Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1883-05-31
ON A PULLMAN SLEEPER.
The Man with the Nightmare Bridal
Couples s-The Man who Shores.

Couples The Man who Shores.
A Philadelphia Press reporter STUN
bled across a very bright, intelligent
porter on sleeping car on the Wash
ington express a few nights ago. He
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, sab, 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 Il missin', but |
reckons | knows whar dey is" and the
frowns over the porter's nose grew deep.
er and he frowncd very knowing
frown. ''In 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
wud hide his shoes. Dey ain't 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-
loons-us shoyes 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 a few pennies. "
All this the porter said in a low tone
while he shined his shoes as the train
was rafting over the road.
"1'se been on Il St.Louis run, and Use
been on q Boston run, and Use been
hyar, and right hyars de best ebery
time. De trabel to de Souf am fust
class. De Soth'en gemmen always am
liberal wild dere cash. and whar q man
from de Norf gives de porter ten cents
de Soth EN- gemmen gibs him dollah,
and doan make haf de fuss ober hit.
"Golly, boss" said de darky, with
chuckle and a 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 q '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; II does in fack.
You see, de Pullman Company pays me
$50 month, and hits a very dull time
when l can't scrape together S75
month. Sometimes | beats dat; Fse
made as high as 800 month. Most
OBJ de gemmen what calls dere selbs
commercial trablers is good pay, and
dey am good for half IL dollah, but de
actors and de actresses beat 'em and de
seein' 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 ST., but de
man what's jest been married." said the
porter with another chuckle, ''he am de
boss, 'kase he don't know dc ropes, and
when man jest get married he's kind
OBJ reckless bout his trablin' expenses
"People when dey am trablin'," con-
fsnrnJ tho ,>nrt,,. .ll,,untt M +,, bod M,
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 dcy go too. Sometimes I get
hold oh some very troublesome trab-
lers, wmen. 90 course. Dey wants dc
kyar warmer or dcy wants de kyar cold
er, or dey wants n drink OBJ water, or
suthin' jest foah de sake OBJ shown off,
spose.
"Sometimes l gifts passengers what
nebber been in o sleepin' kyar befoah
and dey don't know to go to bed; spec
tally if dey hab an upper BERT, and den
hits fun to watch dem climbin' up into
de berf.
81 kin'member until Judgment Day."
went on the porter rs he blew his breat
on q 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 OBJ de-
kyar trablin' long want muffin, and
gemmen in de BERT right ober him yelled
at de fat man and one of de passengers
on de opposite side of dc kyar swoah at
him. Mighty souls. how he did cuss at
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 eber hear pussons talkin' in
dere sleepp
mighty souls, yes, sab! l hears
very quare tings. Some gemmen eat
agreat mess OBJ stuff jest befoah dey get
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 armful
of freshly polished shoes to distribute in
their respective places, he said, ~ hears
and sees heap OBJ quare tings, but l
doesn't tell all l knows--not dis chile,
ha-ha."