body or at least somebody else, and to write meanwhile
without fail. There were good-byes again and again, and yet again; and,
with much mingled emotion, we settled ourselves in luxurious seats and
began to look dreamily toward Denver.

In the mazes of the wonderful city of Chicago we saw the warp of that
endless steel web over which we flew like spiders possessed. The sunken
switches took our eye and held it for a time. But a greater marvel was
the man with the cool head and the keen sight and nerves of iron, who
sat up in his loft, with his hand on a magic wand, and played with
trainfuls of his fellowmen--a mere question of life or death to be
answered over and over again; played with them as the conjurer tosses
his handful of pretty globes into the air and catches them without one
click of the ivories. It was a forcible reminder of Clapham Junction;
the perfect system that brings order out of chaos, and saves a little
world, but a mad one, from the total annihilation that threatens it
every moment in the hour, and every hour in the day, and every day in
the year.

It did not take us long to discover the advantages of our special-car
system. There were nigh fifty of us housed in a brace of excursion cars.
In one of these--the parlor--the only stationary seats were at the two
ends, while the whole floor was covered with easy-chairs of every
conceivable pattern. The dining car was in reality a cardroom between
meals--and _such_ meals, for we had stocked the larder ourselves.
Everywhere the agents of the several lines made their appearance and
greeted us cordially; they were closeted for a few moments with the
shepherd of our flock, Father Zahm, of the University of Notre Dame,
Indiana; then they would take a bite with us--a dish of berries or an
ice,--for they invariably accompanied us down the road a few miles; and
at last would bid us farewell with a flattering figure of speech, which
is infinitely preferable to the traditional "Tickets, please; tickets!"

At every town and village crowds came down to see us. We were evidently
objects of interest. Even the nimble reporter was on hand, and looked
with a not unkindly eye upon the lads who were celebrating the first
hours of the vacation with an enthusiasm which had been generating for
some weeks. There was such a making up of beds when, at dark, the parlor
and dining cars were transformed into long, narrow dormitories, and the
boys paired off, two and two, above and b