The Henson Journals

[78]

Friday, September 27th, 1912. En route for Pottstown.

A beautiful day. The train stopped for some while at Milwaukie, which is mainly a German city, & therefore famed in the States as a musical centre. We breakfasted on the train: & soon after, ran into Chicago, where we had rather a dreary wait in the draughtiest of dirty stations for more than an hour. The people passing to & fro interested me by the variety of their ethnical type, & the prevailing air of almost frenzied alertness.

In spite of the violent motion of the train I succeeded, mainly by utilizing stoppages, in writing letters to Pearce and Gilbert. The line ran for most of the day through a pleasant & cultivated country. Fields of maize, still uncut were conspicuous. Generally the harvest is by no means completely gathered in. The negro waiters & attendants on this train have a more attractive appearance than we have hitherto seen.

We found time hang heavy on our hands: our stock of literature was small in bulk, & solid in substance – too solid for traveller's brains. Neither papers nor sweet–meats were offered for sale on the train. We were all but bored with each other's society. Finally we took the judicious but ignominious course of having our beds made up, and ourselves going into them at an infantile hour!

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