A man may, if he chooses, make acquaintances on a journey, and a woman also, though with less frequency and freedom. The exigencies of travel may sometimes make it pleasant for her to render or receive aid from another woman or possibly a man; and this may be the starting-point for acquaintance. As a usual thing, it is best for a young girl traveling alone, to avoid all communication with strangers, as she can not know into what complications it may lead her.
COMFORT IN A PULLMAN
If one is making a journey that compels night travel, one must secure one’s section or half-section in the Pullman or sleeper beforehand. In order to get good accommodations it is well to do this several days in advance. The difficulty of getting into an upper berth makes most women choose the lower, though it is more costly and decidedly stuffier. When one climbs aboard a train the porter follows with one’s belongings, finds one’s section or half-section and deposits the hand luggage in its place. Some travelers are very thoughtless in appropriating more than their share of the space appointed for wraps, bags, etc. If one has paid for a half-section only, one has no right to take more than that, unless the other half of the section remains unsold.
When a traveler wishes his bed made up he should summon the porter and so declare. Usually an electric bell between the windows of his section will enable him to call the porter at any time. If the traveler is a woman and is for any reason dissatisfied with her berth or section, she may consult with the porter about a change which, if the car is not full, he is often able to arrange for her. For instance, if a woman having a lower section finds that the upper is to be occupied by a man, it is often possible, by the payment of a small sum to the porter, to move her quarters.
THE TIMID TRAVELER
DRESSING FOR THE NIGHT
Many women who find themselves compelled for the first time to take a sleeping-car, feel timid at the prospect. But the process is simple though not necessarily comfortable. Once behind the curtains a woman may remove all her clothing precisely as she does at home if she feel equal to the physical ordeal of putting it on again in a crowded space in the morning to the accompaniment of rapid motion and the nausea it often induces. Unless one is a good traveler, it may be preferable to remove one’s dress, pinning the skirt to the inside of the curtain to save its freshness, putting small articles in the swinging hammock next the windows and for the rest merely loosening bands. Directly above the head one will find in all first-class trains a button that when pressed will give a light by which one can read or which will help one the better to endure an hour of nervous wakefulness. A small bottle of brandy or spirits of ammonia is carried by delicate women to ward off train sickness. A woman should not hesitate to summon the porter for extra covers, a glass of water or any other service that contributes to her real comfort. To send for him with too great frequency shows lack of experience and consideration. If one is to be called before daylight it is wise to give one’s self ample time for dressing and so the porter should be instructed to call one at a certain time considerably ahead of the hour for leaving the train. Experienced women travelers do not don white night-dresses in sleeping-cars, but keep a dark silk robe for this purpose, insuring equal comfort and a better appearance in case of illness or accident.