The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-12-15
MISCELLANY
First Met Pullman.

my 0rBt meeting WIN Mr. Full.
man, said an old newspaper man,
"was thirty or more years ago. There
was no Sunday papers in the interior
cities then and on Saturday nearly all
the working force had a half. day off. l
had invited my sisters-girls fourteen
and sixteen years old-to come to the
city that day, and we were or the street
ready for our expedition when the resi-
dent manager of one of the railroads
drove to the sidewalk where we were
standing and asked me to come to the
buggy in which he was seated with an
other gentleman. He introduced his
companion as Mr.. Pullman and hur-
riedly explained that the first dining
car ever constructed was TO make a trial
trip on their road and they wanted me
to go with the few invited guests.
"a dining.car at that time was a
great curiosity. / wanted to go but ex-
planned that my sisters had come in
from a country town TO spend the day
with me and that L could not leave
them. Mr.. Pullman said at once,
Bring the girls along, they will be
particularly Interested Without fur
Their remark be stepped out of the car
riage, invited the girls to step in, ex-
planned in his masterful way the pleas
ure they would have in such an expedi-
ton, and expressed his W pleasure in
the opportunity he would have of ex-
planning the culinary department of
his new car to young ladies who came
from the best cooking school in the
%world-the old-fashioned country home.
This relieved me from all embarrass-
ment, and in a few minutes we joined
the other guests in the new dining-car,
my sisters being the only representa-.
lives of their sex present. The party
was made up of distinguished railway
men, presidents and managers, two or
three hotel men, and our own little
group.
"The girls dressed in their ordinary
street garb and thrown into such a dis
tinguished company, were embarrassed
and bashful. For a few minutes Mr..
Pullman, as he greeted the railway
men, was tie Pullman that most men
knew. Then he came to the girls, and,
taking them in charge, showed them
about the car, opening all cupboards
and receptacles, showing all the kitchen
utensils and how they were kept, ex-
planning how the provisions were pack
ed in the smallest possible space, and
yet everything within easy reach of the
cook. The girls were, of course, de-
lighted, and soon their EXPLANATIONS of
appreciation and delight were mingled
with Mr.. Pullman's explanations. The
railway magnates looked on this scene
with some wonder. There was reveal
ed in Mr.. Pullman a new element of
character, a new vein of sentiment.
While talking to the girls and showing
them about he seemed another man.
He took such delight in their delight
that the three were in ten minutes ex-
ploring that dining-car very much as a
half dozen children would explore a
barn.
Later he showed the railway men
over the car, but they insisted he did
not take half the pains with them he
did with the girls. That was thirty
years ago, but those girls have never
forgotten their first meeting with
George NJ. Pullman. They never saw
him again, but they always speak of
him as their ideal of the sympathetic
and c~onsiderate gentleman. 1 did not
see Mr.. Pullman after that for four or
five years. l was on a long journey
with my mother and the sleeper in
WhlCu VIC WClC tldtClluR UIOhC uOWu
and the through passengers had to be
transferred to other cars. 1t so hap
pened that l was one of the parties
that could not secure a berth in the
other sleepers. AS my mother was
something Of an invalid l was more
disturbed than l otherwise would have
been, but was helpless to secure any
better accommodation than a seat in q
crowded passenger coach.
CAT a Chicago junction some new
cars were attached to the train, but
they were not open to passengers.
Shortly after the train left the junction,
a railway man, an old acquaintance,
passed through our car, and, stopping
to speak to me, l explained just how we
were situated. He said nothing, but in
a few minutes came back, presented
Mr.. Pullman's compliments, and said
that a section in one of the new sleep
ers was at my service. Mr.. Pullman
had remembered the name and circum-
stances of the trial trip on the first
dining-car and, asking after the girls
who had taken such an interest in his
talk ON that day, said be was very glad
have the mother of the girls take a trial
trip on a new sleeper that was to be
put on some eastern road the next
week. We went at once to the new
car, were for that night the only occu-
pants, aud had a most comfortable jour-
ney. l saw the other side of Mr.. Pull
mans character a good many times in
the later days, but l always look back
with pleasure to these two meetings
with him ."-Chicago Inter-O Ocean.