American citizen. [volume] (Canton, Miss.) 1864-1890, 1873-05-10
Miscellany.
EN- RAPPORT ON THE RAILS
"Is THIS seat ngagedsn

as THIS seat cngaged?"
As am one of that minority of the
travelling public which docs not put body
on one seat, feet on another, and bag on a
third, l replied, NO, SIR
If the "n0" was abrupt, the 'sir" was
courteous, echoing the satisfaction with
which Judged that my companion on the
railroad was desirable one. In a mo-
ment more we heard the last of that song
with its suggested accompaniment of
polite fraud, "Plen-n-n-ty of room in the
palace car, gents,'' and dozen of the
American public, who could not find the
seats they had paid for in the ordinary
cars, were trooping after the smooth, fat
yellow fellow-host of the palace car, to
pay fifty cents or one dollar more for the
transportation they had already purchas-
ed I'VE poor subjects of an unlimited
monarchy,?" And my companion turned
to me with the joint exclamation and in
terrOgatiOn set to a Satirical smile.
supporting how many royal families,
Nanderbilts, Fisks, Tweeds, Goulds, and
Pullmans.'' added.
"Yes, yes but introduced an unpleas-
ant subject; excuse me-"
And my fellow passenger gravely bent
his head as one might ask blessing.
With long, hOarse whistles and quick
shrill blasts we curve into the avenue, and
rumbling through mile of bakeries, pro-
duce stores, soap factories, dirty children
coal yards, swi'l carts, and scores of grog-
geries. we quicken our pace past untitled
lots with green pools busy with the cheap
shipping of many bare-legged young mer-
chants, past squatter settlements of crowd
ed shanties- Faster, briefer, more scream
ing whistles. We speed by half-acre
market-gardens, green, orderly, crowded,
but not with weeds. BY masses of rock
blast By whitewashed, paling-boun
miniature hostelries, with, ill-spelled gil
gantlc signs Now some woods on one
side; small rocky capes and laps of water
on the other. On the right a cemetery, an
asylum, an old country place of the
Won Dorms or Van Skelkins, a suburban
eresort for diners-out and picnickers, over
hanging bluffs of cedar and hemlock
On The left we leave hopeful fisherman,
his boat rod from shore, his eyes follow
ing our dash-by; a group of naked BOYS
who plunge with shout into the river
STEAMBOATS, strive to keep up with us,
slOops and schooners scud and tack, a
club boat-house and its jaunty loungers
wave salutes; long wharf piled with
coal-One Hundred and Forty-second
street,
That left behind, we were fairly away
from New York. All those features of
the outskirts panorama were too familiar
to interest me, so l politely studied him
in the seat with me-to the general OBJ
server only a good looking man of society,
a gentleman of fine size and build, simply
clothed in the fashion, returning appar-
emily to his country seat for a Sabbath's
rest from the suits he was conducting in
court, or from the duties of counting
ROOM His manner and first words had
pleased me. / have always prided myself
on an ability to read and place. with but
brief observation and study, those who
amuse or profit me in the occasional cur
rents of travel, or in the continuous vast
stream that hurries and whirls us all
along, motley, jOstling crowd, from the
cradle to the grave. Immediately there
was that consciousness of en- rapp0rt that
one sometimes finds introducing and uni
ting him to an utter stranger, no longer so
from the first flash or circuit of invisible
sympathy, and l suddenly conceived a
strange interest or curiosity in my near
neighbOr.
After the few words we had exchanged,
and he had arranged his few traps and
glanced over a book in hand, he settled
himself to a comfortable repose; not to
sleep, but merely, 1 suppose, to enjoy a
little rest and quiet of mind, after a hard
days business and July afternoons
walk. One hand rested in the bosom of
his vest, the other lay holding the book
on his knees. His head fell forward
little, and SO he seemed very passive and
comfortable, if the life we whirled
through, the river course beside us, the
burr of our sweep by bank, tunnel, and
building, the galloping time ratified by
our wheels on the rails-as if all these
made a metre to lull and rest him. So it |
seemed, for there was a satisfaction, al |
most smile, a smile that was child-like |
and bland" as Truthful James expressed
it, about his well-shaped mouth and chin |
I marked the breadth and unevenness of
his forehead, how his chestnut hair and
side-whiskers had the beginning of gray
in them, how large and curved were the |
nosfrils OF a strong nose l discovered, as
i thought, energy and enthusiasm in the |
lines of jaw and side face, in the clear,
sanguine, but dark complexion, traced |
with veins and nerves. AT the glance ac- |
companying his first words to me- I was |
struck by the fiery nobleness, as / read it,
of his eyes, searching power and strange
beguiling tenderness in them. This dig
nifty and this passion of the eyes were con
f1rmed to me by his low, firm, sweet voice.
The opinion 1 formed in the ten or fif-
teen minutes of contemplation, and after
ward from his conversation, was: Here
lis a man of and in the world and society,
'and yet a rare, original, Independent be
ing, above, perhaps, or at least little one
side from them; at any rate, an inter
esting creature, not the potter's clay, rath- |
cr the potter. OF course an ordinary |
fellow traveller as he did me in so short a |
time. And / was conscious of a certain |
exaltation in this railroad chance of max |
ing the acquaintance of and being enriched |
by such a rich, strong character ] won
dered whether he were artist, poet mocha |
nician, evangelist, actor or merchant He |
has, IS | write-more than two years after
that summer afternoons ride-a place in
another world.
So sharply was impressed by my com
panion's appearance, manner, converse
tion and blythe more than those-a Ger |
tain aroma or magnetic halo which fan |
cied his personality TO exhale, that my i'm |
agination constructed a romantic theory of
his probable Iife-an influence and an ex-
ample as wholesome brecZes in every close |
quarter they might chance No artisan
was he in his profession, I unused, but
fist in that and the life broader than pro
fession.
As we crossed the Spuyten Duyvel my
companion aroused himself from his open
eye nap, and gave attention to the book in