Memoirs of an editor : fifty years of American journalism / Edward P. Mitchell.

28

MEMOIRS OF AN EDITOR

trunks, and bare as to its interior except that it was furnished in the middle with an oblong counter around the
four sides of which the patrons ate while seated on high
stools, as in some railway-station restaurants of the
present day. From the inside of the oblong the viands
were served by colored waiters in white jackets. If
memory does not betray me, the bill of fare of the diner
on the Washington express of threescore years ago consisted chiefly of oyster stew, pie, crullers, and coffee.
The sleeping-car, regarded by all passengers as the
crowning achievement of railway enterprise in the way
of provision for sumptuous travel, presented on entrance
the appearance of an ordinary day-coach. That, indeed,
is what it really was, although it carried the germ of the
subsequent Pullman. When the porter-or was it the
brakeman?-made up the berths, as I observed with
astonished interest, he turned over every alternate seatback, dividing the car into a series of compartments or
near-compartments. Then in each section he fitted from
seat to seat a base of boards thinly upholstered, and arranged thereupon the sheets, blankets, and pillows. A
slightly longer platform, similarly padded, rested on the
backs of the car-seats and formed the upper berth. Finally,
the porter or brakeman hung around three sides of the
sections a flimsy and dingy curtain of some cotton stuff;
and lowers and uppers were ready for their occupying
snoozers.
The lesser height of the lower berth yielded rather
cramped and stuffy quarters, especially for a large body;
the upper was, therefore, the preferred location. My ticket
called for an upper. As I watched the progress of the
making up, farther down the car, my uncle was engaged

across the aisle in earnest conversation, undoubtedly
about ambulances and stretchers, with a gentleman who
wore gold spectacles and had very curly hair and a statesmanlike diameter. The gentleman was listening to Uncle