Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1886-11-24
An Autumn Ride.
For the spscraroRl

For the SPECTAToR.l
| Did you ever take an early morning
train Do you remember how you dozed
all night, striking match every five min
utes to see the time or if more fortunate,
were wakened by whirring, burning,
whizzing, tzzing alarm-clock? Have you
dressed and breakfastsd in the gray dawn,
and hurried away to the station to wait,
perhaps, tedious hour for the iron-horse
20 come painting up?
Not long ago, friend and myself did
this very thing. We were in the city of
S-some place going to the town of s.
somewhere. We passed through the usual
| orthodox experiences, and arrived at the
station ten minutes before train-time the
train left at seven. purchased my ticket
and sat down to wait. The moments crept
by; the clock eicked off ten, twenty, thirty
mtns4es, arG stiilJno traiu. The waiting
room was fireless, so, for exercise, l prone
naded the platform, yawnlng over my lost
sleep. Half-past seven came, and IN the
distance ''round the bend'' foated thin
veil of smoke gradually it drifted nearer
till the engine steamed in, putting like a
corpuent alderman climbing hill at
tached to it was long line of freight cars,
but no coaches. For another half hour
this train ran backward and forward !;
much switching, shouting, waiying Of
hands and arms ensued At last it came
bringing the one palace-c car, and "al
aboard' was called out. That was the be-
ginning of our ride. l learned first, that
the train was called 1.-THE accommodation, !"
but just where it accommodated, I did not
discover unless it was the usual belated
traveller. As the train started, a fond
mother, who had been escorted by her
young SOD, anxiously babe him jump off at
once. With an assumption of manly dig
nifty and pitying disdain for a woman's
fears, he walked calmly down the aisle
She called, she screamed to him to hasten !;
he needed her not /; he was acquainted with
the movement of the train. A derisive
smile passed over the conductor face, and
it's shadow fell upon the breakman's lips
Poor woman, that she should imagine any,
one could be injured by jumping off that
train, even when it was under full speed
Like an immense rattlesnake, the train
ratified along now slower, now faster !;
sometimes coming to standstil as if in
want of breath, or waiting to get rested
just across the aisle from me, an artist,
was quietly sketching red barn the train
moving fast enough for him to draw the
three sides visible, without changing his
position. Quite scheme, / thought, for
an indolent person.
Of course, this peaceful glide was all very
well for while, but it soon grew monoto-
nous. To pass away time, l counted the
leaves on the trees examined the strata of
the rocks and watched horse and buggy
in the distance come nearer and nearer, and
pass over the bridge beyond us. Once a
mud-turtle came out of the creek near G.
and actually crawled on ahead of us
Two drummers back of US were having
spicy conversation. AS the conductor
came along, one of them got off an anti
quated joke about putting the cow-catcher
on the rear of the train for fear something
would run into US. As he finished, a boy
at the door munching peanuts bawled out
"Chestnuts pan uNheard-o of word, which
created quite an excitement. I overheard
one drummer making an agreement with
the other, that if he would take care of his
samples, he would walk on to the next
station and order supper.
The gentle motion OF the train iul1ed me
to sleep, and | awakened some hours later
to hear the commercial man, murmuring
under his breath =
Creep, creep, creep.
Ger thy iron rails, o train !
But the hours lost on this snail coach ride
Will never come back again
The conductor inquired, as we were the
only passengers to get off at ga spot in the
woods" if we would not be willing to go
on to the next station,-he wanted to make
up lost time. l smiled wearily, too worn
out to give even an answer but my COM
panion, a lady of uncertain age, tartly replied
that as he had failed to beat a mud turtle,
she certainly could not see how he expected
to run race with time, and we must get
off al ''The spot" He put us off, but still
carried my trunk. l stood on the station
steps while the engine rolled along chuck
ling, '1've-got-your-trunk I've got-your-
trunk, I've egot-your-trunk "' Soon the
train slowly backed up, the conductor re-
marking sarcastically, that the trunk i'm
peded their progress, and he wished to
drop it but noticed he left Car of
bricks at the same time. As the men took
up my Saratoga, heard one Of them say,
"There are two things in this world which
can not travel without trunks, an elephant
and young lady"
The family carriage was waiting for us,
but the trunk-rack had been forgotten.-
The first question was, "What shall be
would not, and go with it seemed just as
impossible. Masculine ingenuity came to
the rescue-the trunk was wedged in be-
tween the dashboard and front seat my
friend and myself occupied the back one
satchel and a valise, two large bundles,
and several smaller ones, an umbrella and
a handbook were slowed into all the avail
able space about US. Here an unforeseen
difficulty arose, what were we to do with
our driver, long, lean, lank, sable-hued
Individual, known as "Jim?" He first
tried sitting on the trunk, his legs hanging
over the dashboard, and his head appearing
above the carriage-top like black plume
on hearse. But this seat was very uncer-
tain descending a hill he was in danger of
pitching off over the horses heads ascend
ing, of doubling up like fox, head and
feet together, and come bouncing back
upon us. This plan was abandoned. He
next suggested leading the horses. but
thought of what an appearance we would
make riding along the road in much the
same style of o circus chariot and it's atten-
dants, made us discard this plan too.-
There was only one way left-sJim" must
ride one of the horses. Imagine an old
style family carriage containing mixture
of trunks, satchels, ladies, bundles, UNI
brellas, band-boxes, &C., and darkey
astride of horse
Once again, man came to the rescue
The front seat was cleared, ''Jim' seated
on one end, his feet doubled over at the
other. and his arms reaching across the
trunk to hold the reins.
Despite all these surroundings, that ride
Was one of the happiest l ever took. The
road wound, now down at the foot of hill
where tiny creek bubbled merrily along !;
and a bird on a scarlet branch swung back
and forth pouring out sweeter notes than
ever were fixed on musical staff; up,
where we could see the hills stretching
back, one beyond another, and round
about them, like turquoise wall, the fair
Blue Ridge Mountains. And then our eyes
fell from this grandeur to the tiny clumps
of fern at the road side the bright-hued
strawberry leaves and golden ground-cher-
ries /; the tangle of frost-tinted brier-bushes
clinging closely to The lchen-covered fence,
or peeping saucily between the rails. The
crows cawed and jeered at us a turkey
buzzard from the limb of o neighboring
tree regarded US with a curious eye, then
f1apped his WINGS and flew awav over the