The herald., 1894-08-28
ANGELIC TENEPERS.
A CARLOAD OF TRAVELLERS AND NOT
A KICKER AMONG THEM.

They Had to Change Slcepers In tho Mid
die of the Night, and Yet They Remained
Good Humored-This Was an Exceptional
Party, Even For Americans,
Although Americans have tho 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 on trip
up the state. I had been careful to ell
gage my berth in tho morning and had
selected it in the center of Ithe car, SO I
felt assured that l 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. I am too old tray
eler to fret, however, and l went into
the smoker with calm mind. The train
rolled out, and soon the porter began to
make up the beds. We all turned in
early, and l 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. I had just begun to doze off
when l was aroused by 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
that the noise would stop. 1t didn't,
though, and presently others appeared
to be disturbed also. Heads were poked
out between the curtains, and passen-
gers asked each other what the trouble
was. The porter was summoned and in
terrogated, but he knew nothing that
could enlighten us and said he was sure
it was nothing serious. By and by some
of the calmer spirits like myself felt re-
assured and dropped off to sleep in spite
Of the noise and jolting
81 was i'll tho 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 smashup if 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 little annoyed.
When man is sleepy, he doesn't like
to be told he has got to get up and dress
and fuss and bother. It isn't the easiest
thing in the world to sleep in stuffy
car on hot night anyhow, and inter
ruptions are not apt to compose the
mind. However, there was no use of
kicking, and SO got up and dressed as
quickly as / could, gathered my traps
together and prepared to move. The car
was full Of people in various stages Of
undress, and it took some little time to
clear them all out so chat the car could
be taken off the train. We found our
selves at Albany We had to wait on
the platform for nearly half all hour
while the car was rolled back out Of the
way and another one brought out Of the
yard.
eff the first sleeper had been DID,
this one was antique 1t must have been
one Of the first of the Wagners to be put
in service. 1t was smaller and had few
er berths than the other car, and as it
hadn't been cleaned for some time it
was very dirty. Every time we touched
anything our hands were covered with
dust. We stood around while the con-
duotor tried to arrange for our accom-
mediation, and as the berths were differ
emily arranged this took some time. In
the meantime the train had started
again.
1.-THE conductor was an amiable per-
son and tried hard to hurry things as
much as possible, which relieved the
situation great deal. In allotting
space to us he came finally to an old
gentleman who lived up in the country.
I am very sorry he said to him, but
I'll have to put you, sir, in the state
room. There are no more berths left.
It occurred to all. simultaneously, I
guess, that that meant an extra charge
Great Scottp exclaimed the old gentle
man, have been yanked out Of my
sleep and put to all this discomfort to
be compelled to pay double fare? 'Oh,
of course notP said the conductor. In
asmuoh as it is our fault, we won't
charge you extra fare. The old man
smiled broadly at that, for the idea of
having stateroom all to himself was
naturally agreeable, but when he came
to find out later that the stateroom in
cluded the washroom and was anything
but pleasant to sleep in his smile be-
came rather sickly. After awhile things
were Strengthened out, but it was fully
an 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
ed 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 off
in a delightfully."- impromptu fashion,
and everybody who had had any expert
once Oh sleeping cars recounted them to
the cdiftation Of the others. Although
we did not have any sleep, about every
one who LEFT tho cn1 the next morning
wore a broad, good humored smile. -
NeY York Sun.