CATCHING THE TRAIN.

New Zealand Graphic, Volume XV, Issue XI, 14 September 1895, Page 320

CATCHING THE TRAIN.

A great evil of railway travelling is seen in those who have reached middle life and who run to ‘catch the train.’ They have had a hasty breakfast, none too well cooked. They have only a few minutes before their train is due. They must run, they get overheated, perdition to take cold. Glance through the train and note, spire, and are breathless as they reach the platform.

Their digestion is disturbed, their heart is strained ; after their temporary rest they hurry to their place of business. And then notice, says the * Popular Science Monthly,’ any evening between 5 and 7 o’clock, the throngs of overworked, nervous, tired people, hurrying to catch the train to their suburban homes, all more or less overheated from their exertions, and in the best conaside from the fact that many are unprovided with seats, that the deadly side windows are open ; while many may get through the journey safely, there will be a good representation of this train load of human beings on the sick list very shortly. Dyspepsiaandirregularaction of the heart are common distressing and dangerous symptoms in hundreds of our business suburban men and women. When one reaches the shady side of forty or forty-five some rest after a meal is requisite for normal digestion ; rest of body and rest of mind, and the morning hurry to get to business makes both these almost impossible. This is without doubt the strongest objection to living many miles from one’s place of business; many are beginning to see this, and they are tending more towards the centre, and shortening the distance between their homes and their places of business. London has many ouen spaces within twenty or thirty minutes from the centre of the city ; the system of ‘ flats ’ makes it possible, at a moderate rent, for city men with small incomes to live near, and so to reduce railway travelling to a minimum, and at the same time to get far enough away from the ‘ madding crowd ’ to make life bearable, and with all the environments conducive to health.