davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
Magnificent Depots.

I am surprised at the magnifcence of the
depots in India. Here st Bombay there is
finer railroad station than any we have in
the United States. 1t cost about 81, ,OOO, 900,
and architecturally it is the peer of any
building at Washington. AT Calcutta there
are fine depots and even at the smallest of
the towns you find well-made stone build
ing surrounded by beautiful gardens in
which bloom all kinds of tropical flowers.
Nothing about these stations is made of
wood. The platforms are of stone filled in
with cement and the cars run into the sta
tions on plane about two feet below the
floor, so that the floor of the cars is lust
even with that of the depot. Each station
has it first, second and third-class waiting
room, and everything in India goes by
classes.
The cars arefrst, second, third and fourth
class and they are all on the English plan.
They are about two-thirds the length OF our
cars and trife wider. They are not so
heavy as the American passenger coach and
they look more like wide, long boxes than
anything else. Each of these cars is divided
into compartments. In the first and second
class there are only two compartments to
the car, and the chief difference in these
two classes is in the number allowed in the
compartment If you will imagine little
room about 10 feet long by feet wide,
with roof feet high, in the center of
which there is a glass globe for light,
you may have some idea of the
Indian frst-class car. You must.
however, put two long, leather
covered, cushioned benches along each side
of this room and at the ends of these have
doors with glass windows in them, opening
inward. Over the cushioned backs of the
benches there are windows which are let up
and down like those of the American street
car, and which are of the same size The
car has none of the finish of the American
Pullman, and though you are expected to
sleep within it, there are no signs of bedding
or curtains. At the back OF it there is a
lavatory without towels, soap or brushes,
and there is barely room enough for you to
turn around in it when you are washing.
The second-class cars are much the same,
and there may be one second-class car and
one first in the same coach.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
A Dangerous Predicnmeut.

One of the worst things about these In
dian trains is the impossibility of passing
from one car to another and the difficulty
which one has to get at the guard or to stop
the train. You may be locked up in the
same compartment with mad man or a
robber and it is impossible for you to help
yourself. In the cars of one of the Western
Indian roads there is little electric button,
fenced around with walnut frame, over
which is a pane of thick glass. Just around
the button run the words:
''To stop the train break the glass and
touch the button"
On one of the trunk lines I was closeted
in a frst-class compartment in train going
at the rate of 80 miles an hour. Looking
upward saw that the glass globe contain
ing the lamp was leaking and that a full
pint of oil had run out into it and that this
was shaking with each sway of the car
There was nothing between it and the blaze,
and l feared every moment that it would
catch, the glass would break and pint of
burning oil would spread out upon the
carpet of the little box-like room below, in
which I was. looked for bell rope.
There was none. went all around the
floor of the car, looked over the walls and
sought everywhere some means of stopping
the train. I could find none and had to
wait until we arrived at the next station, a
half an hour later. Luckily no accident
happened and was here able to call the
guard and have the lamp removed. Had
there been an explosion my only salvation
would have been in putting out the fame or
in jumping through the car window while
the train was going at this lightning speed.
FRANK G. CARPENTER.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

