I've confessed to telling a lie, and I must now confess to having acted the part of a fool.
I had been sleeping on some express packages in the forward end of the car, and upon awakening glanced at my watch. It was 4 a. m.
Throughout the night the train had been running at a high rate of speed and I figured we ought to be somewhere near Montgomery.
It'll be a great joke to tell him where my home really is, and to let him know how I fooled him, for being near Montgomery, he'll hardly trouble to put me down anyway now, I reasoned, and without thinking, I gave him the whole story of just how neatly I had deceived him.
Instantly the young man's manner changed.
"So you fooled me, eh! Well, the next stop is Valdosta, Ga. You'll have to get off there," was the sharp retort.
A half hour later I was walking the streets of Valdosta, a much wiser man.
How true is the old saying: "A wise man keeps his tongue in his heart, but a fool keeps it in his mouth."
It was near daylight and bitter cold. A night cop directed me to a lodging house. After I had rung the bell several times the landlady appeared. She had hastily dressed and, with a frown on her face, stood shivering in the cold.