Savannah morning news. [volume] (Savannah) 1868-1887, 1883-08-24
PALACE CAR oDDTTIEs.
Modjeska's Completely Appointed BOu-
dOir on Wheels.
DIfy9TayD1s4 D.1es


Modjeska's Completely Appointed Bou-
doir on Wheels
PhtIddelDhid Press.
sit would take a day i'm the recital. and
then fill a big book, to tell of the incidents
that enter into the daily life of a Pullman
car" said j. w. Smittley, the resident
Superintendent of the company in Phila-
delphia, sand then it would take another
and larger book to contain what hadn't
been told. As we see il here, the subject
seems almost inexhaustible. Even after
the thousand and one stories about fat
men falling through upper berths: yelp-
ing poodle dogs awakening passengers at
night; maiden ladies losing their false
teeth and curled wigs; timid travellers
shrieking for the porter at every stopping
place, and the numberless stories that
could be woven from the side issues of
these happenings, the half would not be
told.
"A sleeping car, you must understand,
is, for the time being, the home of the Oc-
cupants. 1t is occupied for longer time
than the ordinary railroad car, and its
passengers are brought into closer con-
tact. 1t is, to make a rather far-fetched
smile, sort of French fiat on one floor.
on wheels. Take Pullman car running
from Philadelphia or New York to San
Francisco and you will find something of
the same sort of temporary sOciability
that exists on board an ocean steamship.
Friendships are formed and some
times there are attachments formed
that-but," said Mr.. SmittleV.
interrupting himself with
smile, II did not intend to 90 into the
question in the abstract. ! was trying to
think of a case or two that would have
something newsy about it. Let me see,
/ hs,,1- I, -
thing about that latest caprice of Mod
jeska, has it! The Madame is to travel
through the country in a palace car
which will probably eclipse anything of
the kind ever seen before, not excepting
the well appointed cars of Mile. Bern
hardt or Mrs. Langtry. MOdjeska is to
have palace car, in every sense OF the
word. 1t will be upholstered IN crimson
plush, and the curtains Of the berths
Will be of raw silk. The berths
will be occupied by the
maids. Madame Modjeska herself
will have folding bed, so ingeniously
constructed as to be used as a secretary
when not required for sleeping purposes.
Besides this the car will be supplied with
a nickel-plated bath tub-sOmething en-
tirely new-and the great artist Will wash
her face In water drawn from silver
plated spigOts. There is to be a buffet in
geniOuSly economical in the matter of
space. The dining tables and the service
VIII be the same as found in any first-class
hotel, and the parlOr dream of soft car
pets and costly bric-a-brac. Taken all in
all, Madame Modieska will travel from
city to city with IN elegance of appoint
ments and a completeness of comfort that
cannot be eXcelled, afloat or ashore.
SURPRISING MAGNIFICENCE.
at is gradually becoming to be the
proper thing continued the superinten-
dent, ''for persons who can afford it to
travel with the same comfort on the rail
as they find at their homes. Nearly all
reigners-Englishmen especially
surprised at the magnificence of Ameri-
can sleeping cars, and eagerly take adj
vantage of them. We often have distin-
guished gentlemen from the other side of
the veterinary of them travelling
incOg.-engage Il car for a two weeks
trip in the West, and their ignorance
Of Western habits is sometimes
decidedly amusing. Nearly all of them
imagine that every man west of the
Becky Mountains carries a brace of re-
Volvers, a bowie knife and a deck OF.
cards, and spends his time in shooting
gentlemen who refuse to drink with him,
or in chewing tobacco and making speech
es. | remember very well an En-
glsh lady who was going through to Chi
cagO in Pullman car, who left her maid
in New York, because the maid was
afraid she would be scalped by the In
dians on arriving in the Garden City of
the West Yes, sir, she refused posi-
lively to run the risk of being captured
by those 'Orrid savages, and begged her
mistress not TO undertake the journey.
During the early part Of the year a
party Of Englishmen started West to
hunt buffalo in one of our hunting cars,
the Davy Crockett, / think, and actually
began getting into their rough clothing
and loading their rifles before the train
had reached Pittsburg. They could hardly
he made to believe that they were still a
thousand miles away from the hunting
grounds
"Are any of these stories true of fat
men telling horrible tales about crashing
through upper berths in order to secure
lower berths?' was asked.
A JOURNALISTIC JOKER.
1T is true that facetious heavy weights
tell the stories in the hearing of timid
persons" was the reply, land it is equal
ly untrue that any upper berths ever
break down. A well known New York
journalist, who tips the beam at 800
pounds-suppose you know him-can be
credited with being the originator of that
y
known to almost every palace car porter
in the country, manages 10 carry out the
sell very successfully whenever necessa-
ry. In case the gentleman reaches the
train late and finds the lower berths Oc-
cupied, he hunts around until he finds a
nervous traveller in a place where he
would like to be himself. Then he
calls the colored porter, and asks
him if he has heard any further
news of Rev. Mr.. Smith. The porter, who
is posted, replies, you mean de POI gem
man what you mashed dat night you fell
frOO de BERTH Yes replied the ponder
Gus traveller, 'PYe often thought of that
poor man, Jim. | think | broke one of his
ribs and one of his arms. didn't IY Two
ribs and bofe arms, sah,' replies Jim sol
EMMY. And it was somewhere about this
part of the car, wasn't it, Jim| asks the
heavy man, loudly. No sah,' says the
porter, 'yOu'se thinkin' oh de two orphans
what you fell on dat night when we was
near Buffalo. you remember, sab, one
of de boys died, an de oder had his eve
squashed out De preacher, sab, was in
de upper end Oh de car. He wouldn't get
outen de lower berth, sah.' 'Unfortu-
nate fellow signs the fat passenger,
'and | wasn't as heavy bv fifty pounds as
| am now, either
''By this time you can depend that the
nervous traveller is getting his pantaloons
on. Usually he peeps out, and when he
sees the mountain of. flesh that is talking,
he is more than willing to take the upper
berth than to run the risk of being crushed
to death in the middle of the night. It's
pretty good scheme, and generally
works to the fat mans satisfaction. AS
soon as the other fellow finds out that a
joke has been played upon him, he forms
the jOker's acquaintance, and, in almost
every instance that Eve heard, the friend
ship so strangely made is lasting, be-
cause the fat man is one of those Jolly
good fellows that nobody could stay an
CRY at for more than ten minutes. There
are lots of other incidents that, if strung
together, might make a good story. but,
as life is short and time precious, l think
we had best leave the best ones for
another day"
The Alligator Fever.
Detroit Free Press
1t beats all how Northern man does
banker to shoot an alligator lust as soon