Show toiess For travelers Good Railroad Companies Employ Competent Women In Their Stations In Large Cities to Look After Frightened Fright-ened Sick or Penniless ArrivalsExcel len Stories Brought to Light A department that may Ie described as that the Post Transit Travelers Is now regularly officercd and provIded for by the popular railroad companies The passengers who arc to take the outgoing trains are looked after those Who arrive on the Incoming traJns are seen to the through travelers are directed comforted and shifted conveniently con-veniently on their way the local travel properly disposed of and then comes the Post Transitsthe wait overs and dontknowwhereorhow togocontlngent a motley squad awk zE = ¼ = I c = I = L j ii DONT I ACT AWFUL GREEN ward to handle Jnd brought often and so directly to the notice ad the conscience con-science of the supervising officials that they were Impelled to create a bureau for the reconciling and disentangling of their difficulties That girl in the waiting rooms been here six hours Its near closing time and she has no money and no place to go the attendant of the worn ans room would report tQ the stationmaster station-master some night just as he was about to go home Theres a boy standing round who says his aunt was to meet him and she hasnt met him and hes hungry and scared one of the men attendants attend-ants would ICJ > ort That old soul sitting in the rockIng rock-Ing chair came from Ohio to take the Swedish steamer today but shes missed It and the next boat doesnt go for a week Theresa lady really ill in the worn r 1Is room and shes lost her pocket nook and wants somebody to telegraph Cincinnati These and dozens of similar plhhts and predicaments decided the road officials of-ficials to install some worldlwie competent person to look after them as a body as main referee In case needing wardenship At one station a wise and apable gentlewoman the widow of a former employee is charge de affairs for the rL Post Transits At another the main terminal for a half dozen crosslountry Jines and trunk lines a man speakln fie languages is the guide and cicerone cice-rone with a young woman as staff assistant as-sistant and in most oC the widely known junction stations where many routes make connection officials other than the scrub women and those attendants at-tendants retained for personal erlce are at hand to give counsel and smooth Lout L-out difficulties The principal deposit of post transits however is at the door of the great cities to which people flock for various reasons some to secure business positions that they thought were assured some for adventure adven-ture the social runaways seeking to better fortune and the woebegone and anguished class to whom any destI 1aUo Is the right one 50 It serves to f 1 sa 1p Nr I r l Theres a Boy Standing Around and Hes Hungry and Scared conceal their lentItr Tragedy corned corn-ed romance melodrama family secrets family makeshifts and happy golucky Irresponslblcs all float the way of the Post Transit travel supervisor super-vIsor Dont IAct Awful Green This was gasped out by a young Woman at a big city station lately on relating her woes to the gate man She was a pretty gaily dressed girl with a lookDf happy anticipation on herlace as she stepped oft the train that had changed gradually to stark anxiety when she realized that there was no Z > N vr lone to meet her When the gateman addressed her she stood sachel and parasol In hand staring down the long station room with tearblinded eyes 1 never was from home before she sobbed and I dont know Ilames name since shes marrIed nor where she lives her husband was to wet me sure and maybe he did come but I didnt know him and he didnt know me and now I have no money to go hack home with Maine was to pay my way back If I paid It coming on and Its 675 The gateman took Miss AllatSeas parcels so she could r dry her eyes and then conducted her to the Post Transit bureau genius who made her a cup of tea and explained ex-plained that a ticket would be given her to go home on the evening train provided she would give her name and address and a written promise to pay the company as soon as might be This railroad company allows a regular emergency expense account to the directors Some of those helped out of trouble return the money and others do not but whether or no the company does the Jublll a good turn in trying as far as possible to set the tangled threads straight Knows Passengernature 1 am so schooled in passengerna turfl now that I can tell at a glance whether things are amiss with the people who come In here said the Post Transit hostess Some weeks ago a young well dressed girl got off the 420 afternoon train At 7O jhe was still sitting here with a look that I said as plain as day that although she waited she was not expecting anyone Presently 1 got Into conversation with her and asked if she was a stranger In the city Yes she was a stranger and did I know of a furnished room she could get that would be In a respectable place and wouldnt cost much She needed a room for a short time I told her that I knew ff such a place hut suggested that as she was young and this was a large city she had better come home with me for a night or two until she knew the ropes This overture opened her heart as It were and with an air of great relief she told me she had been much frightened fright-ened sitting there thinking over the strangeness of her situation That she had run away from her home In a northwei > tern town because her stepmother step-mother objected to the young man whom she favored that she Intended to get work In the city and support herself until the young man was OJle to marry her No she had never j wflrked nor been trained to do anything any-thing wageearning