The Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1877-1885, 1883-04-05
ON A PULLMAN SLEEPER.
The Man with the Nightmare Bridal
Couples The han who Shores.


A Philadelphia Press reporter stuni-
bled across very bright, intelligent
porter on a sleepingscar on the wash
ington express few nights ago lie
was sitting in the forward end of his
car surrounded by pile of boots and
shoes, which he had just begun to black
en-. All the passengers had gone to bed
and the porter had made his rounds and
gathered up all the shoes he could find,
marking in lead pencil in each shoe the
number of the owners birth and section.
Lead pencil, he said, would not rub out.
Formerly he used chalk, but found that
it rubbed off easily and sometimes he
found himself all mixed up. He was a
genuine specimen of the Southern
darky, and was rubbing away vigorous
ly when the reporter said:
you've got big job before you.
YES, sah," said the ebony porter, as
he showed his white teeth, ''but dat
amt all de shoes in dis hyar kyar; dere
is free pair OBJ shoes a missin', but |
reckons [ knows whar dey is" and the
frowns over the porter's nose grew deep
er and he frowned a very knowing
frown I'm de fust place de owners OBJ
de missin shoes am Yanks, and dey hid
dere shoes SO dat de porter couldn' t
blacken 'em, and den dey wouldn't hab
to pay muffin in de mornin'.'
why do you say the owners are
Yankees" asked the reporter
"Bekase, sab, no Soth'en gemmen
wad hide his shoes. Dey amt SO mean,
but de people what belongs TO Yankee
land dey does hit right long. Every
trip de same fling happens; sometimes
dey wrap dere shoes up in dere panta-
ioons-us- and shoves dem under de pill
lar when dey takes dem off, and some
times dey Jest draps dem into der valise.
Anything to hide 'em from de porter
and sabe few pennies. "
All this the porter said in low tone
while he shined his shoes rs the train
was rafting over the road.
Use been on a ST. Louis run, and Use
been on a Boston run, and Use been
hyar, and right hyar's de best cherry
time De trabel to de Souf am fust
class. De Soth'en gemmen always am
liberal wild dere cash, and whar man
from de Norf gives de porter ten cents
de Soth' en- gemmen GIBBS him dollah,
and doan make hat de fuss ober hit.
'sGolly, boss said de darky, with a
chuckle and a grin, ''de culled trash kin
say what dey pleases bout bein' free
and libin' up Norf hyar, but for NE jest
glib me back de good old slabery days
Glib me back my old NASSAU and missus
and I'd cut stick from this hyar kyar
quicker dan a possum kin climb up a
tree.
But don't you make ont pretty well
here?" asked the reporter.
''Sakes alive, yes. sab. " answered the
porter. with a grin; Il does in fack.
do Dr,lI Gan,panx-
$50 a month, and hits very dull time
when l can't scrape together SO a
month. Sometimes l beats dat; Use
made as high as 500 month. Most
OBJ de gemmen what calls dere sc1bs
commercial trablers is good pay, and
dey am good for half a dollah, but de
actors and de actresses beat EN- and de
people what's a trablin' round sight
seem takes de cake. A man and his
wife trablin' from New York to New
Orleans am wuf bout 81 or So, and a
man by hisself am wuf bout 81, but de
man what's Jest been married, said the
porter with another chuckle, The am de
boss, 'kase he don't know de ropes, and
when man jest get married he's kind
OBJ reckless bout his trablin' expenses.
People when dey am trablin', con
tinued the porter, doesn't go to bed as
early as when dey am to home, but de
minnit one man tells me to make up his
bed, den de hull car wants dem beds
shuk up at de same time and den hits
porter here and hits porter there till dc
hull oh de beds am made; but you kin
always count on de newly married
couples goin' to bed last Dew Jest hang
on till eberybody else am gone to bed,
and den dey 60 too. Sometimes | get
hold oh some VERY troublesome trah-
lers, wimen, oh course Dey wants de
kyar warmer or dey wants de kyar cold
tr, on dey wants a drink oh water, OF
suthin Jest foah de sake CD shown off,
spose.
Sometimes | gifts passengers what
nebber been in a sleepin' kyar befoah
and dey don know to go to bed; spec
tally if dey hab an upper BERT, and den
hits fun to watch dem climbin up into
de BERT.
Il kin member until Judgment Day,
went on the porter as he blew his breath
on shoe, {" bout a big, fat old gem
men that went down to Richmond last
trip. Mighty souls. how he did snore
He snored so loud dat de noise oh de
kyar trablin' long wa mt muffin, and a
gemmen in de bert right ober him yelled
at de fat man and one of de passengers
on de opposite side of de kyar swoah at
him. Mighty souls, how he did cuss at
de old fat man. Den de gemmen in de
top BERT calls foah me and he saws,
Porter, Jest wake dat ole rhinosceros
up and tell him 10 turn ODER
Does cher hear pussons talkin' in
deere sleepP
Mighty souls, yes, sab! l hears
VERY quare tiEgs. Some gemwen eat
a great mess oh stuff Jest befoah dey get
on dis kyar, you know, and den dey
goes to bed wild deere stomach chuck full
and gets dc nightmare.
As the porter gathered up an armful
of freshly polished shoes to distribute in
their respective places. he said, Il hears
AID sees heap OBJ quare tings, but l
doesn't tell All | knows not dis chile.
ha-ha.
Greeley 0utdoDe in Politanass.