Rock Island Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1893-1920, 1894-10-06
ANGELIC TEMPERS.
A CARLOAD OF TRAVELLERS AND NOT
A KICKER AMONG THEM.

A KICKER AMONG THEM.
They Had 10 Change Sleeper In the MIDI
die Of the Night, and Yet They Remained
Good Humorcd-This Was an Exec ptionaI
Party, Even For Americans.
Although Americans have the rep
utation Of being born kickers, said the
traveller, "once in awhile they give sur
prising exhibitions Of philosophy and
good nature.
''On hot night started OH trip
mp the state had been careful TO en-
gage my berth in the morning and had
selected it in the center of the car, SO l
felt assured that ! would be reasonably
comfortable. 1t SO happened that travel
was heavy that night. and my car was
crowded To my great disgust. too, it
was very old car. l am too old \ trav-
eler to fret, however, and went into
the smoker with calm mind The train
rolled out, and soon the porter began to
mako up the beds. We all turned in
early, and I was in my berth before the
train had got far beyond Mott Haven.
Il adjusted everything carefully, re-
moved all my clothes, donned some nice
cool pajamas and lay back on my pillow
sleepily. l had just begun to duze off
when / was aroused by a queer, rum
bling noise. Itsounded as though some
thing was the matter with the running
gear. l listened for awhile and then
closed my eyes again, thinking perhaps
hnf no 4 T..
though, and presently others appeared
to lie disturbed also. Heads Were roked
out between the curtains, and passen-
gers asked each other what the trouble
was. The porter was summoned and in
terrogated, but he knew nothil.,. that
could enlighten Us and said he was sure
1t was nothing serious. BY and tv some
of the calmer spirits like myself felt re-
assured and dropped Off to sleep in spite
Of the noise and jolting.
Il was III the midst of dream about
falling elevators and similar pleasant
fancies when was awakened by some
body yanking at my arm. 1t was the
porter.
I am sorry to trouble you, boss, >
he said, but one of the wheels on this
car has gone wrong, and the conductor
is afraid we will have smashur ii we
don't take the car off. You'll have to
get up and get out, for we are going TO
run this car into the shop and put On
another.
Naturally felt a little annoved.
When man is sleepy, he doesnt like
to be told he has got to get up aid dress
and fuss and bother 1t isn't the easiest
thing III the world to sleep in stuffy
car OH hot night anyhow, and inter-
ruptions are not apt to compose tho
mind. However, there was no use of
kicking, and so got up and dressed as
quickly as l could. gathered mr. traps
together and prepared to move. Tho CIR
was full of people in various Stages Of
undrcss, and it took some little time to
clear them all ont so that the car could
be taken of the train. We found our
selves 1T Albany. We had to wait on
the platform for nearly half 81 hour
while the Car was rolled back or vi the
way and another one brought out of the
yard.
If the FIRST sleeper had been old,
this one was antique. 1t must have been
one Of the first of the Wagners t. be put
in service. 1t was smaller and had few.
er berths than the other car, and as il
hadn't been cleaned for some time il
was very dirty. Every time we touched
anything our hands were covered with
dust. We stood around while the con.
ductor tried to arrange for our accom-.
laff tl,s !:
emily arranged this took some time. In
the meantime the train had started
| again.
| THE conductor was an amiallo Der.
son and tried hard to hurry things as
much rs possible, which relieved the
situation n great deal. In a,lottins
| space to Us he came finally to al old
| gentleman who lived up in the coc1 try.
i am very sorry, ho said to him but
| I'll have 10 put you, sir, in the state
room. There are no more berths eft.
1t occurred to all simultaneously. ]
guess, that that meant an extra charge.
Great Scott! exclaimed the old gentle.
man, have been yanked out Of my
sleep and put to all this discomfort tC
be compelled 10 pay double fare: oh,
of course not! said the conductor. In.
asmuch as it is our fault, we won,
charge you extra fare The old man
smiled broadly at that, for the idea OF
having 4 stateroom all to himself was
naturally agreeable, but when he came
to find out later that the statelooIl in.
cluded the Mushroom and was any. hinp
but pleasant to sleep in his smile be.
came rather sickly. After awhile things
were Strengthened out, but it YVES fdlly
All hour from the time we left Albany
before we had turned into our berths
again.
Naturally you would imagine that
everybody would have been i'll temper.
cd after all this fuss, but the truth is ]
never saw jollier lot of people in all
my travels. OF course sleep was i'm.
possible for most of us after all this dis
turbance, SO we kept up running fire
Of conversation. Jokes were ratified of
in DELIGHTFULLY."- impromptu fashion,
and everybody who had had any expert
ence On sleeping cars recounted the m tc