kilograms nor murders, and we have sub
scription list of $4,000 names-farmersI
gardeners and country people, because
wherever there are people raising fruit
truck or flowers, there goes the little Seed
and Graft, and we are old fogY enough to
| employ girls to fold and direct these news
papers, and these girls do their work cheer
fully and seem to be happy. When one oi
them marries, We give her sewing machine
and dining room table.
One day came into the Office after an
absence of a couple of hours, and found
Hale scissoring the New York dailies.
"Dan," said he, "there was a young
woman in here to see you."
"Very well," said I, getting q glass OF
water; "you saw her, I suppose It~is as
hot as ginger outside, Reuben"
"I saw her." he replied, ''but she didn't
want to see me. 1t was the old gentleman
she was after"
Snow come" said I, sitting down, Il
am not going to shirk the title, but you'll
have to take shares in it. You can't be
distinguished from me by it, my boy. I
am gray, but you are bald; am lean and
you are stout, and there isn't a six months
difference in our years or our looks, Reu-
ben Hale"
"Have it as you please" said he; "but
that is what she said-she wanted to see old
Mr.. Crawford. think she thought me the
young one."
"Was she blind young woman?"
"Blind," he repeated. "Just wait until
you see her eyes. Oh, she is coming back!
At o'clock, Daniel. Even if she didn't
told her you'd be sure to be in then"
"Well, I won't" I answered. ST am
going out to Melvin on the 1:45. am not
going to stay in town this sweltering after
noon."
''Yes, you are. You'll thank your happy
stars it you do. Ii you miss her, Daniel,
you'll break her heart, and after you have
seen her she'll break yours"
II am going on the Las train" re-
peated.
''Bet you dollar you DON'T" said Hale.
II told her to come at 2, but she said
o'clock would be more convenient, and she
would try to find you then, and, Daniel,
you had better take your feet off the chair
and brush that hair of yours up little, for
here she comes. I hear the echo of her
voice and the patter of her heels in the out
Office, where she has just asked Marvey if
you are in"
"What Ounce you arel really think
-" But at that moment the door opened,
and Marvey appeared.
Lady to see Mr.. Crawford" said he,
stepping aside, and there entered young
woman dressed very plainly in dark blue,
with smoke colored vail pretty well cover
ing her face.
"You do not remember me. Mr.. Craw-
ford, she said. I am Miss Margaret Wool
stine. see you very often in church, but
of course you do not see me, but you have
TO-" and she nervously laughed, "you
have to hear me, you know"
"Mr. Crawford" said Reuben, getting up
without the glimmer of smile, and with
great deliberatlon, "I am going to Melvin
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

included engineering works. fully as grand
as the railroad making of the United States,
, and the keeping of them in order is more
difficult
One of the great plaques of Indian rail-
road makers is the white ant. These insects
eat every dead thing in wood form above
ground. If a pile of wooden ties is left out
over night an attack of ants will have car
ried it away by morning, and there is no
possible storage of wooden ties. Such ties
as are in the roads are saved from destruction
by the vibration caused by the running
trains, which scares the ants away. 1t is
the same with telegraph poles and fences,
and the result is that the ties of most of the
railroads are made of iron. l have travelled
about 5000 miles over all kinds of railways
in India. The telegraph poles on many of
the lines are hollow tubes of galvanized
iron, about as big around as the
average mans cali, so made that
they fit into one another and form a
pole about ten feet high. To these poles the
lines are strung and many of the roads use
such poles throughout their entire length
On ether lines the telegraph poles are 7 iron
rails, the same as those on which the car
travels. Two of these rails are fastened to-
gether by bars about 1oot wide, and then
this iron lattice work is set deep in the
ground and the wire strung upon it. About
some of these stations the fences are made of
such iron rails, and through hundreds of
miles along one of the rsjah's railroads in
Western India I found fences of barbed
wire with sandstone posts. These posts
were foot wide and four inches thick, and
they stood about three feet above the
ground. The wires ran through holes in
them, and the railroad men tell me that
they are much cheaper than wood.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

are made of iron and you could crowd three
Of them into one American caboose. They
carry on an average about six tons, have no
trucks and only four wheels. Our freight
cars will carry from 40 to 80 tons and some
of our narrow gauge cars carry 40 tons. If
these Indian trains had such cars they could
carry from seven to eight times the amount
they now do, but the people have never been
accustomed to large cars and they stick to
the old ways. None of these freight cars
are managed by brakes from the top and
you see no brakemen trotting along on the
tops of the trains. Freight in India is
measured by the mound or 80 pounds.
Freight trains are called goods train, and 1
find some curious rules in regard to freight.
Return trip tickets are issued to horses, and
camels cost IL cents per mile per truck and
four camels can be put on each truck. Ele-
phant calves are transported at the rate OF 6
cents mile, and as to other animals, the
cost OF them is gauged at the rate for dogs.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
MYHEART'SDELIGHI'
By LOUISE STOCKTON.

