Woman As Travelers

It is a very sin;i]-l matter for John fimith to take a jonruey of or eitëht hun d red miles. Hu rushes home frotu I liia eonnting-room, office, or workhop, fiflewi minutes bef'oro the train leavc?. 1 bida Ii r.=. y. put a clean shirt or two in liis vulise, lakes a eold luneheon, kisses the uhilüren all round, and perhaps their mether, strides fo the station, goos in at orifi end just as the engine is puffiing out at ííisr ether, waits leisurely till'the last end of the last car is opp-aite bim, throwa Fiis valise on the platform, grasps the ruiling-, vattlts lightly upon tho steps, anc in a half a minute is alking unooneern edly with Mr Jone, who bas probably gono throuiili the same perforinauee dur iíifí tita last. half hour. But if Mes. Joliu Smith wishes topay á ten day'a visit to her inother, six'y miles away, a furtnight is not too muei limo to devote to preparations. Ile vvardrobe is to be thoroiighly overhaul ed ; dresses selected, bought, made; a dressmnker consequontly to be hunted u and engaged ; old skirts adjusted to nev. basques; cullars mended, whitened, auc clear-starched; Mr. Suiith's shirts, stock ings and handkeichiefs placed where h can lay his hands on theffl bündfolded for no Smith ever yet conceived the ide: of lif ing up one thing to find anothe under it ; the various strata of rocks bo ing tilted, tho genus Smith seems to have imbibed the opinión that bureau drawer shuuld be arrauged on the same plan. Then there are the ehildren to be seen to the marketing to be arranged, Bridget to be admonished, aud cverythiDsr in genera wound up to go ten days without stop ping or derangemont. Consequently when the appointed morniog comea, anc with it the appointed eoa::h, Mrs. Smitl is not quite ready. With lier cheek flusheel, and uo collar, ghe gives hur. iet direotions, ties up brown paper packages wuh nervous, trembling fingers, whicl packages no pooner recoive the 'final jerk than hey are disoovered to be. burstint, out ai both ends; scatters the youn (vilks hither and thither, running dowi all who are not agile euough to gut out of the way, and is only resfrained from scolding outright by a dim visio:i o plurges dowu embankrnents, buttinj, against opposing eDgines, fplinterec bridges, flying axles, and life long separa tion from beloved ones, to whioh a rail road journey now-a-duys reuders one s fearfully iiable. At length the last knot ia tied, the last kiss is given, aud Mrs. Smith, anxiously looking at her watch, stumhles over the hem of her dress into the coach, beaeech ing the driver o hurry. Ho politely ays " Yes," but persistently drives "Na." After what she considers unneoessary delay, she arrivés at the sta tion, hurries into tho ticket-office, tries to hurry open her porte monnaie, but as that is governed by the Medo Persic laws of inertia and attraction, it refuses to be hurried. Hurriedly phe asks tha ticket-master, "Is the train not gone ? ' rïis loud, clear, delibérate "No, ma'am," startles her, and before she recovers herself, he has gone to the opposite window, Sho waits her tura again. " How long before it. goes ? " " Twenty- minutes- ma'am." With a sigh of mingled relief and .wearini'ss, she sinks upon a sofa. - Time would fail me to follow Mrs. 8. en her devious way, to note her aoxious watching over " gveat box, little bos, band-box aod buncUes,; " her.uncertainty as to wh:ieh trai-u she isto -tuke, g,nd her incessaui iuquiries of every man who approaches; t:ho intense uurest that looks out of her eyes, quivers on her lips,; trernbles in her hands and flutters in every thread of her garman-ts. All these fcbings may ouly provoke a smile, but Mrs. J. S. is tragieally in eamest. i nave liad opportumlies to observe tny sex ia the traa-útion state, and I am forced to say thftt I do not think tho fenv.i'le traveter is always a pleasant object of contemplation. She is never qu;'_e free from nxiety or bundies, and is generally pretty higMy ohnrged with both. She asks the conductor the same ques tion twiee, as if sho iolitved he raight undergo a moral rcformatiun botween tho ürst and seooud asking, and teil the truth at last, though he toíd a lie at first. - Swec% patiënt at hotoe, siiblimely patiënt in great pain or peril, ehe is ludicrously impatient on her trayels. She eancot wait the roarch of evenís,, butoutstrips the present, aatieipatcs the future, and asks the conductor " if we change cars at B." Truwtful to a faalt o tho domestie circle, she becomes a very skeptic in the ears, and never believes him unloss he says, " Yes." Wlion he announcos at B., - " Passengors change cars for the Bast," she steps out with alacrity upon the platform and immediately asks him, " Do we change cars here?" Acute of visión, and rapid in perception at home, abroad a glamour seems to fall upon her. Tfe timc-table invariably hangs upon the station walls, but, as if inoapable of ealculation, she invariably aske the tickjt-master at what hour tho train is due ; and if it is fivo minutes late, she goes to him aguin, and asks him how long before t will arrive. Of course, observing the inconsequence of theso and similar vagaries, I am especial ly caruful to avoid tbem, - Oail Ham'dton. When Lord Erskine heard that some body had diod worth two hundrcd thousand pounds, ,he observad, "Well, that's a. vöry pretty sum to 'begin the next world with."