The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-06-02
AMERICA THROUGH A TRAIN
 WINDOW

WINDOW
 The train clears its mechanical throat, rolls out of the depot, and the moving picture of passing scen- cry is framed in Pullman windows
 Fragments of smoke cruising over sprawling war plants that dot the outskirts of the city. A peace- full industrial scene where weapons are born that wind up in the hell of war Neat suburban homes on their best architectural behavior church steeples pointing at the sky like hands in prayer Tele- phone poles whizzing by in Indian file. Birds perched on their wires like notes on a musical scale, The countryside knee-deep in Spring. A tapestry of greenery stretching toward the horizon .. Long lines of trees planted with Rockette precision-bejeweled with ripening fruits Attractive lady train conductors {. Weary travel CTS slumped in their seats marooned on an island of their thoughts.
 Tree-lined small town streets each house ornamented with mani- cured hedges Ribbons of roads wrapped around the landscape They used to be covered with traf. fic, but now you can see miles of nude highways . The eager an ticipation in the orbs of servicemen on their way home to enjoy a fur loaf The train gobbling up miles of space as 1t roars through State lines. No passports are need ed to cross them. One of the mir acles too many Americans take for granted The haze that floats over the grass at sunrise when Ma ture is still drowzy with morning. old, unpainted houses on the wrong side of the tracks making their poverty public .. Miles of undeveloped land blanketed with forests between big cities Places where Nature has room to setrech and display her loveliness.
 The train whizzing by small, dusty stations surrounded by lone linesS. You go by so fast you can't even read the stations name .. Cows grazing in Ohio's pastures their tails continually swinging like a baton A feather of breeze tickling lake-causing 1t to dimple with million nipples .. Piercing train whistles punctuating the night with exclamation points of sound. Cross country trucks moving across the roads with the slow dig nity of glaciers The increased tempo of traffic that heralds the approach to city.
 The billboard advising motorists: This is Gods Country. Don't Drive Like Hell" The Chicago sky line resembling an unfinished jig saw puzzle Train-sitters try ing to whittle away time by play ing cards, gabbing, reading, or just staring at pretty gal across the aisle The mid-West's gigantic fertile fields-America breadbasket A bonfire of sunlight slowly raising its head over round-shoul- derod hills Travelling saleSmen in club cars nibbling on bits of conversation about tiresome matters .. The moanotonous rhythm of wheels A long tail of freight cara flashing by loaded with jeeps, tanks and cannon.
 A stretch of flat land broken by the wide open mouth of a valley. The lights of a lonely farm house twinkling in the dark night t. The train pulling into a station with the dignity of a dowager en- teriag tea party .. The eternal peacefulness of forests filled with million leafy fingers reaching for the warmth of the sun Fields of wildflowers curtsying to the balmy winds Large signs an- nouncing that you're about to en- ter this-or- that town. A sight as American as a home run Rail road tracks skirting the edges of mountains, while the train twists and turns over them like a slow motion hula dancer White washed barns dominating the night like frozen ghosts .. Twilight coat ing the train with an unreal glow as a bouquet of colors is pinned in the sky's buttonhole The wide open spaces of the West filled with mountains of silence.
 Tremendous ranches monopolizing giant slices of territory. Some are almost as large as a small Flu ropean nation Skeletons of ghost towns slowly being turned