published them. Last week you made an
editorial Of one"
$50, indeed Then you are "Mark Will
LISP" and nodded my head like Chinese
mandarian, have since been informed.
well, you are not only very beautiful
young lady, but you are clever one, too. l
don't know that We ought to refuse Mr..
Mark Willis"
"Oh, please do not" she cried 'I should
be so glad to come here, and think could
soon learn to be useful. Icould cut out para
graphs for you, and that must be such stu
pid work for you to do, and could write on
what subjects you thought best, and if you
or the other gentleman wanted to go away
for few days am sure could do differ
ent things for you. And" she added, you
might both want to go away together. Sup
pose to-day you also would have liked to
have left town on the 1:45 train? Wouldn't
you have been more comfortable to have
known some one was here ready to receive
messages or attend to your orders?'
At this how could / help smiling, and I
told her that her reasoning almost con-
vinced me. Indeed" added, ''it would
do so but for two reasons; one, we do not
need you in the slightest, and the other is
that this stuffy Office is no place for q young
lady"
She stood up, and I could see tried to
look entirely indifferent, but her lips trem-
bled, and her face paled.
"Of course then," she answered me,
there is nothing more to be said, and can
only beg your pardon, Mr.. Crawford, for
having troubled you"
As sat, still looking at her, it flashed
upon me that, perhaps, if knew more of
the history of this girl should not 80 hast
lily shut the door upon her. And have a
very strong feeling about disappointing
women. When I married, my wife and 1
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

United States. 1 have yet to find train in
which the third class cars were not packed,
and many of those upon which rode had
three times as many third class cars as first
and second class. Each native carries a
bundle with him containing his brass pot,
out of which he drinks and often the pans
with which be cooks his food. Accustomed
to the poorest of beds at home, cotton
blanket sufices for his travelling rug, and in
waiting for the trains at the stations he
often puts his shoe under his head for a
pillow, and wrapping up his turbaned head
in the cotton cloth which covers his bare
shoulders, sleeps upon the ground until the
train is called.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
:. MOll BEACON.

on the Las, and shall have to leave at
once. Will you kindly pay that dollar for
me on account?" He put on his hat, took
his cane, bowed to Miss Woolstine, went
out the door, and heard him Immediately
tramplng up stairs to the composing room,
where knew he had proofs to read. There
were times when Reuben Hale was 16 years
of age instead of so.
Miss Woolstine looked more comfortable
after we were alone, and she took off her
veil, holding it in her hands.
~ almost felt as if Iknew you, Mr.. Craw
ford" she said. "When was little girl
used to sit with my uncle in his pew Just
where I could see you as looked at the
painted glass window, and now from the
choir, of course we have you in full view. "
'And you do not think me rude because
you So often catch me watching you?"
The girl slightly colored. "You have the
kindest face in all the church. l could
never think you rude" And with that she
became scarlet
'I will not say what think of yours" 1
said gently, ''or you might think me very
rude indeed, but can do anything for
you?'
She crushed her veil tightly in her hands.
'I do not want to take up your time, Mr..
Crawford, but / do want to talk to you
minute. / have to support myself and
want to get newspaper work, Mr.. Crawford,
and 1 thought perhaps, you would give me
some. 1t is so quiet here"
looked at her with surprise. "I thought
you lived with your uncle, Mr.. Mason?"
81 did, but we do not agree, and have
no money of my own. and as l have to leave
there, must support myself"
HBut surely your natural resource would
be in music, Miss Woolstine. Your voice
ought to be worth great deal to you"
II could not sing in public" I" she quickly
answered. "The church do not mind, be-
cause l have gone there all my lie, bnt the
concert stagel-oh, could not do that! And
1 would rather not teach. 1t worries me to
teach music. "
'You would make success in concerts"
She shook her head. "And, I continued,
sit would be far more lucrative than any
work could give you. You would not like
a position here at all. The girls are good,
respectable girls, but they would not suit
you at all. And the wages are low"
II have my salary in the church" she
said, ''that would help little. and do not
want situation with your girls, Mr.. Craw-
ford. want editorial work.
"Ho, no, editorial workp' 1 smiled at
this, ''but you know Mr.. Hale and do all
that and have time to spare" I
"But have helped you little" she ex-
planned, with eagerness. ~ have written
you several things, and you have always
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