but she wall well educated and was sure she could be a clerk of some kind and get along On the morning following the night she spent at my house I took a full half hour persuading that girl to write her stepmother as to her whereabouts and I to abandon the idea of trying to make her way all inexperienced In a strange cay Eventually she consented In a short time as possible after being notified noti-fied the stepmother arrived thankful Ii to me and delighted to get back her daughter who she said Wag Ittached to a man whose unworthiness the girl did not understand The two went off In company and I think the little fright Miss Runaway had when she I here in the station worrying over eli oro rllnifae what to do and where to o will have a good effect I The Two Quaker Ladles I I see the tender side of passenger nature also went on the Post TranSit I hostess Some time ago a noticeably pretty I New England girl spent the entire day I here at the station seemingly on thorns and pins of anxiety She looked at her watch or at the clock every few seconds and no person came anywhere about but she watched them narrowlY Two Quaker ladles travelers on the local train who keep a select boardinghouse boarding-house In the suburbs noticed her standing about and In the afternoon when they came In ahead of time for f their train they got to talking with her The girl scarcely took her eyes off the clock and suddenly as If she had hoped against hope till she could stand it no longer she fell to crying and wringing her hands In great ills tress The ladles petted and soothed her and finally her story came out Astor A-stor 1 had already guessed She had come to this staUon by appoint menta long journeyto meet the man who was to marry her and had failed to keep the agreement She hall no folks on this side of the water she had I no money and now being jilted se did not want to go back to the place where she had been living and where thIs man had courted her What did those blessed folks do but bundle the girl off home with them and she Is l there yet as a sort of assistant assist-ant housekeeper and companion They say shes an A 1 girl and they arc fond of her and hope nobody will take her away The people unaccustomed to travel get all upset the moment anything un forseen comes up said the hostess at another terminal station A large prosperouslooking woman who came in on the 710 northwestern train yesterday yes-terday on the lookout for lolks to meet i t tok i II her got 50 flustered and outdone when they did not show up that she bought her ticket a matter of 30 or 50 and went straight home on the train that left two hours later without making so much as an effort to see the sights of the town she had traveled so far to reach 1 cant bear to beth a strange place and feel like a fool when you dont know nobody nor nothing she grumbled grum-bled when 1 represented that she could telegraph her friends who were doubtless doubt-less delayed and off she went In childish child-Ish cutyournosetosplteourface dudgeon One day a little boy pretty and takIng tak-Ing but deaf and dumb arrived all alone He did not even know the sign language nor how to write his name and we kept him for fortelght hours In hopes some on would Inquire or telegraph At length It occurred to me to send to the deaf and dumb Institution Institu-tion and ask If a pupil corresponding to his age and size was expected This proved effectual and he was located at the school whose management his people peo-ple had treated with but had not advised ad-vIsed of the time he was to come The number of people wholshlp children and even Invalids off In this irresponsible fashion is larger than you would think The husliands who lose their wives and the mothers who lose their babies on purpose at railway stations Is another an-other source of Post Transit travel The dlreetress always keeps on hand smelling salts and restoratives for the cases of family trouble she may expect ex-pect and although watchfulness may guard agalnt her belngsaddled with an Infant no amount of intuition can foretell the results of a connubial squabble A comely dame will be sitting sit-ting In momentary expectancy of being joined by her liege lord when a note is delivered upon the reading of which the waiting passenger keels over either in hysterics or in fainting tit There is no money to be paid out of the expense ex-pense fund as a salve to this order of perplexity Madam Is usually well supplied not only with cash but crc dentials but the directress Is levied on for sympathy and must needs hear the whole story of domestic woe before she can fitly judge who and where to telegraph tele-graph to and advise as to what course Is most consistent Oith the bereaved passengers dignIty When 1 told you goodbye ten minutes min-utes ago It was goodbye for good We must hereafter go our separate ways read the note delivered to one expectant expec-tant dame in a railway station lately whose husband had asked her to wait until his return It was hours before the startled woman was sufficiently restored re-stored and composed to face her altered al-tered existence and It was the tactful Post Transit hostess who made tea for her and talked over matters in comfortIng comfort-Ing fashion suggesting the little bland b-land and water tour that would be the best makesta for the deserter wifes embarraSSment and help take her mind off of trouble There are cases where the good nature na-ture and courtesy Qf the railroads Is imposed upon and when people who really could help themselves claim lack of means in order to secure the hospitality hos-pitality but these cases are few and almost always the duplicity is tracked home the railway detective In citizens clothes having sharp wits and phenomenal Intuition OLIVE F GUBY |