"Railroad rides are naturally tiresome to per-sons who cannot read on the cars, and, being one of those unfortunates, I resigned myself, on tak-ing my seat in the train, to several hours of tedi-um, alleviated only by such cat-naps as I might achieve. Partly on account of my infirmity, though more on account of a taste for rural quiet and retirement, my railroad journeys are few and far between. Strange as the statement may seem in days like these, it had actually been five years since I had been on an express train of a trunk line. Now, as every one knows, the improvements in the conveniences of the best equipped trains have in that period been very great, and for a considerable time I found myself amply enter-tained in taking note first of one ingenious device and then of another, and wondering what would come next. At the end of the first hour, however, I was pleased to find that I was growing comforta-bly drowsy, and proceeded to compose myself for a nap, which I hoped might last to my destina-tion."