The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1880-05-06
Railroad Manners.
Philadelphia Bulletin.

1t is one of our many American boasts that
a woman can travel alone from one end of the
country to another secure from all molestation.
AS a matter of actual fact it is true that great
many women have dore so, and that there is a
very general disposition to extend to unpro-
tected females all necessary kindness, atten-
tion and protection. But the claim, as uni
versal one, is qualified by the fact that there is
a considerable class of the travelling public, of
both sexes, who are very singularly affected by
railroading in way that makes men, and wo-
men too, who are otherwise comparatively in
offensive persons, very great nuisances when
ever they become travellers. There is some
thing about the conditions of travelling that
brings out all the latent selfshness of human
nature. From the moment such persons ap-
proach railroad ticket office to the time when
they emerge from the station at the other end
of the line, their motto is, every man for
himself and the devil take the hindmost."
And at the hands of such people the funpro-
tected female is as liable to rudeness, imposi-
ton and neglect as is the modest, unassuming
man who is content to take his own share of
what comfort may be provided for travellers
and to get the fair, reasonable worth of his
money, and no more.
This class of super-selfsh people, who re-
gard the public railway train as their private,
individual property, and who are so disagree
ably familiar on our lines of American travel, ),
is by no means peculiar to this country. Its
great Characteristic being an intense selfish
ness, it is naturally to be found wherever in
tense selfshness forms an element of society
that is to say, everywhere. England, it is
scarcely necessary to say, supplies as abundant
illustrations of bad railway manners as can be
found anywhere in the world. A recent num-
Der of the London Telegraph, discussing this
question, says "Far too prevalent is the doc
trine that stage carriages and railway trains
are made for the sole comfort of each individu-
al, and not for the common enjoyment of the
many. Travellers by rail are specially liable to
continual annoyance from those who are ap-
parently too blind to see the disagreabe effects
| of their own determined seltShneSS. The
| whole of the compartment is considered to be-
| long to such person from the moment he has
| purchased his ticket He is inclined to take
half dozen seats, at least; though he has only
paid for one; all the cushions on starting for a
| journey are strewn with miscellaneous ar
| ticles to deceive others into the belief that
the seats have been taken, whereas it
/ d
fatal to the comfort of late arrivals
on the platform. Then comes the window
| question; one wants it open and the other in
sists upon its being closed, the lover of fresh
| air having as rule secured position with his
| back to the engine and out OF the wind, while
| his miserable companion is exposed to the full
| power of the cutting blast and to immediate
| danger of neuralgia pains. Instead of using
the netting provided overhead for small par
cells, or thrusting small portmanteau under
l. Sc Sch
floor of the carriage with packages, and if any
one happens to get in at an intermediate station
| regards his presence as personal annoyance.
| The error is entirely on the part of the first
conner, who makes himself comfortable and
| does not care what happens to any one else; but
let stranger enter the carriage, as he has a
| perfect right to do, and he is met with scowls
simply because room has to he made and the
| confusion lessened that never ought to have
| been created. A groan of impotence or a
snort OF irritation shows but too clearly the un-
| warrantable attitude of the essentially selfish
| man." We do not know exactly the same
forms OF monopolizing railway facilities in this
| country that are here described, and some of
1 which are peculiar to the compartment system
! of the English roads, But there is great deal
too much of the same surly, unaccommodating
spirit, that scowlS at the timid passenger seek
ing seat and often drives him or her along
from bench to bench, until there is nothing
| left but the close company of the red-hot stove
or the blasts of cold from the door whenever it
is opened. We are all familiar with the railway
lOut who sprawls himself out over four seats pre-
tending to be asleep and appearing to be intoxi-
| Gated, and with snappish woman intrenched
among her bundles and bags and bridling and
| fuming over the necessity of COMPRISING her.
self within the space she has paid for, entirely
| unconscious that the severest trial falls upon
the person who has to sit beside her. 1t is a
| lamentable fact that SO many men and women
| who pass for tolerably amiable and courteous
| r,1pn and a hOn1a and in THAR ord dipa
| walks of life become Doors and termagants
| whenever they wish to secure some special and
selfish advantage on q railway train. They
show off their ill-manners at every opportuni-
ty. They are uncivil TO their fellow passen-
gers; they are petulant and exacting towards
the railway officials; they are impatient at the
ticket-otfice and baggage-room, greedy and
eager at their railway meals, unpleasant in
some way or another all the time. When the
| unprotected female falls in with this style of
fellow traveller she loses faith in the old legend
about the ability of her sex to go roaming over
the country without an escort. She finds out
that there are people who look upon her as
having no rights that they are bound to respect
and were it not that there are generally some
gentlemen in every car, however small their
proportion may sometimes chance to be, she
would fare very much worse than she does.
good deal Of the boorishness and thought
less selfshness that exhibit themselves Oh
railway trains might be cured If there were
a more general quiet and firm assertion of per-
sonal rights on the part of passengers. The
large class of people who generally surrender
their rights rather than "have row. over
them has much to answer for in the encourage
ment OF bad manners on railroad trains. Bad
hammered people become and continue SO, to
| large extent, because they get no lessons in
good manners. The "ruleS of the road" are
generally simple and easily understood. The
infractions of them are generally such that
there cannot be much dispute over them, and
quiet assertion of the right is sure to sue.
ceed. For their own sakes and for the sake OF
the public generally, travellers who are an
noyed or imposed upon by bad railway man.
ners of any kind should claim their rights even
at the expense of little temporary unpleasant
ness. A well-taught lesson, whether to a pas