Page:Morley--Travels in Philadelphia.djvu/243

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THE PARADISE SPECIAL
227

killed four small garter snakes in the meadow. They cheered up greatly when they saw a freight train puffing along the railway, and it was evident that we would have a fair race with that train all the way in to Overbrook. Immediately the train was set down as a German menace, and the cheerful chauffeur was implored to do his best for his country. It should be said that we beat the German train to Overbrook by about one hundred yards.

The latter part of the ride was marked by a sudden panic on the part of the passengers concerning sundry nickels and dimes which seemed to have disappeared. Nathan Schumpler, aged eight, turned his blouse pocket inside out a dozen times without finding the dime he was sure he had had. This was a terrible blow, because he told me he had lost a quarter through a crack in the porch the day before. This started all the others exploring. Knotted and far from clean handkerchiefs were hastily untied to make sure of the precious coinage for homeward carfare. At last Nathan found his dime, in the very pocket he had been turning upside down for fifteen minutes. When they got back to Cherry street they were overjoyed to find a number of toy trains and tracks waiting on the floor. My last sight of the Country Weekers was when they were playing with these while their guardians checked off their lists and made sure that each had carfare to take him home and knew how to get there. "Yes," said the chauffeur, as he