Show I p me rf America merica Through a aTrain aTrain aTrain Train Window The train clears its mechanical throat rolls out of the thc depot and the moving picture of passing scenery is framed in Pullman win dows doves Fragments of smoke cruising over sprawling war plants that dot the thc outskirts of the city A peaceful industrial scene where weapons are arc born that wind up Inthe in inthe inthe the hell of war Neat suburban homes on their best architectural behavior Church steeples pointing pointing point point- ing tog at the thc sky like hands in prayer Telephone poles whizzing by in Indian file Birds perched on their wires wires like like notes on a musical scale I The countryside knee-deep knee in Spring A tapestry of ot greenery stretching toward the horizon Long lines of trees planted with precision precision bejeweled bejeweled with ripening fruits Attractive lady train conductors Weary travelers travel travel- ers slumped in their seats marooned marooned ma ma- on an island of their thoughts Tree-lined Tree small town streets each house ornamented with manicured manicured manicured mani mani- cured hedges Ribbons of roads wrapped around the landscape They used to be covered with traffic but now you can see miles of nude high ways The eager anticipation Inthe Inthe in inthe the orbs of servicemen on their way home to enjoy a furl oat The train gobbling up miles of space asIt as asit asit it roars through State lines No passports passports pass bass ports are needed to cross them One of the miracles too many Americans take for granted The haze that floats over the grass at sunrise when Nature is still with morning Old unpainted houses on the wrong side of the tracks making ranking rank make ing their poverty public Miles of undeveloped land blanketed with forests between big cities Places where Nature has room to stretch The train whizzing by small dusty stations surrounded by loneliness You go by so fast you cant can't even read the stations station's name Cows grazing in Ohio's pastures their pastures their tails continually swinging like a 8 baton A feather of a breeze tickling a lake lake causing causing it to dimple with a million ripples Piercing train whistles punctuating the night with exclamation points of sound Cross country trucks moving across the roads with the slow dl dignity dignity dig dig- of glaciers The The Increased tempo of traffic c that fi Heralds the thc approach approach approach ap ap- ap- ap to a city A stretch of or flat land broken by bythe bythe bythe the wide open mouth of a valley I The lights of a lonely farmhouse twinkling In the dark night r The I train pulling into a station with the I dignity of a dowager entering a tea I party The eternal peacefulness I of ot forests filled with a million leafy fingers reaching for the warmth of the sun Fields of wildflowers curtsying to the balmy winds Large signs announcing that youre you're about to enter this-or-that this town A sight as American as a home run Tremendous ranches monopolizing giant slices of territory Some are almost as large as a small European nation Skeletons of ghost towns slowly being turned Into dust by wind and rain remnants of the wild West Modern cowboys who now spend more time riding in station wagons than on The brilliance of a Western night night night-a a faced dark-faced sky freckled with stars Much poetry and many songs have been written in tribute to its overpowering overpowering overpowering over over- powering beauty But nothing can match the hand first view of this shimmering phenomenon r The many peaceful sights that make you think the war Is very far away But Buta n a plane drilling its way through the sky reminds you nothing Is beyond the thc wars war's reach Peaceful Indians Indians In In- now selling souvenirs at railroad railroad railroad rail rail- road stations Cattle herds in inthe inthe the thc sunset making a picture postcard to be filed In your memory Desert nights filled with romantic mysteries When you see the thc gigantic natural obstacles that still exist in the West you are filled with renewed respect and pride for the pioneers who built a civilization on the foundation of blood sweat and tears Tiny villages with less population than in a Big Town apartment apartment apartment apart apart- ment house Headwaiter smiles of train porters The Deisel engine entering a tunnel with a loud cry dragging the serpent of cars behind It it The sage brush country country country coun coun- try with an occasional motorist providing providing providing pro pro- viding the thc only sign of life Ule r Tired tourists chewing the fingernails of their patience eager to arrive at their destination Hot dog stands planted in the middle of nowhere The Thc billboard advising motorists This is Gods God's Country Dont Don't Drive Like Hell The Chicago skylin skyline resembling an unfinished Jigsaw puzzle Train sitters tr trying to whittle away awny time by playing cards gabbing reading or Just staring at ata ata ata a pretty gal across the aisle The mid West's gigantic fertile ferUle fields fields Americas Americas America's breadbasket A bonfire of ot sunlight slowly raising its head over hills Traveling salesmen In club cars nibbling on bits of conversa conversa- conversation Lion tion about tiresome matters |