The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1882-10-20
The Self-Possessed Man.

Among the noticeable persons on the
train YOU will not fail to discover the
sclf-possesscd man. He is easily recOg-
nized by his rotundity of form, his Sc
rene Inconsistencies of the frets and
worriments which make railroading
misery to the ordinary mortal. and his
supreme indifference to the comfort of
his fellow-passengers.
The self-possessed man inevitably Sc
cures. by sort of natural selection, the
best seat in the car, always on the shady
side, and manages, by the aid of his
hat, his traveiing-bag and his unas-
suming tact and mastership of the sit
uation, to keep it to the end of his jour-
ney.
The self-posscssed man, having calm
ly settled himself in the center of the
scat. with his hat upon one side and his
travelling appurtenances on the other,
slowly produces his newspaper and pro-
ceeds to its perusal with dignitied de-
liberation. Z, u.
or course the self-possessed man has
his window wide open. but equally of
course he does not open it himself.
The brakeman docs that for him, and as
the brakeman chambers over the under
standings of the self-possessed man to
do it, the self-possessed man continues
his reading with the utmost complacen-
cy and without losing a word.
As the time for starting approaches
every other seat is filled, but nobody
disturbs the self-possessed man. There
is something in his Nova Semblan COOL
ness which deters all attempts to rob
him Of his monopoly. Nobody has the
temerity to ask: ''Is this seat engaged"
much less to squeeze himself in without
INDUCING in this conventional remark.
II the cold wind blows into the car OF
the neuralgia individual in front, or sets
the valetudinarian behind to shivering,
or il the cinders rush in in sooty show
ers to the destruction of the eyes and
good temper of the passengers in his
vicinity, the self-possessed man minds
it not So long as his personal tran
quillity was not disturbed, rain of
pitchfOrks or cats and dogs might dash
into that open window, and he be en-
tirely oblivious of both it and its ruin
Gus consequences.
The self-possessed man is also self
possessed when the conductor comes
through the car. The other passengers.
at the cry Of Tickets, please" cease
their reading or conversation and go
straightway to fumbling into their pock-
cts with inordinate haste that the ticket
puncher may not be delayed, but the
self-possessed man budges not until he
has been asked again and again for his
ticket and then he leisurely lays down
his paper, advances on his pocketbook
in ftlnaroal orlar onA Gnollxy nraI,.ac
the pasteboard just as the conductor
has lost his last particle of patience.
The sharp, short whistle which strikes
terror to every other heart and sends
every other heart out of the window,
affects neither the heart nor the head of
the self-possessed man. His heart beats
on with the regularity of an eight-day
clock, and his head, bald though it may
be, maintains its level, notwithstanding
the hungry fly which is boring into his
medulla oblongata, or the babel of
voices that is dinging into his ears.
None of the major or minor incidents
affect the self-possessed man in the
least. II the train is ahead of time or
behind time, il Is all the same to him;
if anything breaks his serenity remains
unbroken; il man or cow be run
over, he runs over his newspaper as
calmly as ever. If the cars should leave
the rails and be dashed down an en-
bankment and broken into ten thousand
splinters, it is more than probable that
the self-possessed man would be found
amidst the wreck of matter, still self
possessed, deposited in the most de-
sirable place and position amongst the
dead and dying, himself unhurt and I'M
disturbed, and still reading his paper in
leisurely way, unmindful of the hor-
ScrtDt.