Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-07-21
THIS AND THAT
BY CHARLES E. TRACENELL.

/ experience difficulty in discovering on
| which track it was.
The very officials at the gate seemed
to be in a kind of conspiracy to pre-
vent travellers, especially nervous trav-
elers, who composed about 90 per cent,
| from knowing with surety either the
time or track of departure.
X
All that is happily changed in the
| great modern depots. Even the most
timid traveller may take a seat on a
bench with the comfortable assurance
that the trains will be flashed on the
screen, with full directions in plenty
of time for even the sloweSt to get
aboard.
Train catchers, by and large. divide
| themselves into two classes, the nom
chalant and the nervous. Those Of the
| first class give themselves just one
minute to catch a train, those of the
second an hour.
1t may not exactly be secret, but
many hesitant, diffident travellers go to
Union Station even hours ahead OF
time under a sort of psychological COM
pick that by doing so they help the
train to be on time.
Thus they impose upon themselves
many minutes of weary waiting, but
the waiting Is not so weary as it used
| almost anything may be bought; res
taurants, and, above all, ones fellow
travellers.
The red caps" make a speciality of
these nervous persons and have devel-
oped an uncanny faculty of remember
ing their faces for hours at time.
X X 4 X
The expert train catcher allows. him.
self just about five minutes in which
to catch his train. The man who is
initiating him, but rather unsuccess-
fully, gives himself no more than one
minute. Then what a hustle and con-
fusion he works himself into, as he
dasheS through the big doors on his
way down the aiSles between che
benches, through the heavy swinging
doors into the concourSe through the
| concourse to his gate, past the ticket
taker, down the long train to his
destined sleeping car!
Half the sport of watching the
crowds at Union Station lies in these
hurry-up fellows who dash in and out
as fast as they can go, all Of whom
could have made things just little
bit more pleasant for themselves if they
had given themselves just a few more
minutes leeway.
Every now and then one of them
sets left" and it serves him right,
although one cannot help feeling sorry
for him, as he stands bewildered, his
handbag swinging hopelessly as he
looks at his retreating train, now going
too fast for him to make any attempt
to catch it.
Observation of train walters does not
show any particular difference between
the actions of the present generation
and those of the past, except in the
particulars already noticed.
They will eat in the station and
sometimes leave smeary places for
others to sit on, and they will look
around wildly for luggage which they
carelessly placed many feet from where
they decided to sit down. Thus they
display an infinite trust in human
nature-or is it rather lack of fore
thought?
Perhaps the happy medium is best
when one goes to Union Station Per-
NIT yourself plenty of time, but not
700 much. Then one will be able to
look around bit, enjoy the people, and
especially the beauty of the newly
cleansed rooms, with emphasis upon
the concourse. 1t is truly the zenith
of sheds, a super -shed, as it we're,
mighty. majestic, imposing, giving the
spectator something of the feeling of
the great out-of-doors indoors.