The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1894-07-19
ON The SUBURBAN TRAIN.
The Occasional Passenger Makes a Com
posite Note of the Conversation.

III pOlnU OF interest the SUBURBAN
train is to the commuter by no means
what it is to the passenger who boards
it at rare intervals, and whose nature
is such as to be diverted by watching
his fellow travellers. And there is ever
so much to be seen if one cares to look.
The commuter is likely to regard his
daily trip to his suburban home as but
the long-drawn-out monotonous inter-
val between hard days work and din
ner. The train is for him purgatory
| with dinner as the hope held out. He
| boards it several minutes before the
| time for its departure and, after depos-
iting his bundles-commuters always
have bundles-on the seat to keep a
passenger out of it as long as possible,
he unfolds his evening paper. The seat
he has taken is next an unoccupied
track, and he bangs up the blinds as far
| as they will go, so as to get as much
| light as possible. Then he backs up
against the window so that the light
will come in over his shoulder. and a.
he does so the back rim of his hat in.
variably collides with the glass and the
hat slides over his eyes. He fancieS he
| can do better with his hat off. so he
| puts it on topof the bundles and settles
back again. People are continually
crowding into the car. and by the time
the commuter has read about three
| lines of his paper a woman carelesSly
| carrying an umbrella knocks the
hat to the floor. There is hasty
apology, an inaudible something in re-
! ply. a dusty hat, and the commuter
| starts on the next three lines. lie
reads them and then has to 90 back
| and read the first three to find out
about what it is he is reading. He gets
| on swimmingly until train pulls in
! beside the window and shuts out the
| light altogether. At this he turns
around tiercely and glares at the pas
| ,engers in the newly arrived train,
! heaping muttered maledictiOnS on their
| heads for bringing their COMPOUNDED
train in his light. But he has bought
the paper and he is going to read it in
! spite of the railroad company or any
! body else, so he turns his back the
| other way. This necessitates moving
his hat and all the bundles. This new
| scheme is even worse than the other,
| because the aisle is filled with moving
| people, and his paper is one moment
| bright and then eclipsed. He tries hold
| ing it sidewise, high up, low down,
| fiat, and every other way. He may
have read as much as ten lines by that
| time, but the car is filing up and at
! last some one touches his shoulder and
asks if the adjacent seat is reserved.
| Then the bundles and hat are gathered
together and deposited on his lap. while
the person squeezes in and the paper is
folded and put away.
! The casual passenger, from his seat
! near the door. has watched all this
with keen interest. In addition to this,
the noises and sounds in and about the
car amuse him From the station
train is pulling out to the accompani-
| ment of the engines deep chug-chug
ging and changing bell. The locomo-
tive of the train Just in is breathing
hard; like a horse after a run. A small
gong somewhere is striking and two or
/ three voices are crying: "All aboard-'
1t seems as if the voices had been cry
ing the same thing for the last ten
! minutes. In the car is a confusion of
conversations each momentarily drown
ing another, some almost drowning all
the others. All conditions and classes
of people are getting on the train, and
each human being is talking about
something to somebody. Nobody APP
pears to be listening. except the casual
, passenger near the door. Men. women
and school children troop in and talk.
/ The conversation comes in cOmmingling
I Interruptions.
Hello, Jack. going out on this train
with Hamburg edging four inches
deep for only-two hundred dollars,
{ why your bicycle cost as much as
those confounded chickens ate the seed
before it had time to sprout-on my
wife's hand when she bumped against
the oil stove-with black name and
beautifully gaited--to do four examples
in long division-with a lace collar and
pulled sleeves-in Chicago gas on
margin of-soothing sirup that you can
get at anyone of his books is so stupid
that-the day has been just too lovely
and my children have had it four
times-counting by the new time
table"
Then three conversationally-inc
Italian laborers climb aboard. and the
casual passenger gets tired listening,
A moment later the conductor waves
his arm, a whistle blows. and the
suburban train glides out.-N. Y. Sun.