Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1918-08-19
Adventures at Eddystone
BY ROY HELTON
Getting Down to Work

| by hO1 HELlON
Getting Down to Work
CETTING down to work and getting safely
" home again are no easy problems for
the laboring man of this year OF our Lord.
Trains, trolley cars and motor busses are
apoplectic with people, just before any week.
day morning, just before any weekday
afternoon.
NNE leaves his West Philadelphia home
~ at o'clock, In the cool OF gray sum-
mer sunrise. His right-hand coat pocket Is
stuffed with lunch, his hands are stiff from
yesterdays long grip on the bars and levers
of his big machine: there Is still a reminis-
cent pang In a just-discovered little muscle
on the peak of the left shoulder: 1t Is no
pleasure to stretch out and swing his arms
There are many more people on the street
than sesRs anyways credible--surprisingly
solid-lookng business men. remarkably pert
and clear-eyed young ladies. Five a. m. by
solar time-what disturbingly energetic
world
A T THE street corner three jammed cars
n pass by The door of the fourth
bursts open. more. one suspects. from internal
pressure than by any favor of the powers
that be- There Is no room inside. but one
frantic, Collarless chap in a brown straw
hat, desperate about being lateso work. runs
screaming up and down in the street along
sengers into making ROOM
Say, don't youse guys think anybody else
wants ia git ia work? Move up! Have
heart there, fellow--1 mean you--yah! you
with that nine-pound lunch. Have a heart
Gee-yah got room in there ia Tango
There is a chorus of muffled replies from
the entrails of the car. but also shutting
Of feet, and soon we are able to Jam in and
hold our breaths till the door shuts.
ic tn statn of
l. grim good humor-sore at the conductor
or the company. but willing to endure any
thing short of death to get down to the plant
on time.
"Ef everybody in here took a deep breath
together sh'd split from end to end" the
wag remarks dryly. another small party
squeezes The chuckle of laughter that
followed increased the pressure. but some-
how no one passed away. and we reached
Woodland avenue In comparative safety.
TIERE. at the Baltimore and Ohio station
IL the comedy moves to its second act.
Even an habitual railway traveller will he
amazed by the great variety of new expert
ences in store for him. He receives the first
shock when he purchases a ticket round
trip. for instance. costs considerably more
than twice a one-way fare-because of the
war tax, and yet there are frequent sales Of
round-trip tickets.
When the railroad is late a fellow is not
uOCkeu II ne mas n ticket TO snow TOT MS
| passage down--so a round trip has sort of
| speculative advantage.
NNE minute to train time: we stand in a
~ long triple line huggng the tracks. Men
| put away their papers and pull down their
hats. Girls hurriedly make fast their clasps,
| buckles. badges and pins. The distant whis-
| tie sounds far down the line Conversation
ceases. Jaws tighten, The chewing of fine cut
and spearmint is temporarily suspended. Then
| with a snort and a clang the string of
| empty coaches rattles by. The test Of man
| hood is at hand One notes ominous sue
| Cession of broken windows on the slowing
| train. and Us aware of old fashioned latticed
| vestibules. reminding him of long-forgotten
train rides in the byways of Maryland.
| TNHEN. amid angry cries of protest, a few
i boder spirits leap to the steps of the
moving train. scramble up and settle inso.
lently down in the seats inside. The action
| of those daring blades is almost universally
| condemned as unsportsmanke. Bitter words
are heard from gentlemen with large ant
| fragile lunch kits.
| With a crash the train wheezes 10 a stand
still and the war begins. One coach Is re
served for women and escapes the utter mad
ness of the ensuing contention. There ar,
not enough seats to go around. and we al
know 1t. 1t is a vindcation of the proves
of natural manhood to 'win through tina
struggle the privilege of reading your pape
| by the window. Once inside the smoky train
one has only TO size up the fellows with seats
| and in particular the chaps with seats b,
| the windows. to get the full flavor of the olt
conversational cud These. indeed, are mer
TIASTILY the train pulls out of the sta
II ton. A stout young spotter with horn
glasses passes rapidly through, pen in hand
| taking census of the inhabitants. From m
| seat by the window-from my place on tn
train, / mean-I watch the shifting scenery
We glide on, first through a miasmic tunne
| then out past pleasant vine-grown farr
houses. portmanteau villas and dye-burdene
rivulets. whose scent Of stale dshwater tn
cut-plug incense about me mercifully dis
guises. And at last we slip into lon
"Y" and back up to the Arms Company.
A half-mile walk along the high boar
| fence is now all that separates one from hi
ten-hour task. The walk is very well wort
| taking.
| NOWHERE in heaven earth IS there
IN more motley crowds there more col
| trast of face, station and intelligence b,
| cause men. when they are working. tend
, | reduce their costume to its lowest terms, an
in spite of a few pointed. waXed mustcht
| and dapper full-tailored coats and new stra
| hats, It is harder to pick out of the crowd I
fellows the college instructor the bank cler
| the milkman or the farmland. 1t can
| done, but it is hard.
~IRI,S however. are more on the defensIy
IT and must maintain their social stan
r / however hard they labor. There are man
walking this half-mile along the high boa
fence who may tomorrow evening be ador
ing crowd on Chestnut street, and you ca
, see II at once There are others who w
not be out of the house tomorrow evenin
One can easily pick them. too. There a
l girls from service, of large-handed, big bone
peasant stock; other girls who got up ear
enough to rouge and powder and put on 81
stockings; weary, tragic girls; gay, flip cir
with ratty puffs and George Washington col
fures: pleasant-eyed friendly. plan-soul
girls-all these and thousand more-scurr
4 ing along that pavement at Eddystone al
= nassing out Of my sight through their lit