Show 1 x j la America Through a aTrain aTrain aTrain Train Window The train clears its mechanical throat rolls out of the depot and the moving picture of passing scenery is framed in Pullman win win- dows Fragments of smoke cruising over sprawling war plants that dot the outskirts of the city A peaceful industrial scene where inthe in inthe inthe inI I weapons are born that wind up the hell of war Neat suburban I homes on their best architectural I behavior Church steeples pointIng pointing pointing point- point Ing at the 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 F The countryside knee-deep knee in Spring A tapestry of greenery stretching toward the horizon Long lines of trees planted with precision precision bejeweled bejeweled with ripening fruits Attractive lady I train conductors Weary travelers travel travel- ers slumped in their seats marooned 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 highways high high- ways The eager anticipation in inthe inthe inthe the orbs of servicemen on their way home to enjoy a The train gobbling up miles of space as' as as asIt it roars through State lines No passports passports passports pass pass- ports are needed to cross them One of the miracles too many Americans I 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 making making mak mak- 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 s 's name Cows grazing in Ohio's pastures their pastures their tails continually swinging like a 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 dignity dignity dignity dig dig- of glaciers The increased tempo of traffic that heralds the approach approach approach ap ap- ap- ap to a city A stretch of flat land broken by bythe bythe bythe the wide open mouth of a valley The lights of a lonely farmhouse twinkling in the dark night The train pulling into a station with the tle I dignity of a dowager entering a tea party The eternal peacefulness of 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 giant- slices of territory Some are almost as large as a small European Europea nation Skeletons of ghost towns slowly being turned into dust by wind and rain Tain remnants of the wild West M Modern ern cowboys who now spend more time riding in station wagons than on bosses The brilliance of a Western Vestern 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-hand view of this this this' shimmering phenomenon The many peaceful sights that make you think the war is very far away But Buta a plane drilling its way through the sky reminds you nothing is beyond the wars war's reach Peaceful Indians Indians Indians In In- now selling souvenirs at railroad railroad railroad rail rail- road stations Cattle herds in inthe inthe inthe the sunset making a picture postcard to be filed in your memory Desert nights filled with romantic mysteries When you see the I 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 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 The sage brush country country country coun coun- try with an occasional motorist providing providing providing pro pro- viding the only sign of life Tired tourists ch chewing wing the fingernails of their patience eager to arrive at their destination Hot dog stands planted in in the middle of nowhere The billboard advising motorists This is Gods God's Country Dont Don't Drive Like Hell The Chicago skyline resembling an unfinished jigsaw puzzle Train Train-s Train sitters trying to whittle away time by playing cards gabbing reading or just staring at ata a B pretty gal across the aisle The West's mid-West's gigantic fertile fields fields Americas Americas America's breadbasket A bonfire of sunlight slowly raising Its head over hills Traveling salesmen in club cars nibbling on bits of conversation conversation conversa conversa- a- a tion about tiresome matters |