The herald. [microfilm reel] (Los Angeles [Calif.]) 1893-1900, 1895-03-10
Mental Travellers

"You would be surprised at the num-
Der of mental travellers there are in a
community" said a railroad man yester-
day. 81 mean people who travel only in
make collection of railroad literature
such as is issued in me-tables. excursion
books, pamphlets, etc. You have often
heard people talk knowingly of a place
which you have the best evidence they
have never visited. They can discourse
fiuently upon the hotels and principal
sights of the city, even tell you of the
make or describe the small stations
through which they passed going there.
If you have ever known a man or woman
like this, then you have met mental
traveller. He might also be dubbed the
railroad literature fend, 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.
eve have hundredso of such men and
women who come into the Office after
every piece of literature the railroad
prints, from the local time tables. to the
book descriptive of a Southern or Western
jaunt. Their thirst for this kind of lit
erature 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 en-
ployed 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.
1--WE have one old man who comes from
Westmoreland county who never fails to
appear upon the same date of each month.
He seems to revel in going through the
large batch of time tables and books that
have accumulated since his last visit. He
never varies in his mode of procedure.
After supplying himself with sample of
each one he comes over to the window
and with his face wreathed in smiles, in
the intoxication of his delight he says,
How're you, anyhow
After being assured that our health
still permitted us to continue, at our bust
ness, he always asks, WE'LL, kin you tell
me how much s the fare to Boston?'
when this information is given he in
varably remarks, Well, that's gol darn
cheap, that is.
Then he lapses into thoughtful mood,
from which he breaks by making the as
sertion, 'Confound me, III 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 Bos-
ton next year, to my own knowledge,
for six years.
lneSe Inental travellers geU more satlS-
faction out of their dreamy wanderings
than the usual tourist 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 he was as
familiar with the getting there and the
city itself as if he had lived his life there.
He can talk about the streets and num-
bers 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 he gets
it all from railroad literature. You watch
the time table racks of railroad station
and notice what high class of people
these mental travellers are. "-Pittsburg
Dispatch.