The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1903-12-20

baggage rooms there is more or less work
going on all the time, for trunks are con-
various destinations and in the mail rooms
large sacks laden with mail are all the
time being distributed and got ready Tor
their various trains.
The great gate of the city never closes
its eyes, but passes from one phase OF It's
nightly activity to another with only a
brief period of rest, and this slight break
from activity to extreme quietness is put
small punctuation mark in the story Oh It's
nightly wakefulness. The lights all over
the building burn with the same brightness
and their brilliancy is never abated from
sunset until sunrise. Under the ERECT or
the large arc lights the rails in the train
shed glisten as brightly as the most highly
FURNISHED steel. The numbers hanging
over the tracks appear brighter and more
prominent, and the tracks glisten more be-
cause together they are the sole occupants
of the large train shed. sometimes there
is mail car which Is TO go out on an early
morning accommodation train backed into
the station and loaded with mail, which the
clerks begin to distribute many hours be-
fore the train leaves, but such instances as
these are very rare, and the tracks and
platforms free from traffic This quiet
ness only lasts for a few short hours, for
same crowd, nor in all probability as large,
but IL Will be a crowd, nevertheless, big
enough to testify that people will begin
turns more and more to account what was
once deemed sacred to the purpose of sleep
alone.
ALWAYS READY TO EAT.
The lunchroom becomes an active place at
this hour. Employees of the station and
travellers waiting for trains have crowded
to the tables and counters for a cup Of
coffee and a bit of something to eat, for
which the midnight hour has for some oc-
cult reason aroused in them a feeling Of
longing. The black jacketed, white-aproned
walters fit about as nimbly as their daylight
prototypes, and but for the yellow glare of
the incandescent bulbs one would think
rather that it was noon than midnight.
But now there is flash of life that sug-
gests the station Is awakening into q post
midnight activity. The door that leads from
the street swings back and girl with self
assertiveness written in every line OF her
rather pretty face walks In. turning TO
laugh loudly at her two companions. who
are girls of the same type, and who nave
allowed the door 10 swing in their faces. SO
engrossed were they in conversation They
are three soubrettes who have been hlllng
an engagement at a local theater. Soon
they are followed by a couple of smooth
shaver gentlemen wearing long frock coats
and silk hats, and with the general air or
theatrical men about them; they are some
of the male members of the company, no
doubt. AT this juncture two trains backing
into the train shed on tracks side by side
tell the reason for the girls and the theat-
at that hour of the night The trains are
theatrical specials, one destined to carry a
load Of entertainers to st. Louis and an
other to Chicago.
REUSED BY A LAUGH.
The laugh of the chorus girl has struck
the sensitive ears of the big station and
reused 1t from the somnolence into which
1t has been plunged for the last quarter Of
an hour.> People are moving about again.
Those who are going away on the specials
form the most prominent groups about the
waiting-rooms. The companies do musical
comedies. and the swarm of girls that are
their principal stock in trade are in merry
mood. Some, indeed, go sedately to the
cars that waiting, but the majority re-
main in the waitingrooms or clustered
about the trains while the scenery and bag
age are being loaded. This little Eruption
of the theatrical people injects a note of
laughter a sparkle of merriment, into the
vigil of night that makes one forget for the
time the possibility of the watch becoming