Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1893-05-18
LYING AWAKE TO CATCH THE TRAIN.

It's Mighty Mean Experience, but There
is No Help for 1t.
From the New York Herald
The man who has to catch the early train to
Somewhereville is to be pitied. He retires
early, the earlier the more sad his case Every
passing sound from the street falls upon hi.
strained ears. He falls at last along toward IL
O'Clock into light slumber. His dreams are
broken; there is no rest for him, for he has tc
catch the early train.
Along toward midnight he awakens with q
start, grssps out in the darkness wildly, FUN.
bles for a match and knocks his heels and his
favorite corns against the spikes Of the rocker
There are always spikes on the rocker of the
fellow who has to hunt a match in order to looi
at the clock in order to see the time in order
not to oversleep In order to catch the early
morning train.
He blows out the match in disgust 1t ID
only IL o'clock His train time is 4:40, SO be
turns IN for another snooze
The man who has to catch the early train
what awful dreams he has. Over his pillows
dance all his grandmothers since the food
singing In wild discordant way. He sees
sights and hears voices: he rolls uneasily, now
and then catching little cat winks only to be
a~akened again and again and again-to End
sAAot ~ 40 WV 10 Btl up.
The man who has the train fever is a pitiful
sight to behold. He signs desperately in the
darkness. He thrashes around in bed He hits
his head against the wall. He curses his evil
luck. Why has he to catch train when all the
rest Of the world is asleep? Why must he be q
SLAYER Confound those awful early trains,
anyhow! Why cannot the world be run on
common sense ideas? II the managers of the
railroads of the land only had a grain of sense
just grain-what a world this would be.
1t Is in this fashion that the catch-a-train
man passes the earlier part of the night But
the worst is yet to come
As the night wears on. or off, his fears grow
more and more pronounced Now, he is not
only afraid that he will not catch the train but
he fears that he will actually go TO sleep. In the
first part of the night he tried to sleep aud
couldn't succeed; now ne could succeed. but he
dare not try. All his efforts thus directed
toward keeping awake-a hopeless task!
The catch-a-trsin man rolls uneaslly in his
bed He drops into CHASTITY nightmare Of q
sleep. This is what he sees:
Horrible visions of railroad wrecks.
The figures 4:40 in blood, written by de-
stroying angel on the side of an open grave.
Four-forty! four-forty! four-forty.
Now he sleeps a moment, and now he has left
the toing millions in the big city and is rolling
away. far across the wide land, when biff, bang
there is grand railroad wreck, and he wakes
Up, or rather starts up, to strike his thirteenth
match 10 look at his watch TO see what time ii
is SO that be will get that train,
After tossing, rolling. pitching, heaving,
grooming, moaning and all the rest for the bet
ter part of the last terrible hour he finally sinks
into a soft, dreamless rest, such as the beloved
poet loves to figure as blessing the sleep Of the
innocent little child, or the Me chy-fdee" OF
the Bowery stage recitatiouist All, that sleep.
Blessed be the man who invented it, Enough
that the poor, weary, catch-a-train fiend can
sleep at all, even II it De but a moment And
sleep he does. He lis snoring away like a saw
mill
Then white-robed figure, bearing large
lamp. suddenly appears like su apparition in
the intense India ink gloom. Ii his wife. Dear,
patient, loving soul, faithful TO the last, has
somehow, in a way known only to woman. man.
aged to keep awake, or. rather, to sleep until
the proper time, and now she ia here, aud is
saying. as she shakes him in a lively fashion:
Jim! Jim! Jim. Wake up; it is time for the
train
''Train2 wazzer-train-what IL il, anyway
Go way now! Yes. I'm coming. COM
You bet you arei' gasps the woman, taking
him by the hair and tugging away vlciousiy
ana then he awakens with start, TO hear her
say: You have just ten minutes to catch the
fcur-forty. Now hurry, dress ana come down
to the kitchen, where there is pot OF hot coffee
for YOU; have been up half an hour and have
everything in readiness
And then the man rises and saws:
"Humph! Well. there is no need of all this
fuss. was just on the point of rising as you
came in the room and made all this internal
racket! Where's my socks, anyway"