Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1880-07-03
The Travelling Tyrant,

Among our leading hendS there is no one who
surpasses In effective malignity the sleeping
car porter 1t Is his duty TO attend to the dis
comfort OF travellers, and In the discharge there
OF he displays an unwearied aSsiduity which
has made countless thousands swear. Every
sleeping car Is nOminally In charge OF special
conductor, gorgeous being, with an ornament
ed cap, who disappears from view when the
train starts, and Is not seen again until morn
colored porter, who, as soon as the conductor
has gone into another car In order to make
himself comfortable, assumes unlimited au-
hs pns }a he'd Is dark , he
until ten O'Clock In order to pursue
an innocent conversation with a young lady,
the porter approaches him at S O'Clock and re.
marks: I'VE want to make up the beds now
sah!' With the ab1ectness of spirit character.
istlc OF American travellers the unfortunate
h man re' 6t dreams OF dsputing the porters
sen uheaSliy against nefghbOriDg berth while
MS pea is put In order. The object of the por-
t Ter In a. mus requiring his passengers to go to
pea at O'Clock is readily perceived. The sooner
tney are out OF the way the sooner he can 90
to bed himself. What to him is the wall OF the
Wreic4ed traveller who Is thrust into Sitting
perth hours before ne can by any possibility go
TO sleep? What cares he for the disap oofnt
ment OF the young man and the young Woman
% Mno mad expected to enjoy each others society
orders the passengers to 90 TO bed they Will
not dare 10 dlsobey him, and his own personal
him. -n 10 "0"' "
AS soon as the passengers are In bed the DOR
Ter taxes away their shoes, not necessarily with
a view TO 6lackfng them, but as guarantee
1 Ltat 1nty VIII not venture TO get out of bed
his private den at the end of the car, where he
spenss little time in mixing them, and then
prepares for sleep. AS rule, the porter does
not snore, because he holds that the duty of
snoring properly belongs to the passengers. II,
however, as sometimes happens, no passenger
volunteers 10 snore, the porter demonstrates
t by sn sau Power Of the African
no ordinary travelling nose can hope to
Emulate. Before going to sleep the porter
pas, OF course, closed all the ventflators
If IL Is summer and stirred up the fires if it is
winter, thus making sure that his victims shall
suffer from heat and gain as little sleep as pos
Sloie for their money. What with the
l neat and the noise the passengers rarely
o'clock, by which time the porter. re-
freshed by his nap, rouses himself and begins
MS Midnight round. He stops at every berth,
ana ana shahlng the sleeping passenger, wakes
wanting to get out here" OF course no one
wants 10 get out, as the porter perfectly well
Knows, out 1t Is a part OF his fiendi5h system TO
them from forgetting their miseries In sleep.
When his midnight round is finished the por-
ter returns to his den and takes sound nap.
Long experience has taught him that passen-
ger VINO is walked up at midnight will fall asleep
again at about O'Clock a. III. Accordingly he
sleeps until nearly O'Clock, when he begins
with malignant delight the process OF getting
his passengers out OF bed. lie informs every
one that Were most there, sab" without az
tacElrg the slightest meaning to the word
there" and that .'We're wanting to put them
heds away now, sab The meek passenger, b..
ievfng that he must be on the point OF arriving
at the station where breakfast Is to be had,
dresses hurTiedly, spends half an hour ln a gen
efal Shoe exchange with his fellow-travelers,
ana Then finds that he has at least three long
hours to wait before he can have any breakfast
AT lhlS point he generally loses his patience
aId uses language in regard to Sleeping-car DOR.
tiers which cannot be defended by austere NOR
alSlS; out, nevertheless, when the porter comes
10 him and demands fifty cents for having mixed
the SHOES, ne pays him without daring to hint
that ne deserves the most ingenious death that
the ATTEST inQuiSitOr ever invented.
In no other country would the traveller meek
~ lie down and let the slCeping-car porter roll
the wheels Of his car over his PROSTATE neck,
IL would be easy to overthrow the tyrant
Who would be free themselves must kill the
porter, says the poet What would be simpler
Than tor band OF determined passengers to
seize the porter on his first ntfmation chat they
bound in the wood box? whenever a passen-
ger should desire to have his bed made the
pcrter might be released long enough to per-
form that duty. He might be kept securely
confined during the night, but the better course
would be to drop him off the rear platform as
soon s. as the last bed is made. THIS would render
IL OSi tudb llt llOI make Ills mlunfglf
round, and that the passengers would be aole
10 sleep unmoleSted until reasonable hour In
the morning. few years ago a brave Texan
who had suffered much In sleeping cars warned
porter not to make up the beds at O'Clock.
The porter paid no attention to the demand but
when, an hour later, the noble Texan dissected
him with boWie-knife and put specimen of
him in every berth, the wretch began to per
ce1ve the error OF his ways. There would be
obvious Inconvenience In initiating the Texans
example; but 1t is mere nonsense to pretend
that thirty strong and determined passengers
cannot at any time throw Off the yoke Of a
sleep1ng-car porter, even without proceeding to
the extremity OF throwing him of the train,
Where to Spend the Summer.
Just now there are, In the words Of the poet,
1.-TWO voices, one OF the sea, one of the mour.
tains," inviting us to change of scene and air
with absence of work during the summer
months. 1t is a subject OF general debate
among many people. who do not find it neces-
sary 10 seek for mineral water whether they
Shail go to the seaside or to the mountains.
Fashionable folk are not much influenced by
delicate scientific distinctions, but there are
coca reasons why we should respond to one or
the other OF the two voices, both Of which are
making themselves audible at the present time,