The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1883-04-12
ON A PULLMAN SLEEPER.
fhe Man. with the Nightmare Bridal
Couples The Man who Shores.

ihe Man. with the Nightmare Bridal
Couples The Man who Shores.
A Philadelphia Press reporter stum-
pled across q very bright, intelligent
porter on sleeping car on the Wash
ington express few nights ago. He
was sitting in the forward end Of his
car surrounded by a 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' We got big job before YOU
Eyes, 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 missin', but [
reckons 1 knows whar dey isl and the
frowns over the porter's nose grew deep
er and he frowned very knowing
frown. SIN 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 t. hab
to pay muffin in de mornin'.'' -
'tWhy do you say the owners are
Yankees, asked the reporter.
''Bekase, sab, no Soth'en gemmen
wud hide his shoes. Dey amt so mean,
but de people what belongs to Yankee
land dey does hit right long. Every
trip de same fng happens; sometimes
dey wrap dere shoes up in dere panta-
loons-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 as the train
was rafting over the road.
Use been on ST. Louis run, and Z So
been on q Boston run, and Use been
hyar, and right hyar's de best ebery
time. De trabel to de Souf am fust
class. De Soth'e gemmen always am
liberal wild dere cash, and whar man
from de Norf gives de porter ten cents
de Soth'en gemmen gibs him dollah,
and doan make hat de fuss ober hit.
s'Golly, boss,n said de darky, with q
chuckle and grin, ''de culled trash kin
say what dey pleases bout bein' free
and libin' up Norf hyar, but for me 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 'possum kin climb up a
Tree"
''But don't you make out pretty well
here?' asked the reporter.
''Sakes alive, yes, sah,' answered the
porter, with a grin; 81 does in fack.
You see, de Pullman Company pays me
$50 month, and hits VERY dull time
when l can't scrape together $75 a
month. Sometimes I beats dat; Use
made as high as 300 month. Most
oh de gemmen what calls dere selbs
commercial trablers is good pay, and
dey am good for half a dollah, but de
actors and de actresses beat 'em and de
people what's a trablin' round sight
seein' takes de cake. A man and his
wife trablin' from New York to New
Orleans am wuf bout 50 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, .'he am de
boss, 'kase he don't know de ropes, and
when man jest get married he's kind
90 reckless bout his trablin' expenses.
"People when dey am trablin'," con-
tinued the porter, ''doesn't 90 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 de
hull OBJ de beds am made; but you kin
always count ON de newly married
| couples goin' to bed last. Dey jest hang
on till eberybody else am gone to bed,
and den dey go too. Sometimes l get
hold OBJ some VERY troublesome trab-
lers, wimen, OBJ course. Dey wants de
kyar warmer or dey wants de kyar cold
er, or dey wants drink oh water, or
suthin' Jest foah de sake OBJ showin' off,
| spose.
Sometimes I gifts passengers what
nebber been in a sleepin' kyar befoah
and dey don't know to 90 to bed; spec
tally if dey hab an upper berf, and den
| hits fun to watch dem climbin' up into
de BERT.
81 kin member until Judgment Day
went on the porter as he blew his breath
on a shoe, '''bout 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 dc
| kyar trablin' long want muffin, and q
gemmen in de berf right ober him yelled
at de fat man and one of de passengers
on de opposite side of de kyar swoah al
him. Mighty souls, how he did cuss al
de old fat man. Den de gemmen in de
top berf calls foah me and he says,
Porter, jest wake dat ole rhinosceros
up and tell him TO turn ober.'
''Does 1 eber hear pussons talkin' il
dere sleepP
Mighty souls, yes, sab! hear:
very quare tings. Some gemmen ea
great mess OBJ stuff jest befoah dey ge
on dis kyar, you know, and den dey
goes to bed wild dere stomach chuck full
and gets de nightmare. ;"
As the porter gathered up an armfu
of freshly polished shoes to distribute il
! their respective places, he said, 81 hear