Evening star., 1919-08-17

II Al you ever hao 10 pay you never
forget"
Walking into the combination wash
room and smoker one morning re-
Gently on the night Pullman between
Kansas City and st. Louis, that was
the Introductory remark in a con-
versation between two men crowded
with other travellers on the low
leather divan awaiting impatiently
for the train to speed through the
noisy, dusty. stagnant yards to the
depot 1t was still some minutes be-
fore o'clock, when l pushed aside
The green curtain OF the compart-
ment, overhcaring the above remark.
AND joined the group of early risers
who were being jostled about by the
sway of the train as it ratified from
switch to switch over the tracks.
Zen as rule arise with a crouch
lien they have to leave the sleeper
hrfore in the morning. and the
Gentleman in the corner, who was
'cing most of the talking, had an
additional grievance. having lost his
rip at the last station. 1t was gray
'own and black world to him that
corning. and the only silver lining
- the clouds in his mind was the
= oney the government was taking
rom him in income taxes
Ills companion, to whom his ire was
''Idressed. although intended for all
u.s. was reclining. still half asleep,
The only armchair in the room.
frank" he said, quite unexpected
= IF you don't stop talking about
ir income tax I'm going to get out
here"
crank" chewed and then puffed
; cigar. perhaps to acquire that
'rk brown taste OF pessimism to
nonize with his personal Ieel-
" - and changed the subject to a
'.'plaint about his travelling bag.
Nell, the fellow who got my grip
at get much. except a good razor,
air of patamas. a picture of my
"r and couple of hundred stock
mails and magazines"
cause the train was due in ST.
;'.'s within few minutes no one
particular attention to the gen.
tenor of the talk.
aving the train at the station
, Frank" remark:
ed better stock up here. In.
1,".A's pretty dry. wonder If 1 can
a shave before the New Yorker
ss"
anew when he said this that was
= @-e and hear more about him, be-
Sc l was bound for the east after
ING trip through the middle west
liking to public audiences, cham
OF commerce and business con-
'.es on the failure of bolshevism
iiussia to bring about a new in
trial order.
- me travelling has been neither a
'ation nor vocation. Travel has
ays been period of idleness be-
'"cen periods of work. have had to
! .fvel to work. while others work to
wei Being in this predicament
We spent most of my hours on a
ain observing and listening.
+ 4
The train has been my theater. All
he variations in comedies, tragedies,
comic operas and vaudeville which do
Mt appear on the real stage or the
,"Dvies I have seen acted by real char
acters. And when look back upon all
he theaters l have seen since jan
uary I. my mind recreates railroad
stages from China to the Pacific coast,
from Seattle to New York, from Tren-
ion to Kansas City and from Des
Moines to Washington. / have seen
prohibition practiced and acted.
have listened to returning doughboys
stage all the battle from Bordeaux to
Coblenz. Bank examiners have pic
tured on the moving screen of my
mind the travels of gold reserves
from Mexico to Spain and from Lon
don to New York.
I rode on the same train with forty
seven ]. w. w. bolshevist agitators,
who were being shipepd across the
continent to Ellis Island Oil men
from Texas, in enthusiastic mono
logues, have related the story Of their
rise to wealth and fame, All these
dramas and many more have been
staged on the trains as they sped
forty, sixty and eighty miles an hour