The Car Was Switching

"I have long made it a practica to Bleep whenever I get an opportunity," Baid a man who lectures, "bnt a recent 1 experience in Baltimore has made me ] Bhy of opportunities. Yon see, I spend a ] great deal of time on railroad trains, and frequently, in order to keep engagements, I am forced to travel at night. Now, I have grcat difficulty in getting ] asleep on a sleepiug car, and sometimes ■ I toss arouud all night. "Last week I lectured in Baltimore, and after the lecture I found a sleeping (ar in the railroad yard which was to be added ' to the train bonnd for New ; York. That was my opportnnity. I ■ bonght a section, hunted up the porter ; and asked him if I might retire with the expectation of not beáng aíoused before morning. " 'That's wbat the car is here for, colonel, ' be answered. 'We don't pull out till 1 :30 in the morning, and yon ■ can jnst go richt to sleep.' "That soimded invitiug, and I retired. I feil asleep promptly. The movement of the car aroused roe, and, thinking that we had been coupled on to the New York train, I closed my eyes again. At that moment the car ran into something on the track with a crash and stopped so suddenly that my head was bumped against the end of the berth. Undoubtedly a smash up, I thought, and I proceeded to get out of my berth. The porter was sitting in the seat opposite. " 'Por heaven's sake, what is the trouble?' I asked. " 'Nothin,' he replied; 'just switcbin. ' "Back I crawled, feeling very cheap. Again I feit drowsy, and once more the car was bumped violen tly, then shoved along the tracks at a rapid rate and shunted into the end of auother train, starting a series of crashes that sounded one after another clear away up the track. The quiet that followed lasted so long that I began to doze. Another bump harder than the previous ones aroused me, and for the next five minates it seemed as if two enginesmust bo engaged in shunting my car back and ■forth for the fnn of it. I would feel the car slide along only to come toan abrupt top with a lot of noise. Then it would ïlide back to another track and stand till. For the next hour I was tossed nd bruised in my berth, and I could ttand it no longer. I crawled out and flressed as best I could under the cirbnmstances, made a flying jump from the car on one of its shunting trips past the station and went to a hotel and tpent the night. The memory of that íxperience has made me cantious about i entering sleeping cars that are loafing round the yard waiting to be coupled to a train, even if it does seem to offer Bn opportunity to ruake up sleep. The amount of sbaking up that one man receives in a car that is 'jnst switchin' is mrprising. "■