SOCIAL AND ESTHETIC VIEW. 167 



loner to discover that the smoking-room was close 

 by, between the inner and the outer doors. As a 

 matter of course, the little hall, or vestibule, was 

 filled with unmistakable odors, which made their 

 way through every cranny and crevice ; while each 

 time the door was opened — which I should say 

 occurred about every other minute, — thick clouds 

 of smoke were borne directly into our faces, bring- 

 ing with them headache, nausea, sore throat, and 

 a sense of suffocation. 



I ventured to ask the porter to open the venti- 

 lators. As he hesitated, I urged that the smoke 

 sickened me, begging for a little fresh air, if only 

 for a few minutes. He replied courteously, but to 

 the effect that people could n 't expect to have the 

 cars like a private parlor; yet he did slightly 

 open one or two of them. I have no fault to find 

 with him, knowing how many are opposed to venti- 

 lation ; indeed, it was a hard alternative, for even 

 strong and perpetual currents could only partially 

 have purified the atmosphere, while they might 

 have cost some of the passengers a severe cold. 



As it was, the faint breath that stole in was no 

 match for the ever-increasing fumes. For, in ad- 

 dition to the poisoned air so freely bestowed on us 

 from the smoke-room, we were forced to endure 

 the presence of the smokers themselves, as one 

 after another returned to the cars. Gentlemen, as 

 some of them evidently were, — with a good num- 

 ber of honorable legislators, — they surely could 

 not have realized how saturated were their whole 



