Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-08-19

course. the ticket seller hears all about it
| when the prospective traveller IS going to
| be married to get the money that has
been left by an aunt he never heard of. or
| has Unexpectedly made a strike. and for
| the first time in his life is able to make
| journey because he wants to see the coun-
| try. On the whole there's more pleasure
| and profit than the reverse in listening to
| the unsolicited passengers stories OF love
| and grief, of joy and misfortune, and the
| business will be a pretty tame one when the
passengers stop talking to the ticket sellers
about themselves.
Life as the Pullman Man Sees It.
| do see much of the romance of real
| life in my trips back and forth?" repeated
| a gray-headed Pullman conductor on a
I transcontfnental run. "Well, it's this way:
m busy holding down my Job most of
| the time that l don't take much notice,
! generally. to tell the truth. Yet, on the
| whole, | guess the Pullman conductor sees
| about much of real life as anybody going.
| only yesterday we had little example
| of what you might call the pathetic side,
| guess. When we pulled up at a station
| somewhere in Kansas there were four
| farmers with stretcher. Standing beside
/ the stretcher was the most woe-begone-
| looking woman, all in black, ever set eyes
| on. On the stretcher lay tall young fell
| low, with a face the color of baked clay
| and wide, staring, rolling eyes that seemed
| to take in everything in sight The ex-
| preston in the poor chaps face told of an
| awful story of horror, of amazement, of
| despair. The poor woman almost broke
| down when she learned that had never
received the message she supposed had been
| sent to to have a berth made up for the
| sick man.
Il had the porter hustle around right
| lively, | tell you, and got the unfortu-
| nate man in as quickly as we could and
| made him as comfortable as possible. After
| the train was started the story came out.
| The man was the woman's brother. She
hod haa, don in, Nov ion NTH hpr
| husband who had struck a mine or some
| thing else that both felt sure was at last
| going to bring them the wealth they had
! worked for together for twenty or thirty
| years. He had Unexpectedly sickened and
| died, though not till the strike had ma
| terialiZed to the tune of some thousands of
dollars, with prospect of considerable
more.
Story Of a Plucky Woman.
she had brought the body back to Kan
! sas. the funeral had been held and she had
| gone to make her unmarried brother a
| visit on his ranch in the western, part of
| the state. Two or three days after her ar
! rival-as If she hadn't had enough to bear
he had been stricken with paralysis and
she taking him to Topeka to see If he
couldn't get some help in the hospital there
it being impossible, of course, to get proper
treatment out on the ranch. The country
doctor, who had been called, had told her
there wasn't much chance, at the best for
the paralysis was complete. except to
the eyes. He couldn't speak. he couldn't
even swallow; but it was probable from the
look of his wide, staring eyes that he was
conscious at least partially.
Il must say that his sister took 1t like a
thoroughbred. 1t was plain enough that
the double blow was about all she could
bear, but she didn't complain, and she sat
by her brothers side all the way to Topeka
changing wet cloths on his head every few
Tgnfn cha
train very long a motherly woman some
what older than she, SAT down by her sde
asked If she couldn't help and talked with
her as soothingly as if talking to a little
baby.
after a while the face of the woman
whose husband was dead and whose
brother was stricken began to lose its set
look and pretty soon 1 saw that she was
crying. not sobbing and boo hooing you
know, but just quietly. L thought it was
all up them and l wondered why some
women couldn't let well enough alone but
l guess it was all right. after all. for L
heard two other women passengers talking
about the case and one said to the other:
She's crying now, poor thing; It'll do
her good
well. you know, think it did. All the
women In the car gathered round her pres
emily and, when we reached Topeka, she
looked a good deal better in spite OF her
crying spell-more hopeful, I should say.
She was not at all the forlorn creature she
was when she got the train, and she al
most smiled when she babe her friends of
couple of hours goodbye. as her brother
was put into the ambulance that was walt
ing for him.
The Brides and Bridegrooms.
Yes, there are plenty of funny things
happen, too. You've heard the story about
the man by whose side on the seat sat a
big travelling bag. and the car being full,
with passengers standing. he was asked by