New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1912-05-22
CHAPTER XIV.
Tho DormItory on Wheels.

Tho Dormltory on Wheels.
OF all the shocking institutions IN
human history, the sleeping car Is the
most shocking-or would be, If we
were not SO used to 1t. There can be
no doubt that we are the most moral
nation on earth, for we admit 1t our
selves. Perhaps we prove it, too. by
the Arcadian prosperity of these two
story hotels on wheels, where mis-
cellaneous travellers dwell In COM
plete promiscuity, and sleep almost
side by side, in apartments, or COM
partments, separated only by plank
and curtain, and guarded only by
one sleepy negro.
After the fashion OF the famous
country whose Inhabitants earned a
meager sustenance by taking in each
others washing, so in Sleeping Car
pathia We attain meager respecta'
bility by everybody's chaperonins
everybody else.
So topsy-turvied, indeed, are our
notions, once we are aboard a train.
that the staterooms alone are regard
ed with suspicion; we question the
motives of those who must have q
room to themselves!-a room with q
real door! that locks! !
And, now, on this sleeping car, pref
tily named "Snowdrop," scenes were
enacting that would have thrown our
greatgrandmother into fits-scenes
which, il we found them in France, or
Japan, We should view with alarm as
almost unmentionable evidence OF the
moral obliquity of those nations.
But this was our own country-the
part of it which admits that it is the
best part-the moralest part, the
staunch middle west. This was ILL
nois. Yet dozens of cars were behold
ing similar immodesties in chastest
Illinois, and all over the map, thou
sands of people, In hundreds of cars.
were permitting total strangers to
view preparations which have always.
hitherto, been reserved for the most
Intimate and legalized relations.
The porter was deftly Transforming
the day-coach into a narrow lane en-
nrely surrounded by draperies. Behind
most of the portieres, fluttering IN tho
lightest breeze, and perilously follow
ing the hasty passer-by, homely Of
fees were being enacted. The popu-
lation of this little town was going to
bed. The porter was putting them to
sleep as II they were children IN .
nursery, and he q black nanny.
The frail walls Of little sanctums
were bullying with the bodies of peo'
pie disrobing In the aisle, with moth
ing between them and the beholder's
eye but clinging curtain that e1'
planned what 1t did not reveal. From
apertures here and there disembodied
feet were protruding and mysterious
hands were removing shoes and other
things.
Women In risky attire were scoot-
Ing to one end OF the car, and men 10
shirt sleeves, or less, were Fastening
to the other.
When Mallory returned to tho
"Snowdrop," his ear was greeted ~
the thud OF dropping shoes. He found
Marjorie being rapidly immured. ike
Poe's prisoner. in q jail OF closing
walls.
She was unspeakably Ill at ease.
and by the irony of custom, the one
person on whom she depended for pro
lection was the one person whose
contiguity was most alarming-a
all for lack of q brief trialogue, with
q clergyman, as the tertium quid.
When Mallory's careworn face ap-
peared round the edge of the partition
now erected between her and the
abode of DR.. and Mrs. Temple. Mar
torie shivered anew, and asked with
all anxiety:
did you find a Minister"
Perhaps the Recording Angel over. |
looked Mallory's answer: Not
lamn minister"
When he dropped at Marjorie's side
The edged away from him, pleading:
oh, what shall we do?"
He answered dismally and inef.
ectively: We'll have to go on pre-.
ending to be-just friends"
But everybody thinks we're mar
ied."
That's sol" he admitted, with the
of fatigued hope. They sat
while listening to the porter slip
ing sheets into place and humping
FLOWS into cases. few doors down
he street. He would be ready for
hem at any moment. Something mus
. -doaA but what? what5 y