The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-04-07
ORIENTAL SLEEPERs.
A STORY or LUXURIOUS TRAVELLING
ON AN INDIAN RAILWAY.
An American Found Much That Was New
and Undesirable = Dsiibsrstsnsss. the
Dominant Chsractsristic. Praotioed 20 .
Painful Degree.

Dominant characteristics. Prectfced 20
Painful Degree.
A sleeping car on an oriental railway In
death to aristocratic airs. The early morn |
ing--the tourist joyfully rises with the
sun-fnds his meekness only exceeded by
his shabbiness and during the long, long
night how often does he wish that he was
sleeping amid the jungles through which
he is passing instead Of tossing up and
down, round and round, over and over, In
this wabbling, rafting, snorting, creak-
ing thing that Is carrying him I'D or ID
miles an hourf
am sure that the Indian sleeping Car
possesses patent of its own, and that 1t
has never been duplicated Is blessing to
that part of humanity that does not enjoy
| the nightmare while taking nocturnal trips
| through this country.
The car itself Is wonder In inconven-
| lent workmanship. When 1t remains still
| long enough to be measured, you find that
| 1t measures about 10 by 9 feet, contains
| four indescribable affairs called beds-two
| stationary and two hanging in threaten
| ing manner from above by leather covered
ropes; is lighted by single Pickering light
| that is too dim to read by and too bright
| to sleep by and is entered by the tourist
through side door, which is often too
narrow for the bundle of bedclothes that
the railroad kindly allows him to furnish.
Having as my companion during the
first night out on my way to the noun
tains of India bright, congenial fellow
from the City of Brotherly Love, the trip
was crowded with incidents, some of
which were very laughable several days
after they happened.
! Far In the dark night 1t turned sudden
ly very chilly, and we were aroused to find
everyth hing in a stiff gale, and fearing that
the monkeys in the jungles would have the
Joy of appearing next day in some of our
garments we arose to seize them In the
midst of their wild career as they danced
in the whirlwind and to our surprise we
found that our door was swinging wide
Open and from the mountains the cold air
was sweeping through the car from door
to window and window to door.
These sleeping cars encourage domestic
economy in that they require you to carry
about with you all the bedclothing that
you use and make up your own bed when
| you desire to use 1t. AS my good natured
| friend possesses passion for such art and
| as it Is my creed that every one should be
encouraged in developing his talent in any
given direction, allowed him to practice
| on my bed, but when the time came to
blow up my newly patented air pillow then
came tho tug of war. We blew into that
perversely empty pillow by turns until our
heads grew dizzy and we seemed to be
blowing our brains out, but as we held 1t
up after every windstorm it resembled in
diameter pancake rather than pillow
AT last my companion, thinking perhaps
that it was not worth while to put on airs
while trying to put in air, assumed an at
| titude of strength rather than of grace,
and, turning himself into veritable bel
lows, inflated the pillow to an enormous
size and uncomfortable tightness, which
he now handed to me with an air of tri
umph.
In the morning we expected scene o
desolaton to greet us, as we would be IL
the mountains, but ms we looked through
the windows, everything was green. No
only the trees and grass, but our eye
could not rest upon anything that was no
green-green birds, green COWS, greer
pigs green goats, green ducks, green skies
and, strang ger still-a sight which we lool
for in vain In our country-green men ant
= women.
What kind of country is this, anyhow
In mute wonder we gazed upon the greel
panorama, fearing to speak lest we expos
y ed our greenness.
g In u few moments the window pane wa
. dropped and the verdant delusion came q
;, an end. The windows were Of green color
= cd glass and the greenness, alas was no
| outside, but inside of the car.
Deliberateness to painful degree is tn
y dominant charaoteristio of these trains, es
pecially in northern India. While riding
horseback with party near Darjeeling tn
cars were seen approaching u.s. and tn
steed of one of the young men became un
manageable and succeeded in getting ava
;, from the rider, who had dismounted. Tn
70 engineer stopped his train, and the brake
,, man caught the horse, which had run som
distance away.
While on railroad near the boundar
~ line of India and Assam the conductor wa
~ asked why there were not more collisions
as there was only n single track. "Th
o reason is very simple" he replied. Nv
20 have only one engine"
To pass away the time during tediou
delay of the train in the wilds of Assam
my friend from Philadelphia and tosse
small coins in the grass, and the violen
scramble that followed on the part of tn
natives was u remarkable sight. / count
~ ed 81 grown men struggling in heap owe
10 q coin valued at about one-half OF our cent
es When the amusement became littl
ID monotonous, 1 exclaimed, lis it not tim
D. for us to be going or what causes the lon
Oh delayY" A gentleman near me said, "Yor
der Is tho engineer scrambling with thos
., and suro enough there he was, with hi
III fireman, In the midst OF the melee. -DhI
10 bri (Assam) Cor. Baltimore Sun