We went all the way in day-coaches, be-
coming more sticky and grimy with each stage
of the journey. Jake bought everything the
newsboys offered him: candy, oranges, brass
collar buttons, a watch-charm, and for me a
"Life of Jesse James," which I remember as
one of the most satisfactory books I have
ever read. Beyond Chicago we were under the
protection of a friendly passenger conductor,
who knew all about the country to which
we were going and gave us a great deal of
advice in exchange for our confidence. He
seemed to us an experienced and worldly man
who had been almost everywhere; in his con-
versation he threw out lightly the names of dis-
tant States and cities. He wore the rings and
pins and badges of different fraternal orders
to which he belonged. Even his cuff-buttons
were engraved with hieroglyphics, and he was
more inscribed than an Egyptian obelisk.
Once when he sat down to chat, he told us
that in the immigrant car ahead there was a
family from "across the water" whose des-
tination was the same as ours.

"They can't any of them speak English,
except one little girl, and all she can say is
'We go Black Hawk, Nebraska.' She's not

[[4]]

p003 _ -chap- _ toc-1 _ p004w _ toc-2 _ +chap+ _ p005

v?