If you are compelled to go to the dining car alone, you will
probably sit beside an Elk with white socks, who will call the
waiter "George." Along about the second course he will say to
you, "It's warm for September, isn't it?" to which you should
answer "No." That will dispose of the Elk.
Across the table from you will be a Grand Army man and his wife,
going to visit their boy Elmer's wife's folks in Schenectady.
When the fish is served, the Grand Army man will choke on a bone.
Let him choke, but do not be too hopeful, as the chances are that
he will dislodge the bone. All will go well until the dessert,
when his wife will begin telling how raspberry sherbet always
disagrees with her. Offer her your raspberry sherbet.
After dinner you may wish to read for a while, but the porter
will probably have made up all the berths for the night. It will
also be found that the light in your berth does not work, so you
will be awake for a long time; finally, just as you are leaving
Buffalo, you will at last get to sleep, and when you open your
eyes again, you will be--in Buffalo.
There will be two more awakenings that night--once at Batavia,
where a merry wedding party with horns and cow bells will follow
the lucky bride and groom into your car, and once at Schenectady,
where the Pullman car shock-absorbing tests are held. The next
morning, tired but unhappy, you will reach New York.
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