offers refuge to the oppressed, but it does
not offer q free-fght territory for outlaws,
and that is what these men ask of US. It is
the duty of their GTn Governments TO edu-
cate and civilize them. We do not aspire
to make our country reformatorY school.
''All that is true, but their own Govern
ments won't do it, you know, and. they are
here. We must do it.
''That they are here is unfortunately
true" said /.
Sand your nephew's paper saws they
ought not to have schools where their own LAM
guage is used. think that unkind. Their
native tongue must be dear to them, and
they naturally wish their children to
know it.
"Then let them teach it to their children
at home. but in the public schools of this
country the language Of this country is in
place. How else can we educate, civilize
and make good citizens of them? If they
are to be part OF US, they should speak our
language, read our books."
''They will learn English. 1t is in the
air, and they cannot help it. But it keeps
the children and parents together if the
children's school life is that which the
parents knew. How would you like your
child taught in French school, a language
and method of thought Of which you were
perfectly ignorant?"
''If fed with my child to France and
expected him to be French citizen,
think / would stand it. Jack is in the
right, Miss Margaret. he makes mistake
in not conceding more than he does, but in
this he is right"
''You are fond of your nephew, and are
blinded to his Mistakes" said she stoutly.
81 hardly know him." replied. never
saw him but once, and that is i've years
ago. He is good-lookinQ
By that time the kettle had boiled, and
Hale came in with basket of grapes, and
we talked no more of the miners nor OF the
perplexities they presented.
But Of Jack we did speak, and to the pur-
pose before the day Was over, The evening
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
Chenp Railroad Fares.

Only rich natives travel second class in
India. The bulk of the first and second
class travel is made up of English and
Americans The natives, as rule, go by
the intermediate or third class, and the
third-class fares here are the cheapest in the
world. They are, by ordinary trains, less
than 4 cent per mile, and by mail trains
only GIG of cent. Still the third-class
passengers at this low rate pay more to the
roads than either the first or second class,
and railroad managers tell me they believe
it will pay to reduce this rate much lower
than it now is, Mr. Ellsworth, of the Den
yer and Rio Grande Railroad. is travelling
with me, and he tells me that we have not
begun to touch bottom in our American
railroad fares. He thinks the roads would
make twice as much if their rates were re-
duced one-half, and says that the reduction
is sure to come. The English managers
well appreciate this, and the third-class
fares in England are the fares that fill the
pockets of the stockholders.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
Lessons Of Experience.

Hatchet.1
Anxious Mother-My son, that young
lady you admire knows nothing about
housework.
Son-Well, mother, you know you don't
either.
'True, my son. Your fathers brother,
however, married girl who did, and the
money she saved was invested in real estate,
and they are now living in a brown-stone
palace"
''Oh, well, his fortune couldn't all have
come from that"
"Maybe not; maybe not. But your father
and are living in rented house, and one
of our old servant girls owns it."
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

have to pay per cent of their earnings to a
certain fund. They can pay as much more
than z. per cent as they please. The road
receives the money, pays interest on it, and
upon their leaving the service honorably
gives them back double the amount they
have paid in with interest. This seems in
credible, but 1 am assured it is so. An En-
glish clergyman told me that he knew a
railroad employe who went in at $40 a
month and who will soon take out S., 900.
This method was entered into at the time
the railroad was built. The managers were
hard up for capital and they wished to bind
their hands to them. The company is now
prosperous and it keeps up the same system.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
CHAPTER II.

