For Every Four Seats The Negro Builds Up
Four Beds - That Is, Four Half Beds, Or Accommodation For Four
Persons.
Two are supposed to be below, on the level of the
ordinary four seats, and two up above on shelves which are let down
from the roof.
Mattresses slip out from one nook and pillows from
another. Blankets are added, and the bed is ready. Any over-
particular individual - an islander, for instance, who hugs his
chains - will generally prefer to pay the dollar for the double
accommodation. Looking at the bed in the light of a bed - taking,
as it were, an abstract view of it - or comparing it with some other
bed or beds with which the occupant may have acquaintance, I cannot
say that it is in all respects perfect. But distances are long in
America; and he who declines to travel by night will lose very much
time. He who does so travel will find the railway bed a great
relief. I must confess that the feeling of dirt, on the following
morning, is rather oppressive.
From Windsor, on the Canada side, we passed over to Detroit, in the
State of Michigan, by a steam ferry. But ferries in England and
ferries in America are very different. Here, on this Detroit
ferry, some hundred of passengers, who were going forward from the
other side without delay, at once sat down to breakfast. I may as
well explain the way in which disposition is made of one's luggage
as one takes these long journeys.
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