St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-13
A DEPOT SWELL.

street. But watch through train from
the East or West, and it's different.
Little groups struggle in, looking about
weary and bewildered. There is bag
gage to be looked after, lunches eaten
and all sorts of questions to be asked.
The family groups all drift into the
ladies' waiting room. A waiting room
in large station has several character
istic features. The one&in the union
station of this city is distinguished
not by puritanical neatneSS. but rather
by comfortable air of unstudied neg
Hgence. The room is we'll lighted, the
rows Of walnut seats neatly arranged.
A big, old-faShioned fireplace seems to
yeern for fire, just to show how COM
Portable and cosy it could look. Maybe
the chimney smokes, and that's the
reason the fireplace becomes Orna-
mental rather than useful. The walls
and ceiling have acquired smoke enough
10 tene down the original fresco tints to
warm eSthetlc hues. At least that's
what | heard an artistic. soulful girl
say. Hitherto | thought them simply
dirty, but stand corrected. What saw
ages we would he if these people, with
higher perceptions and artist souls, did
not occasionally scatter golden grains Of
wisdom along the pathway. The tile
floor is clean and comfortably cool-in
summer. Several rheumatic rocking
chairs tempt guileless strangers into an
unseemly contention as to who shall get
possession of them; only to find that
ordinary seats are more comfortable.
The waiting room is never wholly de-
serted, there are a few types of people
who can always be seen. Not that they
are detained as freaks, but perhaps the
hnk
stantly reappear. The fat woman is al
term will disguise the fact that she is
fat and peevish. Those who say that
fat people are always good natured
haven't met them outside of picture
books or novels. The fat woman whom
most often meet weighs not less than
200 pounds, mas thin, straight lips, any
style of nose she happens to prefer, a
notified compile Xon, and little swapping
black or gray eyes. If the corners Of
the mouth droOp to meet a deeply craven
line extending from the outer corners
of the nostrils, then that woman is posi-
lively dangerous except in the bosom of
her own family. She won't stay at
home. She likes to travel. She comes
putting into the waiting room few min
utes before the train starts. spreads her
self and baggage over at least a whole
row of seats. Usually moment later
some thin, meek looking little woman
extricates herself from the avalanche,
and, after once glance at the fat woman,
finds another seat without a murmur.
My tleshY friend dresses well and has
traces of former good looks, but her
voice is masculine, and a slight mus
tache adorns her upper lip. L draw the
line on ladies who attain that degree of
emancipation from their sex.
The dear old lady who never travelled
ten miles away from her native village
is there too. She is going hundreds of
miles to care for some child, or maybe
grandchild, taken i'll among strangers
and who can't recover without her
kindly care. She is sure of that, and
impatient to have the journey over.
Her childlike simplicity in regard to
the ways of the world is a passport to
everybody's sympathy. Employees about
the stations answer her questions and
carry her luggage with an alacrity that
makes other women envy her and wish
they were grandmotherS too.
The thin, ancient and attenuated old
maid IS ever there, and whatever be
her shortcomings in other respects, she
makes first-clasS traveller. Her dress
is simple, sometimes even tasteful. She
doesn't force her acquaintance or be-
lodgings on any fellow traveller, and de-
spite her forbidding appearance | know