The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1886-10-27
UPPER FIVE.

Why left the Pullman car service at
II o'clock at night at water tank in
Middle Arizona will also explain why.
although ! am not yet thirty-five years
old, my nervous system is shattered, nv
health wrecked, and even my mind SO
etected that now and then my ideas get
uncoupled in a curious way and 90 run
ming wild all over the division ana break
ing into sidings VIII re they have no bus
mess to be. The doctor says must have
had bad fall some time and perhaps
taken too much bromide of potassium
since, but / know better. Ii is all on ac-
count of upper tiye.n was a conduc-
tor on the Southern Pacific system at the
time 1t happened, and my run was from
Tucson, Ari., to Los Angeles. old tour
lists viii remember my car It was the
Grenada. Most men say the business is
dogs life, but / own l rather liked it. A
sleeping-car is a proscenium box in the
theatre OF life. ngle acts of every
body's little dramas are continually
played before me. People become
naturally unreservcd and communicative
on train. You get down beneath the
surface. their pecularities are laid bare.
their oddities stand out like bumps. YOU
see their hopes, disRppointments, preiu-
dices, likes and dislikes, and feel before
the end of the division as if YOU had
known them for years. This was par
tlcularly true of a car load we carried out
OF Tucson one certain day in August.
remember we had bridal party on board,
two or three drummers couple of stock
men from 1.-THE Nation" and-what |
especially recollect--a portly old gentle
man named Bliss and a widow named
Paxton. who was travelling with her in
valid daughter, young lady of about
twenty.
Mr.. Bliss was not in good health him
self, and was full of querulous complain
ing. He had a dusty voice, little eyes,
with large pads of fat under them; and
can see him, sitting exactly in the mid
die of his seat growing and gasping,
with his collar unbuttoned in front and
the two ends sticking up like horns on
each side of his face. Mrs. and Miss
Paxton were, on the contrary, accom-
plished travellers, and m lde the best of
everything. The mother was pleasant,
grave, old fashioned lady. and the
daughter, a sweet-faced, hollow-eyed.
patient little feather of a girl. who
could not have weighed above eighty
or eighty five pounds at the most.
The weather was scorcmng. The des-
ert of white sand was simply a big re-
fector that threw the sun back into the
lower air until. when it stirred, il was
like breath from a furnace. Every
body was tattOoed with the fine black
cinders and hOarse with the dust. The
bride was a sight to behold and the cat
tlemen swore like pirates in the smoking
room. Bliss cursed the management of
the road, root, tree, and branch, and
grimy perspiration poured off him in
streams. Toward night the heat was
still excessive, and believe il was about
8 o'clock when the porter began to make
up the berths. The PaXtons mad section
i've. There is a difference of opinion
among travellers as 10 the comforts Of
lower and upper berths in summer, and
a good many hold that the uppers are the
best, as being nearest the ventilating
windows. This was the view the ladies
took Of it, and when the berths were made
up lifted the invalid girl in my arms
into upper five. remember hearing her
say goodnight to her mother, and telling
her she would sleep well.
About half an hour later old Bliss
came tOttering and swaying into the
smoking room, where / was counting nv
tickets. be was furious. His berth
was lower seven, next TO the Paxtons,
and he wanted TO know why the upper
berth had been let down.
There is nobody in it, he sputtered,
''and it is all foolishness to make it up.
It Just makes mine as hot as a bake
oven
explained to him that the rules re-
quired all disengaged berths 70 be made
up TO accommodate possible local travel.
"But nobody's gong to get on in this
desert, he insisted, testify. "Why
can't you Just push that one upl'
Il can't do il, " l replied little net
tied, ''unless you pay for it. -
He abused the road, myself, and every
body else incoherently for while but
the upshot of the matter was he paid for
the upper berth, and asked in a surly
voice that it be put up at once. BY that
time l was pretty mad, and hurrying
back into the car, parted the curtains,
unlocked the two wires that hold
the upper berth DOM, seized it by
the edge, and with one violent
push swung it up in place.
heard the spring locks click, threw the
curtains together, and returned TO the
smoking room. Meantime Bliss and one