The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-09-26
\ TRIP TO MANHATTAN nRAoa
lAlsx. R. Sweet, ia Tsxas sifeings.l

life, said to me:
 "Dont you want to go to Manhattan Beach and hear what the wild waves are sayingr"
 Il have no objection, How do you 90 to get the.eI"
 There are several ways to get there, but the shorsesl |, ,o cross the East river al SAth stree, isttf. And take the train at Long Island CuY rha, will take us there in three qasrlers oi an hour"
 "An right Le, ns SO"
 "We have )uss sire tc get to the ferry and to catch the three o'clock train." We hurry t0 tas ferry aud rush !4:o :Ae ticket office. Large crowd there already. | We tall in line as the people do al the general delivery at the Austin post-ofiice. "Fifty eents," says the ticket agent, Man behind me gives me shove just as l am getting the money out of my plethoric pocket-book. Woman in front ot me has an umbrella under her arm. His the end of the umbrella vicious blow with my eye, See stars and other pyrotechnies. Tickes agent says shove alopg there" The end of the woman's umbrella seems to be un- injured. S1kes, who has already got h.s ticket, wants 10 know fl am goin. 10 stay there all day. Pain in .ay eye very intense. Perhaps wil lose ,he sight ot 1t. Sykes examines it, and consoles me by saying that it looks like the stopper of an old ink bottle. cant 6nd my plethorie pocketbook. l have an idea that some avaricious person must have taken Il. Sykes says he told me to look out for pickpcckets, and he points to a sign on the wall to that effect. Sykes says tha, 1t makes no difference, that he has plenty of money. or course it makes no differ encc to him. He hears up like hero under the sutferings undergo with my injured eye
 N B-This is supposed to be pleas ure trip.
 We arc all herded together like cattle in a corral. There is an opening at one end of the corral, through which the cat tle-l mean the passengers-are driven on board the ferry boat, just as cattle arc driven into the cars in Texas for trans. portation. As the COWS, heifers, yearlipgs and beef steers 20 through the marrow gangway, a man punches each animal with red-hot branding-iron. As the herd of men, boys and women push them selves through the door of the ticket office, a man stands there with punch. He doesn't punch the people, but he punches the tickets. AS soon as the passengers emerge from the corral with their punched tickets, they cavort around and stampede for the ferry boat.
 My eye Is painful. What makes 1t more so is the fact that 1 cannot see my pocket-book. We are in the middle of the East river. Sykes calls my attention to the beautiful view of Blackwellt Island and the East river bridge. The latter looks as if 1t was made of cobwebs. Man on the boat looks at my eye. and whis- pers to friend. They both laugh. Sykes tells me to keep my handkerchief from my eye or people will think 1 am signal ling to my friends on Blackwell's Island. We arrive at Long Island City. The crowd rush of the ferry boat, as if they were afraid of being taken back to New York. Nobody walks. Everybody trots. The whole herd turns to the left and runs into another corral. As we pass out the gate, another man with a punch brands our tickets with a road brand, and wc climb into the cars that are imp4tiently waiting for us.
 The cars are open cars, with horizontal seats like street cars. There is also parlor car attached to the train for the aristocracy who want to pay a quarter extra. Perhaps the man who got my pocket-book will ride in that parior car. big, fat old woman. and young, thin woman, evidently mother and daughter, enter the car, or at least the daughter does. The daughter climbs in first Mother tries to follow, but the door is too narrow. Fat woman stuck fast. She pufs and blows, and says, 70, dear me r" Daughter tugs at her arm, and says:
 "Maw, please make an effort"
 "Maw makes noble effort, bat it is no go. People in the car laugh heart. lessly. Sykes says the car will have to be taken to pieces. Hatchet-faccd con- side. Thin daughter pulls from the in- side, but fat woman maintains her posi- tioa with the pertinacity of a Chicago pension agent Tho conductor tells fat woman that she must either get in the car or out of 1t, and goes away. He shouts All aboard Fat woman makes another public spirited effort. Train be- gins to move, some of fat woman being still outside of the car Tremendous ef- fort by fat woman. She is inside but speeches.. When she comes to. the first thing she says is something about how she would have got into the parlor Car if the price had not been so outrsgeousiy high. The conductor wanted a whole quarter of dollar. She says 1t is an outrage. Daughter, who is evidently of an extrava- gant disposition, says:
 Nav, what's a quarter, anyhow2"
 Her mother replies:
 -i it is twenty five cents, my dear, aud i you can get a great deal of clam chowder | for all that money"
 l called the attention of Sykes to the peculiar faces of the conductors and | brakesmen. They have all got the same sort Of hatchet faces, and look for all the world like the pictures of Uucie Sam