New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-07-07
ON AND ABOUT THE JACKSON RAIL
ROAD.
A Series of Rambling Notes.


| ed, of the jackson railroad is already pop
ular, and from four to five cars bowl out o.
the city depot toward Gods country every
| Sunday. There are no reserved seats
Everything depends on courtesy, and, in
fact, it is the better way. People get surly
under regulations, and, left to themselves
will follow rules of good breeding, where
the lines are drawn, deeper than any Ches
terfeldian code. An example of this is
found in our city cars, where no conductor
watches for change nor demands a seat for
lady. The good seats are obtained on
the good old principle of the English bar
Der, first'cOme first served" When the
passengers are swallowed up by the cars.
when bundles and packages cease to be ner-
vOusly regarded by those " no possess them,
when the train begins to roll there occurs
time which might be called the shaking
down period. This is similar to the opera
ton of digestion. Into the bowels of the
passenger vehicles the live food is swal-
lowed through the mouth, at which stands
posted a sentinel to fight off the dead beats.
Then, as when the food becomes portion
of human life, a tumbling about occurs in
the car intestines. Nobody is at rest Some
haven't all their party, the rest are ITO ar
rive" and have to tell forty different people
this seat is taken, sir" Others don't re-
main more than second in the seat secured,
but go in and out looking after baggage.
Some are saying great deal in few min
utes talking to friends Some dive down
into the depths of baskets looking for some
thing to keep the children quiet. Loud
over all sounds is heard the lusty voice Of
the baggage-smasher sounding like lit
never has been translated) "Come out here
and get checks for your baggage"
A gong strikes, whistle blows-short,
sharp, incisive-a bell rings, the conductor
cries "all aboard" and almost before one
has realized that each one of these things
has been done, the train rolls out of the de-
pots shadow into the sunlight of the fields
The bowels Of the train are not yet at rest;
young men have to give way to ladies and
parties who have secured seats by
the happy expedient of placing a lunch
basket on one end and calling it occupied,
have some difficulty when the sun reveals
the cheat to persuade the ISLANDERS such is the
case. On rolls the train, over murky bitches.
dank grass, and through swampy woods;
the conductor comes along, takes the tickets
and receives instructions where to get off.
and when this is all done, the tickets all
taken, the shaking down period is complete,
and everybody and all things, down to the
baby bOnnets, hung on to the what-d-ye-
'all-ums over the seats, have become stead
er. This is known by the sight of feet
posted on the seats before, the true Ameri-
AN picture of steadiness; by the lounging
attitude of healthy fathers of families who
ire given the baby to carry, by the babies
md children settling down for a nap, by |
he visits to the water cooler becoming !
ever and more far between, by the Jog Of :
he car wheels that from being irregular
ret into steady roar, by the heads Of the
passengers which gradually settle down /
ITO comfortable pasture on the backs Of |
he seats, by all inconveniences being
radually swallowed up in the greatest of .
j results making the best of it."
Nearly every one has had his say on the
iscomfOrtsIOf travel in a railway train on a
ummer's day, when the sun pOurs down
OF and the dust, set free by the advancing
7heels, flies up in clouds. Then there is the
ough shaking up which one gets, the pres
nee ofannOying customers who insist in va
ous ways of thrustihg their several incon-
upon the traveller, all united 90 to
lake up sum total of grievances to be
Orne and troubles to be suffered. But
lere is the offset, the change of air, bur
ened with the breath of the slums and
ennels, the manufactures and dust of the
ty to the fresh purity of the country reel1-
g with the essences and odors with which
ountiful nature supports natural things.
hen the change Of scene, the panorama Of
ew faces one meets with in the professions
the stations. the presence of new people.
18th whom we are thrown in contact, the
st which travel always gives to the enjoy
ent of appetite and all the points it yields
the ordinary routine of daily habits. The
orkers of the city wear burden strapped
l their shoulders perceptibIe as Christians
hen toiling up the mount, and so actual
at youth settles down into old age before
J time. This load is. cast off in the eoun.
=. True, there are some so tenacious of |
cir business or their pursuits that at no !
ne except when death squares all &C
UNITS, is their pressure absent. But these !
g ambitious men, and the world is not,
ckily, made up Of such. The big majority :
st off the burden entirely and take it up 3
ain when the times comes in a strength !
recreation which makes it light. /
The night.in the country when the "shard s
rne beetle" keeps up a "drowsy hum,7 a
rtorms the full functions of night and t
LIS the tired, weary soul to rest. The feet Y
no wanderer home is heard upon no side Y
ak, nor is there a constant Jingle of A"
the car bell. The distant sounds of no 81
nd of music, heading a triumphal pro r
ssion or serenading some newspaper b
ice, is heard to fret the soul. There is no v
mble of carts or thunder of the speeding v
rafting at intervals over iron bridges; n
yells and whoOping of some crazy drunk 81
i no policeman's rap or whistle, no long
2orals' call; no spasmodic humping at
door by some up all night waytarer, who 81
) lost his latch-key; no striking Of the u
lr from the church steeple; not one Of W
, sounds of life in the city. But all is in
let and repose. There may be the voice st
the cricket; the boot of the owl, but all p,
se sounds are sleepy, and instead Of 10
king the sleeper rouse nervously from fl
couch, only makes it deeper, 50 that he nj