Wilmington journal. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1844-1895, 1872-03-01
orB REGULAR CORREsPONDENT
Smoking Cars .Of the Wilmington d.
weldon acknowledgements TraS-
eIers. Drummcrs, Incidents. &c.

wilson, y. u, having JdoI LdhcA I" AiiO "LH
ner at Mrs. Blount's Hotel, we entered the |
smoking car for first class passengers
and drawing the materials for 6 blowing a |
cloud" took a seat % faced to the rear" and |
philosophically awaited the result of our
observations. The gentlemen came crowd |
ing in, each prepared for a E'puf y; and, |
speaking of puffs, we had as well say right
here, that more comfortable idea never
entered the mind of railroad officials than
that which has induced tho authorities OF
the Wilmington and Weldon Railroad to
have 90 smoking car for first class passen-
gers reserved for them, and none others.
Let any one who desires, just step to the
middle door and CLAN se at the crowd In the
second class car, and he will instinctlvely
feel that this reserved part is great and
wise institution, whatever its dimensions
may be and whoever originated the idea.
The gentlemen came croWdlng In, as we
said before, and each adjusting himself in
position to enjoy his after-dinner smoke,
conversation began. The crowd had
evidently prepOnderance of COM
mercial travellers, g drummers," some
irreverently call them that useful
class of commercial men who bring distant
points of trade together; who unite Port
land with Galveston; New 7 Ork with San
Francisco, Wilmington with Duluth, and all
minor and intermediate points; the class
| which saves millions of dollars to the coun-
| try every year by bringing samples to thou
| sands of merchants, which they would
| otherwise have to travel hundreds Of miles,
| at great expense, to examine ard pur-
chase from; and finally, that class which,
| as the official reports Of the committees of
various commercial bodies PROVE, conduct
| all the immense business committed 10
! them at an expense, on the whole, of one
tenth Of one per cent. We said they were
| mostly of this class of passengers. We
found they were from various points. New
Y DIRK, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk,
| Wilmington, Charleston and Mobile were
each represented, and in age they ranged
| from the unbearded young5ter, just from
Commercial College, to the old grey headed
men. There was evidently a spirit Of fun
pervading, and jokes, anecdotes, funny
sayings and descriptions ran around the
| party.
In the midst of a roar of laughter, follow
| ing a Mobile anecdote, the door opened,
and new party appeared in the car. This
was tall young man, evidently foreigner,
and from his furred pelisse and a
heavy fur cap, we put him
follower Of the Grand Duke going down to
Join him in New Orleans. An acquaintance
kindly explained to him the point Of sew
eral Jokes, and Prince kutisnOsotf as he
was dubbed, entered into the fun. He told
a Russian joke in such mingled jargOn of
| Russian, Greek, French and Yankee, no
English in it, that he brought down the
house from the very commencement. AS
he finished his story, he spied what APP
peared to be a perfume bottle in the hands
Of the person opposite, and reaching over it
was kindly loaned him. He brought it
rapidly to his nose and removed the glass
stopper. What look of astOnishment he
put on when he found about half pint OF
water emptied into his open sleeve. The
bottom of the bottle had hole in it, from
which the contents could not escape until
the stopper was taken out, and then they
emptied rapidly. 1t was one of those neat,
practical jokes some persons like to get up.
| The Prince tossed the stopper and bottle to
him from whom he had borrowed it, and
with some awful mutterings, shaking the
water from his sleeve at the same time, he
made his retreat into the near car.
Just then an old grey-headed and beard
ed traveller, from Mobile, broke in with the
following: Il went down to the Police
Court, in Richmond, Va, just to see how
the thing was conducted. a negro was
being tried for throwing stones al
the house Of an old col0red gem
ting up generally. The old mar
was on the stand, and gave the follow,
ing testimony: q was jes settin in the
buZzum of my family, arter a day work rol
lin tobacco down. Stop, said the MagiS
trate, tell ABOUT the assault" ''Well, as
, was a saying, was .jes setting in the buz
, yum OF my family, and thinking no harm
to 10 one, more especially JIM" Stop
/ tell about the assault cOntine yourself tC
, that - We'll, in the buZZum of my family
! | sOt, and dar sOt the old CONAN, and dal
} sot my Iarter in a young feilers' lap, whats
l paying his intentions to her, all in the buzz
zllm Cf my family, when smash came {
= rock through the window, right into the
5 buzzum of my family % Well, go on
was there any other damage p Damage
: WEI, spec there wer. i hat teller what
e was paying intentions to Jane, had his arm
f round her ies below i4.r vase - @ Go on
. what was the damage ~ Well, as he sol
there with his arm round Jane, as l toiC
you, the rock came smash through de win
der, struck Jane on the side and glanced
= eco on with the story -. Glanced it die
. right gin this young gemman'S hand. >
Q Here the old man paused and wiped the
= perspiraton from his forehead. The Mag
: istrate got impatient. $50 on said he
what was the damage? $ Well, de dam
age was jes dis, dat rock cut three of thai
gemman's fingers off, dey fell on the fiool
$ at James feet, which she rolled over and
: tainted. OATS de damage! ~
| This story woke up bald-headed Care
Y linian, and he came forward with the fol
! | lowing:
Odd any of you ever tell lie in YOU
sleep? Well, see you have nothing tc
, say, SO probably there is no one here &c
: sympathize with nla. | told one once
/ The way of it was this. I wa, III Colds
. ! boro' during the late difficulty with the
! North. Trains came pouring il from the
q West, one after another, until they had
| landed abOu: four thousand Yankee prisO-
: ners, and all the men there to guard them
Y was small provost guard dt somebody's
p ! headquarters. The whole town was FIJI
: Of prisoners, lying all over the place
: Presently an officer came along, and lie had
= some men VIII extra arms along with him
He put musket in nsy hand, and buck.
:: ling cartridge box round he told ne t.
| ! fall in" asked him to look at my bald
/. head and see if he thought was liable tc
. military duty. ''Fail in,'' said he, eff you
G were hundred years old I'd make you
D help guard these priSoners-they' take the
| whole town. So fell in, and W as marched
up tcwp and put on what he called {
cheat" Right in the middle Of the cheat
was small elm tree. | had been strictly
S charged not to let any prisoners cross my
# ''beat,' if did l should be shot. Well
s with that l menaded-tramp, tramp
S tramp, up and back, up and back. Abou
/. ten O'Clock that night that muske
!, weighed about fifty pounds at least-b,
s half-paSt ten it weighed seventy-five-
d l was calculating, as l was to come off a
l. eleven, whether l should be able to beal
G up under one hundred pounds which i
4 would surely weigh by that time just the1
/ passed the elm tree on the Leaf and ;