The herald., 1897-12-30
CARE OF CAR
peAUx \ GOOD HOUSEWIFE MIGHT
ENVY ITs CLEANLINESS
The Army Of Caretaksrs for Each
Sleeping Oar in Use-The First
Car "Pioneer"

Sleeping Oar in Use-The First
Car "Pioneer"
IN ono corner Of the dainty dining
room Of home in Carthage, Mo-, stands
I unique cupboard. A single large door,
with heavy walnut frame. rounded
top and pane Of delicately traced ground
glass. partly hides q collection Of odd
bits Of china. thin tumblers and graceful
wine glasses. And that door has his
tory. II its walnut frame had a MEM
ory and the fantastic figures ON its glass
could speak. they would tell how. In the
city Of Warrington one day in the spring
Of 1865, the body Of Abraham Lincoln
vas borne through the doorway 1t guard
"a and carried to its last resting place In
springfield, Ill, and how. a few months
later, Gen. Grant pushed It aside, waved
adiou to the crowd that surged around
the little railroad station in Galena, ILL.,,
and began his triumphal journey to the
same city Of Washington to formally
accept the highest office within the gift
Of the people for whom he had fought
% well.
ON THE FIRST PULLMAN CAR
The door IL relic Of "The Pioneer"
the hrst palace sleeping car ever built,
on which a young man named George M.
pullman ventured $4,000 and won for
tune Of millions.
Years after 1.-THE Pioneer" had out
served its usefulness as q bedroom on
wheels, and when 1t had been side
tracked. to be used as a telegraph sta
tion. the woman who now owns this door
saw the worn-out car and expressed
desire for one Of the doors. Her father,
who was connected with the road whose
property the car then was, ordered the
the silver-plated curtain poles, no longer
needed. The plate has worn on the poles
and they are tarnished. but the walnut
door. with its round top, Is as solid and
strong today as 1t was when the strong
right hand Of Grant pushed 1t aside as he
passed.
marked q new era in the art Of house,
keeping and use-cleaning. for. though
the Pullman car can hardly be called a
house. 1t Is pre-eminently a bedroom.
and the proof Of the housekeeping is In
the bedroom. The woman who prides
herself on the cleanliness and neatness
Of her home. on the brightness Of her
carpets and the whiteness Of her sheets
and counterpanes, might go through
Pullman car after IT is cleaned and
ready for q run and feel that she had
learned only the first rudiments Of the
art of housekeeping.
KILLING BUGS AT $50 A BUG
Think of spending $3.50 to rid a room
Of one small bug Of an even familiar ma
ture! And vet when the sleeping car
Gotla rolled into the Union depot the
other day from California and a small
brown bug was discovered wandering
aimlessly along window sill and killed,
the car was at once taken to st. Louis,
where every piece Of bedding, every seat,
mattress and curtain in 1t was taken
apart, steamed and dried and all the
woodwork was scrubbed and vanished.
Not another bug was found, but as one
Of the district officials in Kansas City
expressed It. there was $3.50 worth Of
satisfaction in knowing that not an
other one could be found"
Nearly hundred Pullman sleeping
cars pass through Kansas City every
day ana about twenty are cleaned here
daily, for every sleeper is given thor
ough cleaning at the end of its run and
when 1t comes from the brushes and
brooms and mops and cloths Of the
cleaners 1t fairly shines and not speck
Of dirt can be found in 1t. A force of
thirty men Is kept busy night and day
cleaning the sleepers in the yards Of the
various railroads and every day is a
house-cleaning day to these men.
A LITTLE DAILY LAUNDRY
Az soon as a sleeping car arrives here,
the porter gathers the soiled linen, puts
1T in big laundry bags and takes them to
the store room in the annex at the south
end Of the Union depot. Here they are
put in wagon, together with q great
many other bags Of the same size and
shape and sent to one Of the largest
laundries in town. The Pullman COM
pany's average daily washing In this
town is about 5000 sheets, pillow cases
and towels.
The porter receives, in exchange for
his soiled linen. fresh towels, sheets and
pillow-cases. II his car is going to Cal
ifornia, he gets 200 sheets. 200 pillow
cases and 300 towels, all Of the best lin
On and white as snow. The Pullman
company buys Its towels in Belfast, Ire
land, and its sheets and pillow-cases in
Austria. II the run is to be a shorter
one. to Memphis. perhaps, or. st. Paul,
only half as many Of the various articles
. are needed. The linen is at once packed
away in one Of the little closets at the
end Of the car and the sleeper is pulled
into the yards and turned over to the
cleaners. Inside of ten minutes you
would not recognize It as the luxurious
room you just left.
CLEANING UP THE CARS
Half dozen men begin working on it
ut once. First the carpets are taken up.
There are no tacks to be pulled, how
ever, for the carpets are fastened to the
iioor by means Of small hooks and the
brass rings and the taking-up occupies
less time than the telling about it, Two
men carry them to long rack where
they are given q thorough beating and
aired. Meanwhile the backs and bot
toms Of the upholstered seats have been
removed and taken out and beaten,
man with bucket OF hot soap -suds has
started washing the windows, and an
other man with q box Of metal polish is
securing the wash basins and polishing
the door knobs, the brass hinges, the hat
hooks and the lamp supporters. and be-
fore he leaves every piece Of metal In the