Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1894-08-18

these boarding traiAsl The railroads prefer
them to houses, even In towns. II a gang
Of men has to be sent tc a distant and un-
settled part OF the iFoad, 1t Is comparatively
easy to order the whole train off, and the
men thus have bed land board provided.
The railroads furnish the cars, but the peo-
pie who take them do all the rest. The
freight cars. The 1oldsfashioned. low, mar
row ones that have been used for cattle
and hogs-other than human. They have
usually two windows on a side, so high up
tnat little woman like Mrs. Lane will
have to stand on her tip-toes or q tomato
box to see out. Thehwide sliding doors at
the sides will be framed In grease, little
thlcEer and olacker on the lower edge and
just as high up the,l sides as man can
reach with his griray hands. A rusty stove
pipe thrusts itself ,5p, through the roof of
the Kitchen, and Q pile of emptied fruit
cans VIII ornament the earth on one side of
tne car. while a hummock of decaying
refuse from the kitchen slop pail will fur
nish incense on the other. So much for the
general external appearance of boarding
train. Inside they differ, just as houses
amer IL the means are forthcoming they
can be made to look quite comfortable. The
Lanes lacked means
Mrs. Lane was just returning from visit
to her mother in Santa Fe, whom she had
not seen In four years and she took back
with her another baby to add to her cares
and the brood of six she already had She
seemed so patient and cheerful; yet l know
mothers who have pleasant homes, with
only two, and often only one child, who
make life misery to themselves and every
body else because OF their fancied bur
dens. Such poor, weak vessels as they
are! Mrs. Lane weighs hardly a hundred
yet she is the mother of seven children, and
she does uncomplainingly work that no
woman ought to have to do-cooking for
thirty-five people. She is a collegs grad
Late, too, and years and years ago, when
removed from her
life as Mrs. Cleveland was from hers Mrs
Lane used to know Frankie" which was
the home name for Mrs. Cleveland.
a Flying switch.
us she as pretty as ever?" Mrs. Lane
asked me. 'She used to have such a color
1 wonder If she has much for her
French? We once had the same instructor"
And then she bent to socthe her -wailing
babe evidently without a thought of COM
plain, Of the changes that time had
wrought.
Our accomnloda ticns are poor, but /
trust the welcome will more than make up
for them" she said as she gave the tin
wash basin parting busting, and got
towels and Il bit of broken mirror for my
toilet table, which same was dry goods
box turned on end AMI covered with a
bieachei flour sack. L never saw -four
sacks put to 50 many uses in my life My
towels were coarse -four sacks, with drawn
on my bed We're -four sacks neatly feiled
together, an1 the pillow slips were of the
same accommodating article. / noticed as
the two little Lanes knelt TO say their
prayers at their mothers knee that they
wore -four sack night gowns. end when
offered to dry the dishes in the morning
the dish towels were flour sacks. They
seemed ubiquitous
L slept quite SoUndly on my bel of sweet
smelling hay, till about d2ybreal1, when the
work engine began to get down to bust
ness. 1t shrickei and footed, just outside
the end of the car in which 1 was sleeping
and pulled and snOrtcl til | concluded that
/ misht as we'll try TO sleep under Niagara
In TIE little space LETT by my bed, impro-
vIsed from inch Pi,nka set ON trestles
managed to dless myself and was lacini,
my boots. when IL seemed to mo that the
whole end Of the aor must have crashed in
and / went sprGwlins in among the bed
clothes. scratching NY nose on board at
the head and lOdseJinG every pin In my
hair. Beyond the Partition l heard a fear
full crash OF Crcckrry ana tin. and just as
rxtricdtri myself Mrs. Lane came run
ming In with anXidus face.
"'h ~" you HuPt?' she cried ~ she
odu@ht sight or my Skinned nose. Il ought
40 have told you to DC careful when the
engine was about ~, train. for the on
Einc.r has no REGARD for ANYBODY OF auy-
thii'i' ANA slams ears around in II fearful
~ iln'r. We nave t. watch out all the
tina" when they IRE dpias any b,,ito hing
1h"V N"r" mthi8g a nymS switch just
now and Irt caE In On US little harder
n'N"I a h'Ue ruriuliy, AS | examined into
my Injuries.
Nv II, no, not - hard always. hut we
d" 80 knocked about = great deal You
Nou'i get used tn II after II year or two"
And with this comforting assertion she
turh'i To 30. BE careful AZ you come
through here" she called back al the door
IN w other end Of the ear. There is
"a l.fHI l...r.
breakfast Is over to clean IL up"
III" ~ recIed Kitchen.
terrible mess, sure enough, Tint end
OF the car which was next to the Litche,
ear had rows OF shelves on each side with
stats In front, and II was here that Ell the
cooked food for the men was kept. The
Stats had evidently failed OF their pl.roose
Tor that time at least, for all the contents
or the dozen shelves lay upon the hoor
stone Jars OF cooked prunes. pichies and
one or molasses were emptied Of ,heir con-
tents upon the noor. and the shattered stone
ware was lying around in bits. Mixed with
tniS mess was q part of d dish of boiled
rice, half ham, twelve pies, a J-po,Ind can
or almost liquid lard. innumsrable Cans OF
tomatoes, corn and beans, d dish OF baked
beans, salt coffee, t@a-in fact q store of
goods such as would last them for a month
had been set away on those shelves, and had
been bounced of by the fearful shaking
up. Most of the timed goods could be
picked up. but the cooked viands were a
hopeless loss.
l picked up my skirts and stepped over
the debris and the narrow plank that was
laid from door to door cut in the ends of
the two cars and got my first glimpse of
the inside OF boarding train Kitchen The
long narrow car had been fixed up to the
best advantage, but even that was poor
enough for the purpose. In one corner
stood tine big range, Sizzling hot though
the sun was not yet peepins over the east
ern mountain tops, and from It came an
odor of frying ham and OF boiling J.otatoes
In the opposite corner one of the small Lane
girls was cutting nice white bread. She
stood beside a chest-ike looking arrange
meut, just high enough for 4 table and l
found after breakfast that ii was a mix
ing trough" for bread. | discovered that
when Mrs. Lane picked up a 5p-lb. sack of
-four and poured half of il into :he foamirHs
yeast in the cavernous depths of the chest
She was mixing bread for the boardersI
In one corner farthest from the stove was
a big cupboard built in the car, and as |
came out another of the Lane children-a
boy this time-waS taking a lot of broken
dishes from the shelves.
"Old 70 Just everla stingly smashed things
up this morning. he observed cheerfuly,
as l paused to give MIN good morning.
1--WE allowed to have lots of things cooked
up and be In good shape when mamma got
ba ok, so she wouldn't have to work so
hard right at first he exclaimed, but /
guess we missed 1t.