cars. How absurd it will per-
haps be said. Is this not one of the grand
improvements of this method of travel,
that the nights can be used, and that you
can sleep as comfortably as in your bed at
home? Is it not great gain to get over the
ground while you are asleep, and save the
weariness of the long day stretch? New
ertheless, we say don't travel by night,
unless you are in hurry to meet some en-
gagement, to see dying friend, or to
reach your lecture hall, when the trains
have been detained. A bagman or a
hummer" who must have all his day
time for traffic, may be excused for travel
ing by night He has no purpose of spi-
ritual improvement or physical delight.
But one who is travelling for health or
pleasure loses much in the wear aud tear
of nerve which night travel involves. The
thin light, f1ickering and faint, is ruinous
to the eyes, and the sleep, which is snatch
ed and broken, is not refreshing. Even
the nice bed and the clean sheets of
Pullman palace car are no guarantee for
genuine rest; there is as much wakeful-
ness, as much fitful dreaming, as much fear
of the nocturnal powers, and much more
danger in case of accident, in these pal
ace cars, than in the more open cars, where
they tumble and toss up N the seats, but
are ready to move when the shock comes.
Not few persons, who thought sleeping
cars a wonderful invention a few years
ago, now religiously avoid them, and pre-
fer to watch in the other coaches, rather
than be hived in the close cells and the
hot air of those splendid cages.
5. To this we add the counsel, not to eat
in the cars. Convenient as the custom
may be, it is not quite clean. One cannot
drop crumbs. apple-skins and nutshells
upon the car floor without annoying some
of bis neighbors. The odor of food clings
to car, even when it is open to currents
of air. ten minutes for dinner" at a
railway restaurant, do not, of course, hold
out hope of a Christian meal. Yet
where reasonable time is given, it is better
to go for food in the place where it be-
longs. We may doubt, too, if it is alto
gether healthy to eat when the body is fly
ing through the air, any more than when
one is walking. There is kind of bodily
exercise in the motion of a railway car,
less violent, perhaps, than that of rowing
or horseback riding, but still quite as real
Who thinks of eating on horseback? The
organ grinder stops his grinding when he
takes his dinner, though he still has one
hand free.
6. DR.. Holmes, in one of his books, says
that the model fellow traveller in a railway
car is the one who sits by you with LIS
mouth shut, and asks no questions. May
we not infer from this remark that much
conversation in railway travel is not good,
and should be avoided? A dead silence
,Ior h,1t CTR of
talk when there is this background of jar
and rumble, making it an effort to listen,
is fearfully wearisome. 1t tries not only
the eaes of the hearer, but it tries the
voice of the speaker. 1t is not well to
talk much in railway cars, when talking is
felt to be an effort, and the voice has to be
strained. Moreover, we should remember
that loud talking will be overheard by
those to whom it is not addressed. There
is no greater nuisance in railway car than
loud declaimer, who makes his affairs or
his fancies public property.
T. Shall we read in the cars. Judicious
oculists say that it is not safe. But what
is a lone man to do, if he may not eat and
talk? Must he spend all his time in think
ing, or in looking out of the window, or
in doing? Some reading, certainly, must
be allowed; and the profits of the book
the oculists is not very piously needed
The best advice is not to read very much
or very steadily in railway cars, not to
read anything that requires close attention
or close study, or that is printed in fine
print. Newspaper or magazine stories are
about as much as the brain ought to be
tried with in this journeying. If one
studies it should be in the guide book
rather than in Herbert Spencer Mathe.
matical problems and theological discus
sions are not to be handled in railway
journeys, and a wise tourist will not choose
the game of chess for his recreation when
he is in an express train.
g. Another rule Of railway travel, diff
ferent from those thus far given, which are
all in sense sanitary, is to be very chary
| of making new acquaintance. One OF
the pleasantest things in the old stage
coach era was the agreeable friendship
that sprung up in those expeditions, when
men and women were brought so close to
gether and compelled to know one another
The company in railway cars is too mis-
cellaneous to make that intimacy desirable
1t is not safe to make a confident of the
man who is OH the seat with you, or to ex
pose to him your own weak points.
8. And a final advice is, covering mul
titude of details and very comprehensive
mind the rules of tine road. Don't stand
upon the platforms, or jump from the cars
when they are in motion. Get your bag
gage properly checked. Don't open win
dows which are not meant to be open al
this season. Consider the rights of YOU
fellow travellers and their comfort, anC
don't act as if you were entitled to specia
Driyilepe of He1lth