The times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1882-1897, 1895-05-31
MENTAL TRAVELLERS.
They Manage to Sec Much of the World
without Leaving Home.

They Manage to Sec Much of the Wofld
without Leaving Home.
Pittsburg Dispatch: you would be
surprised at the number or mentai
travellers that are in a community,
said railroad man yesterday Il mean
people who travel only in their minds;
who. to indulge this mania, make col
lection of railroad literature, such as Is
Issued In timetables, excursion books,
pamphlets, ETC. You have often heard
people talk knowingly of place which
you have best evidence that they nave
never visited. They can discourse nu-
emily upon the hotels and principal
sights OF the city, even tell you OF the
trains and the connections they make,
or describe the small stations through
which they pass going there. III you
have ever known man or woman like
this, then you have met a mental
traveller. He might also be dubbed the
railroad literature fiend, as this is the
title by which he Is known among the
employees of railroad office, who look
no further into the motives OF men than
the surface. We have hundreds of such
men and women who come to the ofiice
after every piece of literature the rail-
road prints from the local timetables
to the book descriptive of southern or
western jaunt. Their thirst for this
kind OF literature can never be satiated;
it seems to have the same influence as
alcoholic stimulants-the more they get
the more they want. We have men who
are employed in leading positions in
banks and business houses who come
to us daily with the question, Anything
new out? When the people live In the
city they usually call upon us daily,
but when they reside in the country
their visits are at longer intervals We
have one old man who comes from
Westmoreland county who never fails
to appear upon the same date or each
month. He seems to revel in going
through the large batch of timetables
and books that have accumulated since
his last visit He never varies In his
mode of procedure. After supplying
himself with a sample Of each one he
comes over to the window, and, with
his face wreathed in smiles, in the in
toxication of his delight, he says,
How're you, anyhow? After being as
sured that our health still permitted us
to continue at our business, he always
asks, We'll, kin you tell me how much's
the fare to Boston, When this infor-
IldllOn Is given he lnVarldDly TeTldThS,
We'll, that's gol darn cheap, that is
Then he lapses into thoughtful mood,
from which he breaks by making the as
sertion, 'Confound me, I'll go down
there next year.. Then picking up his
grip, he starts off and we do not see him
again for a month. He has been going
to Boston next year to my own knowl~
edge for six years. These mental travel
ers get more satisfaction out of their
dreamy wanderings than the usual tour
list of the day who travels not to learn,
but to kill time. One man told me that
he had never been to Washington in his
life, yet was as familiar with the get
ting there and the city itself as If he
had lived there his lifetime. He can
talk about the streets and numbers,
and can direct people from one place to
another with more accuracy than the
average Pittsburg policeman can give
you information about his town, and
gets it all from railroad literature. You
watch the timetable racks of a railroad
station and notice what a high class Of
people these mental travellers are"