Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1901-04-20
WAS A BAD MISTAKE

II used to belong to the tremendous
tribe Of Jersey commuters-the distressed
looking bundle-carriers that the comic
artists picture so amusingly," said an Of
fetal In one of the departments. "I lived
with my family in a town about half an
hours ride from New York. All OF us
fellows that took the $3.50 or later trains
used to have a supreme contempt for the
hoi polloi that went into town on the
6:5S or the TAI. We looked down upon
them. We figured 'em out as janitors of
office buildings, or truck drivers, or piano
movers, or people like that. We'd look
out of our windows as they skated by,
rushing for their trains. while we were
leisurely dressing, and we had that SUI
perior feeling. That's the way 1t is in all
committing towns. The gang that take
the late train just naturally can't help re-
garding the early hustlers as the mere on
scour1ngs of the population. We called the
early hustlers of our little burg pipe
smokers, because they all smoked pungy
dudeens on their way in. while We superior
beings all smoked cigars on the in trip.
Your standing in a committing town is
fixed in accordance with the time you take
the morning train into the city.
i don't believe that 1 can call on that
woman that's just moved in across the
way. your wife says to you. 1 notice that
her husband takes the II.
well, a couple of years ago I came In
for a sad humiliation. Something went
wrong with the books of the firm that
employed me, and all hands in the office
were put at extra duty getting the accounts
Strengthened out. 1 was required to get to
the office about an hour earlier than usual
in order to put in some good ticks at fixing
up the twisted books before the regular
routine business of the day began.
1T was a terrible blow to my wife and
there nothing L
had to begin taking the 7:41 train. My
wife wept and wondered whether We should
be cut by the families of the burg with
whose men folks l had been accustomed to
taking the S:3G, and I felt as if somebody
had pulled a prop from beneath me, my
self However, l just naturally had to
take the 7:47. l can remember the gloom
that filled my being when L first began
taking that plebeian train. To mix in with
the pipe smokers as if L really was one
OF them-it was horrible
THE worst of it was on the very first
morning that I went in on the 1:4I one OF
the pipe smokers actually had the enront-
cry to endeavor to enter into CONVERSE
with me! He was a Shriveled, weakened
looking little chap, shabbily dressed, and
he smoked positively the most atroclouS To-
bacco in one of the most evil-smelling briar
pipes l ever got into propinquity with.
Yes, sir, the man positively had the nerve
to try to get into talk with me! OF
course, he had no means Of Knowing that
L WASH one OIL the 90 gang DIS d Stedhs
thing, and that was some excuse Tor MIN,
but neverth eleSS his assurance made me
sore. The idea. Well, / froze him good
and solid the first morning. but on the
very next morning he tried it on again.
1.-The fellow seemed harmless ana open
and frank that [ didn't have it in me to sit
down upon him again. but l held him at his
proper distance. l noticed that he SAID a
lot OF shrewd things, and had he been equal
to the station of the S:36 bunch l should
have n
sation. but as it was | tolerated his re-
marks and permitted him to do most of the
talking. There are yawning chasms, you
know, my boy, that really cannot be
bridged.
well, every morning regularly for
couple of weeks l tolerated the talk of this
TAI person. One morning, as we were pass
ing through a pretty bit of country about
midway between the town l lived in and
Jersey City, this IA person with the awful
pipe astonished me and caused me to think
him cracked by pointing out OF the VIM
dow and saying:
There's a nice little site about half
mile over there for township. I'm going
to have it cut up into lots-the lands all
mine over that way-and I'm going to nave
a spur of the line run over that way. You
won't know that place over there i'll cou-
pie o years
''Well, / Just looked at the paltry 7:47
person. The idea! He was going to cut up
that site! He owned the land! He was going
that way.
Il was convinced that the weakened lit
tie man was crazy. made no reply to his
mbecile statements. but just WrlgSted in
my seat next to him for while, and then
I went to the forward end of the car, under
the pretense that 1 wanted drink of wa
ter. and 1 nailed the conductor, who was
sitting up there going over his tickets.
:" Say said l to the conductor, nodding
in the direction of my seatmate, dye let
lunatics ride on these trains?'
Then I told the conductor about what
the shrveled little man had said to me.
The conductor grinned and chuckled so
that it was at least four minutes before he
could look me in the eye and say:
"'Well, 1 guess the old boy'll come pretty
near doing everything he says he's going
to do He's the president of this road, you
know, and he's started a-going and built
up nearly half the towns along the line
during the past twenty-five or thirty years
I'd like to be a lunatic that could write
slip for five millions or so and get it cashed
without certiication. like he cam
80, you see, you can never tell. They
don't run to FORM as 1 heard a youngster
who lost all of his money at the Benning
meeting remark"