1t is very certain that had Miss Woolstine
gone to the Office of the Royal Express she
would not have had the chance for house.
keeping that We afforded her. With a
little white apron tied over her dark dress,
and an obtrusive dusterin her hand, she
very soon learned to keep US in very good
order indeed. But she had the rare, most
angelic talent of making that order ours
and not her own. She never put our ink
stands in the middle of the tables. Mine
stood as liked it, close to my hand, while
Hale's was at arms length from his, and
she never mixed a revise with the first
proofs. II put book on shelf found it
there, busted no doubt, but where laid it.
Life in our establishment was very simple.
There was no rush Of reporters, no late
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
Crowded Trains,

2 Here in India there is a vast difference
between the prices of the various classes.
First class is, on the great Indian Peninsula
Railroad, which is fair type of the whole,
~ cents per mile. Second class is just one
half this rate and intermediate one-half of
second class. Third class is one-half the in
termediate and the third class pays. The
third class cars carry 80 passengers. They
are divided into compartments with benches
uncushioned, running so across the car that
the passengers face each other, and the pas
sengers are packed in as close as sardines.
They are always full, and these East Indi-
ans travel as much as do the citizens of the
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

and as they go tc the train they pull their
shawls close about their faces, though their
ankles and calves, covered with gold or sill
yer bracelets, often show. In some of the
cars the windows of the women's compart-
ments are so fixed with shutters that there
can be no looking out. and in the train
which carried me to Darjeeling there was
one car entirely covered with canvas as
thick as that of circus tent. This con-
tanned Hindoo women, who, as they rode
up the Himalaya Mountains through the
finest scenery in the world, were thus shut
in the stufy darkness of this tent-like car
and saw no more of the grandeur of the ma
ture about them than they would have seen
had they been tied up in so many leather
bags and sent along as mail.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

tan and not a great distance from
the new Russian railway, which
has been pushed on past Samarcand.
The day will come when we can travel from
London to Calcutta by rail, though this pre-
supposes the cutting of tunnel under the
English Channel. South India has many
long miles of railroads and the whole of
Hindostsn, which is half the size of the
United States, has a railroad net covering
it. The construction of these railroads has
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
AProi,-shariur Railroad.

One of the greatest roads in India is the
East Indian Railway. This railway has a
curious way of investing percentage of the
wages which it pays its hands, which is found
to work both to the advantage of the railway
and the employees. Wages are very low in
India, but through this method many of the
employees have become rich. All of the hands
who receive over 80 rupees or $40 month,
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16
The Sleeping Cars.

But how about the bedding?
Every man carries his own bedding with
him in India and these Indian cars give
you nothing else but a lounge on which to
spread cotton comforter. shawl, or rug.
You carry your own pillows and the bed
ding of half dozen passengers would fill a
car. Each traveller of the first and second
class brings the most of his baggage into the
train with him, and there is often as much
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

as the contents of an American baggage car
in one of these compartments. No one un-
dresses, but all lie down with their clothes
on, pull their shawls over them and sleep
the best they can. There are no porters to
wake you up at the proper time and your
boots remain unblacked. Women travel
ing alone universally go into compartments
reserved for women, and men travelling with
their wives have often trouble in keeping
together.
Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-06-16

are about the highest paid Of the railroad
employees. They get about $40 month
while running regularly, but they can in
crease this by extra running to $50 and 500
a month. The Indian railways have no con-
ductors in our sense Of the word. The tick
cts are collected and examined by men at
the various stations and the guard who
manages the train in other respects, has
nothing to do with the tickets. Such guards
get about S25 month and on the smaller
railroads they receive from 81 to $40 a
month. The most of the guards are natives
or halfbreeds, while a majority of the en-
gineers are English. I don't think the
English engineers are as we'll posted as our
American ones. / asked one Of them the
weight of his engine. He stammered and
replied that he did not know. The Ameri-
can engineer can tell you just what his en-
gine weighs, how much steam she carries
and all about her.