Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1911-11-25
On
! Their Way
On

hoping to meet some day, m1se1
the girl who likes to talk. Hes .ne
president OF railroad. I don care
SO much about merely seeing MI" as :
do about conversing with MN.
should be satisfied Win sayius :"
few things to him over the 'eiepnohe
III couldn't do any better:
TT isn't that I want to rage at MIN.
want merely TO assure ann ina.
am filed with the deepest admiration
for any human being with a nerve as
colossal and contempt for nus 1eiio"
man as sublime as are his!
HE runs the railroad which is the
only means of getting out of my sum-
-mer resort. All during the season
heard vague runors and rumblings
OF discomfort from the floating popu..
latton at the inn, who, of course, were
obliged to escape by rail. In an In
dolent fashion l learned that nothing
ever occurred on that road in the
way that it should. People rather
inferred that the train crews sat up
nights planning new and ingenious
ways to upset the schedule and keep
people waiting. :.
ITO be sure, 1t was annoying to
have to take train at II o'clock at
night but we got to the village by
dark and had our dinner. The bus
left at s for the station mile away.
50 we went in 1t. Three of us could
kill time easily, we said. We sur
vived the blighting depression Of the
village station for half an hour and
then we tooks walk. 1t began to
rain.
"On going back we heard the bag.
gageman saying that the train was
forty minutes late, but that sleeper
would run down from somewhere else
earlier and we could get aboard that
and be picked up later by the train.
In half an hour the rs1ort was that
the sleeper was delayed by a sand.
slide on the track. We had talked all
we knew and we're getting to the
point where we eyed each other with
growing dislike.
"A woman with five small children
added to the joys of the evening be.
cause If one child cried all the rest
piped up. and if they all stopped !
think she must have pinched them to
start them up again.
Then Harry Gilfist burst in upon
his wife and me to report lunch.
room a block away. We fled to it..
and started in on ham sandwiches to
kill time. We ate sandwiches with
deadly seriousness. and then we be
gan on the Gagged apple pie and the
petrifled doughnuts. Harry reported
that the main train was two hours
late now, because of a washout
"rhe rain poured down. The sta.
ton agent slept on the table. The
baggageman said terrible things out
loud to himself and demanded to
know how any man could live on four
hours sleep a day and why was
railroad anyhow? Mrs. Gilfist and ]
sat hunched up in dry corner and
yawned and Strengthened our hair
irritably, 'Whadyu say?'
Down the track two men were
carrying lanterns close TO the ground
in Wavering way. 'Wha.they doing
Mrs. Gilfist demanded Grossly
They're searching for the train. my
dear l told her sootfingly. They
think maybe they'll find it slipped
down crack where the rails join.
Don't be silly she snapped. I shall
die If I can't go to sleep And the
rain poured down in the miserable
black silence. We could hear the
agent snore.
There isn't any train. there never
was a train snd there never will be a
train on this line Harry Gilfist
chanted mournfully. They put up
this station just as an ornament and
added the ticket agent for touch OF
realism. If he had Gothic nose.
now
"'The sleeper'll get here at 2
o'clock, they report said the desper-
ate baggageman. "I'll resign tomor-
row.
land we have to get up at g. said
Mrs. Gilfist, hollowlt. oh, how those
ham sandwiches made nue. fell
"At 10 minutes after train am
bled in from somewhere. and, Keeling
from WEAKNESS. we dashed to the
sleeper end of II. I wish | owned
this road!' confided to tho Pull
man conductor. I'd like to hack it
un with little Ratchet and use 1t for
,kindIing.' HUH he retorted. IL |
owned it wouldn't take SO much
trouble with it! I'd Just step on It
and exterminate it,
AFTER hurting umbrellas and suit
cases into our section and finding
without doubt that it wasn't out sec
ton at all. because there was man
IN the lower berth, who WAS annoyed
bacause the corner of suitcase land
ed against his stomach, we finally got
adjusted and snatched about two min
utes OF sleep, l think, in the midst Of
the switching and humping and back
ing up.
when woke up IN the morning
- s,r,,eht looked At the scenery a