Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1915-05-21
ON HIS WAY HOME.
Passenger Had Cause for Con-
slant Smile.
Inconvenience Of Travel Unable to
Affect Him, and Disappointment
in the End Must Have Been
Extreme.

His was the only smiling face on
the train. The other passengers held
on to the gritty. ex-red. plush seats
and prayed that the quaking coach
might not be rent asunder before they
reached the main line. It seemed q
forlorn hope. for brakebeam or some
thing underneath, aided and abetted
by the temperamental track, ham,
mered so ferociously at the floor that
dissolution of both car and occupants
seemed a matter of minutes.
Among the countenances that de-
picted every motion from indignation
to trepidation he smiled. When the
engine came to a wheezy stop on a
side track to let a calmly deliberate
freight train amble by he smiled.
When the shades Of night had been
pulled clear to the bottom with COM
parative civilization and food still
somewhere beyond, he kept on smil-
ing.
He must have felt that such be-
havior called for an explanation. for to
the sufferer across the webbing aisle
he unburdened himself. He had to ele-
vate his voice several times before 1t
reached the level demanded by branch
line conversation.
Been out five weeks this time," he
impaired, when his vocal chords had
finally bested the brakeman. Yep,
been clear to Winnipeg. but I'm going
to be home in the morning"
Then the secret came out.
I'm getting in a day earlier coming
across this way" he confided. Mighty
bum connections tonight, but it's
worth 1t to surprise the wife. You see
the smile became radiant-"this is
my first long trip since I've had one"
All the rest of the Gathering way,
his smile never faltered. 1t went into
eclipse scarcely ten seconds when the
station agent at the junction point in
formed him that, in spite of what he
may have heard, the train for Kansas
City did not pick up sleeper there.
Yes. 1t did look as II he would have
to stay up until three o'clock-that Is,
It would be three o'clock il the train
were on time.
In the lunch room, as shrunken as
the oranges in its windows, the smile
came back strong.
Look at that lemon pie" He pointed
decisively. only to grow philosophical
in the next breath. Lemon pie can be
the best or the worst stun on earth.
That looks like the worst. I'll have
the best when I get home. Lord. I'm
sick Of hotel cooking. But just think.
I'm going to eat breakfast at home in
the morning."
His smile was undaunted as he wan
dered up the disgruntled street. A dis
pirited picture show and a magazine,
honored only for its age, made little
impression on the seven hours Of
waiting. When the train came, he
smiled sleepily as the Pullman con-
ductor gave him all his change In SILL
yer. At daylight he was awake. He
hung an eye over the window sill and
viewed complacently the barren land
scape in the dreary dawn.
1t seemed an inordinately long way
from the station home. He bounded up
the front steps and barely nodded to
the next door neighbor who was
sweeping of her front porch.
why. thought you weren't coming
till tomorrow" she exclaimed, tucking
in q wisp of hair That's what your
wife said when she went over to her
mothers last night for a visit