The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-09-09

lou are tortured by doubts and you 80 to
a porter who In trying TO trundIe n barrow
load Of trunks up the platform without
outing any ones foot oK-with bare and
fright producing succeas-sBd you plOp
out at him the same question. He stops
30 suddenly that q trunk falls on his load
and smaehes q Valiae.
L think you oh'lnge at DidcOt, sir
There you have il. THOSE men have
DidcOt on the brain.
You can't appeal to q dignined conductor
when he comes through the train to take
POUR ticket, because In tho first place he can't
come through the train, tho carriages being
of the old compartment type. and In the
second place there 10 no conductor, and
anyway you have 10 hold on 10 your ticket
until you are In tho station. right or wrong.
at which you elect to alight.
The train backs In, you take your seat,
the guard, a different one, slams the door
and you ask him through the . nash
the same old question and get for answer,
"Ch'inge at Cholslee.' a variation in pro-
nunciation hat further puzzles you.
You appeal to your fellow passengers,
but those that aren't Americans are Lon
doners out for a Bank holiday, and what
your Londoner doesn't know of the prov
inces' 10 would take q Macaulay to teach
him.
You watch out for tho names Of tho sta
lions. One seems TO be Cadbury and
another 90 mebody's pills and another
Peters ChOc--
Oh, it's only advertisements.
You seem so shut in that you know you'l
never know whom you get to your destina-
ton. At last you come to a stop, and then
the engine shrieks and then shrieks again,
his time further on, and at last you Rec IL
with your train behind Il rushing around
a curve In the distance. And you are left
in the station In the coach to which you
bllndly rushed.
IL IL Didcot' No; it's some ones Pill
No, it's Tilehurst.
Here's q pretty how de dol And you
were TO be met at Wallingford by your
hosts dogcart.
The Americans In the carriage swarm out
and try 70 obtain information, but the
Englishmen sit quietly with a patient faith
In thu system that Is noble and in a half
hour or 90 another train backs in 70 the
station and picks you up and you wonder
at thu carelessness OF railroad officials In
IOJtluk yOu ITO Ou III o1pObtu NThCk IN LnAI
way with expresses passing every few
minutes.
Still you're not much better OF now
that you're moving. for you don't know yet
where you are TO change and you've let one
train slip by without effort TO stop it.
All. We are approaching q station and
your quick eye notes the name Of Dldcot
among the advertisements.
We have now approached q crisis in the
ailment. On obtaining right answers to
your questions depends the successful issue
out Of all your troubles.
A new guard comes by.
do I change here for wallIngfordp'
"No, ch'inge at Cholsey."
As your friend in whom you trusted said
In the first place.
What q pity you didn't take the right car
and 60 On to ChoIsey with the rest Of POUR
train.
At Cholsey you take good care 10 change:
and there h a dear little train putting and
squealing in It's anxiety to take you 70 Wal
lingford.
You prepare to excuse yourself for having
let the train in which you left London get
away without you, and you deplore the
stupidity on your part that has kept your
friend waiting over q train for you.
Five minutes or SO and you are in quaint
old Wallingford, with its matched cottages
and red tiled roofs, and there is your friend
Just driving his dog cart into the station
yard.
A minute later and It's:
'Ah, glad to see you; old chap. Afraid
you might make q mistake, Bank holiday
time, It's a bit confusing. But you made.
1t like an old hand
And then you learn that you were on
what is called a slip car and that it was all
right to be dropped at ~Cadbury-I should
say Somebody-oh, Tilehurst, 1 mean, and
that you came through quite as 1t wal in
tended by the English system that you
should. And no one has been insolent to
you.
That counts in the long run. And it
seemed = very long run to WallingfOrd,
owing to your uncertainty and the proximity
Of the advertisements TO the station names.