The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-08-17
|asILLUS|ONMENTS OF TRAVEL
r,o. at Short Range-The Home of Meth,,se<
] necovered-Trousers Lost on Train.

equally as helpful to the lin
INDUSTRY. Ine saloon men are the aris-
tocrats and nabobs. There isn't !.
mar IN town who would know business
IL you would fasten binoculars to his
eyes ana snow it to him. And hara
ana there are unmistakable evidences
mat some advance agent Of Carnacia
nao Deen conducting a spelling-reform
crusade years ago. For instance. over
the door OF n palace of sin il the
sign Red Light Salunn," and ar
another place not far away is q sign
RUNS for Rent" The lettering and
colorlng are beautiful, but the sign
writer had a poor a for spelling.
have figured out since why the gov
eminent has Fort Robinson established
quite near Crawford. 1t is not for pro-
lection from the decadent and restful
redskin. It is to keep the respectable
citizens Of Crawford from stampedin-
TO the buttes that stick around tha
town like castellated stalagmites. But
II We're to find myself sentenced 10
stay there, it would be necessary 20
double the guard.
And then the railroad facilities and
the mail service are so intensely Sell
NO- NCAi0 " ScuI IojS1 lOOul. dITeT
a ten hours freight ride to cover ff5y
miles, you pick up a newspaper, and
lind 1t dated three months ago.
All, those freights! How they remind
me Of the dear, old, blue trousers I losi
on one Of them.
was due in North Platte. Nebr.. one
Thursday night. In order to get there
IN time, my only chance was to tackl9
a fast freight-save the mark! With
a wild squirt Of speed, this long pro-
cession of horses, oranges, prunes.
leaf lard, and me would 90 twenty-five
miles an hour, and then the crew would
stop at a siding for forty minutes and
argue about it. In that energetic way
ernOqicn yfi e reat, riflrutehb gagfaf
the run from Sidney to North Platte
(123 miles, was made in seven hours.
In order not to miss any chance Of
filling the appointment Though he
hour was then 10 p. No. | changed my
clothes in h caboOse of the freight,
taking Off a tlme-WOrn blue serge suit
and getting into the conventional horse
collar garments Of evening civilization.
When my train stopped a mile out OF
town to ice the cars of horses and leaf
lard and oranges and prunes, and me,
| leaped madly out of the real door
and made a stumbling sprint through
the Intermittent blackness and glare
to the distant station. Two suit cases
added interest to the run.
And when [ got to the opera house,
which is at the rear entrance to q liv-
cry stable. | found it locked. l also
found, in response to an earnest house
toulouse canvas in search of my au-
dience, that North Platte is one of
those towns hat sit on the border line
between two kinds of time SO the cit
liens go to bed by the earlier or cen
trail time and get up by the western
time.
With tears of disappointment over
wilted shirt and the loss Of a fee.
I boarded a train for Kearney, feeling
like fifty-seven varieties of fool in my
evening dress. And when next morn
ing, l arose from my bed at the kearn-
ey hotel, I looked in vain for those
everyday blue trousers. | had left OH
the freight train.
Something told me, in the very midst
of the dismay | felt Over losing those
trousers, that the episode was funny.
but I couldn't even smile at it. For |
had to do the rest of my tou wearing
full dress trousers with lovely braided
seams-think Of it! In daylight. In
Nebraska!
| don't suppose III yer see those
trousers again. | can only hope they
fitted the conductor, and that he will
be kind to them.