Democratic Sentinel, Volume 15, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 March 1891 — Station Master and the Nobles. [ARTICLE]

Station Master and the Nobles.

An amusing incident occurred on a Southern railroad in England in connection with the Duke of Norfolk and the Marquis of Bute. The duke and marquis were fellow travelers, and when the train stopped at *- station. a companion joined them in the person of the station master himself, who was going for a jaunt some twenty miles further up- the line. The duke and the ‘ station master, who were both diminutive men, and therefore fond of talk, soon got into conversation, while the marquis, a tall, robust man, was inclined to be reticent, until he found his friend, the duke, up to his ears in conversation, when he himself joined, addressing most of his remarks to the stranger. At length the train arrived at B , and the marquis bid a hearty farewell to the duke, and with a kindly adieu and a shake of the hand from the stranger the marquis quitted the carriage, while his dispatch box and wraps were secured, to the surprise of the station master, by a tall, powdered footman, and the train soon glided again out of the station. Silence was not, however, long maintained, the station master breaking out with the question. “I wonder who that swell was?” “That,” replied his companion, “was the Marquis of Bute.” The answer seemed to dumfound the station master for a time, but. presently he exclaimed. “Well, now, I do think it kind of him to talk to two such snobby little chapi as us, don't you?” The duke nodded his assent and had a good laugh. When the train drew up again his grace affably bid his companion “Good-by,” and/ on alighting on the platform, was received with the greatest deference by a throng of Jesuit priests, this incident again setting the station master the task of inquiry, who inquisitively asked a brother official who that little bloke was. “That,” replied the guard, “is the Duke of Norfolk. ” The station master, after this, declared he would never travel first-class again as long as he lived.