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THE GUIDE TO NATURE 



which is good in only one direction. 

 You are crowded in the station even 

 after the train comes in. There is 

 somebody to punch the ticket as you 

 pass through a narrow space bordered 

 by brass railings. The rolly-poly 

 washerwoman with her obese basket 

 does not climb through ; she crawls 

 over or under. Delegates to the con- 

 vention of fat men get special permis- 

 sion to go around the station. But 

 here in Connecticut you can parade 

 up and down on the station platform 

 as long as you like. You can sit down 

 or you can stand up, and when you 

 have bought your ticket it is good not 

 only for thirty days, but for thirty 

 years. Indeed, I heard not long ago 

 of the actual experience of a traveler 

 who had a ticket more than thirty years 

 of age that was accepted by the conduc- 

 tor with a matter-of-fact air as if such 

 things were of ordinary occurrence. 

 On some other railroads, if you asked 

 permission to walk out of the station 

 to get a breath of fresh air while wait- 

 ing for a delayed train, the austere offi- 

 cial would probably drop dead at your 

 audacity. 



The railroad in Connecticut does not 

 hold a public franchise for the purpose 

 of running a fancy, high priced hotel. 

 Go aboard the dining car on another 

 railroad, and if you are a hungry, 

 hearty man, it will cost you about four 

 dollars and fifty cents for a meal such 

 as you could buy at any other restau- 

 rant for seventy-five cents. Here in 

 Connecticut things are better. You 

 are made to feel that you are the guest 

 of the railroad. You sit down and eat 

 all you want, as you would at home, 

 and when you are through, you tender 

 a dollar bill for the privileges. There 

 is a democracy about the dining car in 

 Connecticut that I find in no other car 

 in the land. You are made to feel at 

 home, and you discover that it is a joy 

 to travel on that railroad. Most of 

 the railroads override their privileges. 

 They are granted a certain franchise to 

 transport the public, not to skin them 

 out of every dollar they have in ex- 

 change for a decent meal. I am told 

 on good authority that the dining cars 

 of Connecticut yield reasonable re- 



turns. If they do, then the exorbitant 

 prices on some other railroads yield 

 unreasonable returns, and the railroad 

 management is making more money in 

 running a movable, fancy priced hotel 

 in proportion to cost than it is getting 

 for transporting the public. 



But perhaps more important than all 

 this is the fact that the New York, New 

 Haven and Hartford Railroad is dem- 

 onstrating that a railroad can be man- 

 aged without a lot of foolish red tape 

 regulations, and the transportation 

 still be kept safe. Where in all the 

 world will you find such an aggrega- 

 tion of population as between New 

 York and Boston, in proportion to dis- 

 tance? If ever there was a railroad 

 that had the slightest excuse for a lot 

 of stiles, barred gates, punching in- 

 spectors and tickets-good-only-one- 

 way, then it would be this railroad, be- 

 cause here we have so dense a popula- 

 tion, but what do we find? Good, 

 democratic, everyday common sense. 

 The numerous express trains do not 

 kill the people because they tumble 

 off the platform, for they never tumble. 

 One might think that the travelers on 

 some of the railroads in this country 

 are either children or a lot of idiots. 

 They are lined up, and kept back and 

 punched, and inspected, and quarantined, 

 and after passing the inspection, they 

 are mulcted about four times the 

 proper price for the food that the com- 

 pany supplies. 



The New York, New Haven and 

 Hartford Railroad is a model for the 

 entire country in its freedom from acci- 

 dents. It is true that once or twice 

 severe accidents have occurred but let 

 it be noted and emphatically noted 

 that there has never been an accident 

 on the New York, New Haven and 

 Hartford Railroad that was due to an 

 absence of the foolish red tape regula- 

 tions of some other railroads. This 

 has proved conclusively that such com- 

 plicated and obnoxious rules are not 

 necessary. Is there anything more ex- 

 asperating to a man with a dress suit 

 case in each hand, and perhaps an um- 

 brella and one or two packages, than 

 to be jammed in a regular football 

 crowd, and then be held up and told 



