The News-Herald. [volume] (Hillsboro, Highland Co., Ohio) 1886-1973, 1886-12-30
UNDER DIFFICULTIES.
Philosophers Rogg studies Human Natas
In o Railway Car.

naAVwOPnOr EVB8 0buUt0s nuuABm NSO0fO
In . Railway Car.
Upon general principles Fogg could
hardly be justified in doing rs he did;
but as he claims to have done 1t purely
in the interest of so,ial science, he
must be excused for his seeming i'm
politencss and cross selfshness.
Securing an entire seat in the rail
car, he laid his plans for that noblest
study of mankind. namely. man-man
Of course embracing woman.
Presently u young woman entered the
car. and seeing the vacant plase beside
FOgg, she ambled up to where the
pin hlosopher sat, and with the charming
confusion which was quite natural in
one who should presume to address so
dignitied gentleman, propounded this
question
'.Is this seat engaged. sira"
The temptation of having so sweet a
companion in his travel was immense.
but togg had duty to perform. One
who has devoted himself to severe
study should not consult his personal
pleasure. He should be firm, no mat
ter at what cost. Therefore Fogg re-
piled, "Yes:" and he said IL in voice
which could not have been calmer il he
had been telling the Bible truth.
The young woman blushed, not from
. suspic on Of mendacty on the part of
Fogg, but merely because Of her to-
nlerity in speak ng to a stranger. She
passed on, and although there were
several half-scats in the car. hcr mod
esty not p ,rmit her to address any
one of tho lone gentlemen occupying
the remaining halves, ana the last rogg
saw of the damsel she was disappear
ing through the door at the front end
OF the car.
| A man was tho next to approach.
"Engagedp'' "Ycs." said Fogg. The
man emitted grunt, be slowed a scowl
on FOgg, and passed on. His next At
tempt was successful. But he did not
appear ut ease. He was continually
turning himself about and glarng
a.rear, either at the door. through
! which ho expected somebody to enter,
or at the vacant space beside Fogg. rs
though he suspected the latter Of lying.
Fogg thinks it was not the door which
enchanted the gentleman attention.
But here CONES another lady, al
though older than the first young wOm-
an. Fogg braced himself in read n ,ss
for another refusal; but the lady brushed
by him without looking ut him. and
found a seat farther on BY the side of
another lady. Fogg noticed, by the,
coming in of several other women. that
they almost invariably preferred the
company Of their own sex-,at last in
q rail car. 1t was past his philosophy
to discover why.
While Fogg was Illuminating upon
this unaccountable iiiosyncrasy of the
fair sex, he was su ldenly aro lsed by al
sharp fem nine voice: us this seat
takena" Fogg shook himself into CON-
sciousness AMI repeated the refrain
"Yes." The lady pou ed. corr lg tied
her brows, tossed her head, and then
braccd herself with determ ned air,
as though she should say: "Well, I
suppose I can st. IND. You'll not be-
grud 70 me that privilege, yoa cd
bsar!'' Fogg. however. was not to be-
dauntcd; he WAS studying human ma,
ture, ana determined to pursue his in :.
vestigat on to the uttermost. 1t must
be admit d. nevertheless. that it was
quito trial for him to sit there with o.
vacant seat beside him. and one Of the
weaker vessels standing there. Be-.
l
little with his experiment; for long
procession of promising subjects passed
by without ono of them propouad-
ing the important question. No
gentleman would presume to ask
for a scat over which a lady
stood guard though not few looked
gentlemen would have sat down W tn
out ceremony had tho Gorgon turned
her head away for but an instant. A
gentleman may eajoy his seat calmly
and comfortably. though scores OF
women be standing: but to slip into a
seat before standing woman's very
face is quite another matter.
But presently tbs charm was broken.
A woman Of generous bulk. cheaply
Glad and not particularly cleanly in
full of parcels the contents of the least
junk of o,rned beef. wet and dripping.
She brushed past the standing one. and
dumped herself plump into the seat
with Fogg. The ph losopher was an
noyei. His Investigations had been
interrupted. Besides, the propin putty
of this woman, evidently an imported
dCGiCl0 --uOt W tuOuttOu Vic COCuou
beef, which was now bastowing its
moisture upon Fogg's pantaloons
not particularly pleasing. FOgg nerved
himself to a grsat effort "Madam,"
he said, '.that seat is engaged"
"Sorrp"
Tn Is the foreign female. Fogg tried
again. II say. madam. that seat Is
taken"
| "Yo may will say it. and purity will
taken, too, Oi'm a-th nkin." And she
gave h m \ self-satisfied leer that was
exceedingly annoying. But she didn't
bulge. She ha come to stay, together
with her bundles.
| As Foyg sat there, pinched into half
the space that the railroad company
usually allows its patrons, his panta-
looms now saturated by the saline exu-
dation OF that corned beef, the soiled
shawl fondly embracing his new, d.li-
cate-toned overcoat. and the atmosphere
redolent with snickering and giggling.
and as his tortured mind reverted to
that modest and attractive young woman
who had first addressed him, h +, wished
in his hesrt OF hsart that he had never
undertaken the study of human nature
In SO inauspicious . place ~ railway
ar.-Bost0n Ira Gsscript.
! What He Supposed.