Daily Kennebec journal., 1894-11-19
Daily Yennehre gonrual
City and County.
WAITING FOR THE TRAIN.
How People Pass Their Time Under Such
Circumstances.

Few who have travelled 10 any extent,
have been so fortunate rs not 10 haze been
obliged to wait for ii train, at some time
Of day or night.
Sometimes you can find little pleasure
in il. but as IA general rule such delays are
hoth irkso.ne and trcsome You are &c
ing away on business and Of course are in
haste. The grip sack is hastily packed
and Won lose no time in reaching the sta
rim Naturally, your first inquiry is, Is
rho train on timc:' It may not be on
time and you know you cannot hasten
II. arrival and departure. The only
,hino for YOU to do is to patiently wait
till the huge engine and train Of cas-
pulls in.
Perhaps nearly everybody has had 10
.,.,i+ .rycral hours ~ aane lonely depot
where. say - or 20 persons were endcavor-
i,,, 70 bear the same Inconvenience he was
trying to endure with all the semblance
-, natiencc he could command. Let us
racall some Of the scenes we have noticed,
j., tbe various places where we have
,oaitcd for the train, which was delayed,
say three or fourhours.
Near the ticket Office window are two
ar three lawyers discussing some point o!
law They seem deeply interested in the
arhirct and, it may be, forget they are
waiting for late train. One fellow Will
IA, ot the window of the ticket office oc-
cunying the agents time by. asking a
variety of questions about the scheduled
time of the various railroads and means
or travel and other information afforded
l,,. thr time tables almost at his elbow.
If Won have ever waited at some lonely
way station. probably surrounded by
woods AS is generally the case with such
stations. you can relate an experience, to
those who have never had the pleasurcC)
which will be startling. There you sat
in the gloomy station house, perhaps in
tht middle of the night, and no one to
keen you company except the agent, tclC-
oronh operator and general utility man
,vhn does duty there for the company.
You tire of reading, tire of waiting,
tIr, the station agent b. you: talking. If
il chances to be Il stormy day the expert
,nce is sure to he enc that will not soon
bc forgotten,
There are many very funny stories told
about waiting for trains and how the time
is n,sscd The reader can probably recall
some very amusing anecdotes A well
known Augusta man delights to tell of
certain old lady who went into one of the
stations, not many miles from this city, and
seeing the fine seats in the waiting room,
with polished ratings, thought she was
in the car She heard the roar and jar of
the trains passing, as they rolled by
After waiting several hours she proceeded
10 the ticket 0iicc window, fun Of conf
dcncr. and asked of the agent it they
would soon reach Portland.
An amusing story is told of an Au-
gtlsta man, who is well known through
out the city II seems he was in Skow-
hogan one day, and being detained up
street. did not reach the depot before the
train started but arrived just as the back
ear was pulling out. He was some Few
rods from it and started post haste lie
was burdcncd with yalise, and could
not make very rapid speed. He failed
to reach the train and returned
perspiring freely and those about
the station began to laugh. They wait
ed for him to speak, supposlng ne
would be very angry. He put his hand III
his pocket, pulled out a 81 bill and SAID
Twill bet that bill there is not a man i'll
the crowd who can catch that train. The
remark was greeted with laughter; blit
no one accepted the wager