DIY History | Transcribe | Iowa Women’s Lives: Letters and Diaries | Eve Drewelowe's journals, volumes II-III, 1950s

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Eve Drewelowe's journals, volumes II-III, 1950s

Page 162

late to take the outgoing train west, is it not?"
The clerk obligingly rung the station and reported back, "You have five minutes. They will hold the train that long for you."
"Are you sure I can make it? If I have no chance I can't make the effort," I countered.
"You will make it," I was assured.
Everyone leaped to attention to help me get aboard that train. A bell hop went to my room to close my bags and bring them down; I check out; a clerk called a cab. There I dashed to my room to get my hat, coat and thermos and found the boy wrestling with getting my pullman trunk closed. I supervised that, then dashed down the corridor and rang for the elevator while the boy trudged after with the baggage. I was thrust into a waiting taxi, and the driver slid down the icy streets and drew up alongside the impatient train, now champing at the bit.
The baggage-man on the train took and checked my bag directly. I was bustled up the steps and into the coach. Then I found I still had the Kahler key clutched in my hand and hurried back to the steps to see if the taxi-driver was still in sight. "Lady you get away from them states, and go and sit down. We are pulling out any second. As for that key, give it to me and I will see if the taxi driver is still here." If a negro can ever be said to have dashed, the parted dashed away with the key and succeeded in having it returned to the hotel.
I was on the train going home at las,t but I was tired before the very strenuous journey ahead of me had even begun. The trip home that I had dreaded so much, that I didn't dare permit myself to think about, was underway. In preparations, I had told Dr Horton that I would get my pullman in Omaha - on the City of Denver, out of Chicago - but I had not the courage to inquire as to the hour. I also had told him that if I ever got to the end of the line, I would lie down and never move again - I was that tired. I had

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late to take the outgoing train west, is it not?" The clerk obligingly rung the station and reported back, "You have five minutes. They will hold the train that long for you." "Are you sure I can make it? If I have no chance I can't make the effort," I countered. "You will make it," I was assured. Everyone leaped to attention to help me get aboard that train. A bell hop went to my room to close my bags and bring them down; I check out; a clerk called a cab. There I dashed to my room to get my hat, coat and thermos and found the boy wrestling with getting my pullman trunk closed. I supervised that, then dashed down the corridor and rang for the elevator while the boy trudged after with the baggage. I was thrust into a waiting taxi, and the driver slid down the icy streets and drew up alongside the impatient train, now champing at the bit. The baggage-man on the train took and checked my bag directly. I was bustled up the steps and into the coach. Then I found I still had the Kahler key clutched in my hand and hurried back to the steps to see if the taxi-driver was still in sight. "Lady you get away from them states, and go and sit down. We are pulling out any second. As for that key, give it to me and I will see if the taxi driver is still here." If a negro can ever be said to have dashed, the parted dashed away with the key and succeeded in having it returned to the hotel. I was on the train going home at las,t but I was tired before the very strenuous journey ahead of me had even begun. The trip home that I had dreaded so much, that I didn't dare permit myself to think about, was underway. In preparations, I had told Dr Horton that I would get my pullman in Omaha - on the City of Denver, out of Chicago - but I had not the courage to inquire as to the hour. I also had told him that if I ever got to the end of the line, I would lie down and never move again - I was that tired. I had