The authors of this book have made railroad travel a close study. They have discovered that there has been no provision made for the man who erroneously gets into a car which is side-tracked and swept out and scrubbed by people who take in cars to scrub and laundry. He is one of the men we are striving at this moment to reach with our little volume. We have each of us been that man. We are yet. He ought to have something to read that will distract his attention. This book is designed for him. Also for people who would like to travel but cannot get away from home. Of course, people who do travel will find nothing objectionable in the book, but our plan is to issue a book worth about $9, charging only fifty cents for it, and then see to it that no time-tables or maps which will never return after they have been pulled out once, shall creep in among its pages. It is the design of the authors to issue this guide annually unless prohibited by law, and to be the pioneers establishing a book which shall be designed solely for the use of anybody who desires to subscribe for it. BILL NYE. JAMES WHITCOMB RILEY. P. S.--The authors desire to express their thanks to Mr. Riley for the poetry and to Mr. Nye for the prose which have been used in this book. [Illustration: Contents] August--Riley 32 Anecdotes of Jay Gould--Nye 23 A Black Hills Episode--Riley 132 A Blasted Snore--Nye 190 A Brave Refrain--Riley 188 A Character--Riley 142 A Dose't of Blues--Riley 220 A Fall Creek View of the Earthquake--Riley 30 A Hint of Spring--Riley 168 A Letter of Acceptance--Nye 56 A Treat Ode--Riley 170 Craqueodoom--Riley 81 Curly Locks--Riley 118 Ezra House--Riley 161 From Delphi to Camden--Riley 75 Good-bye or Howdy-do--Riley 195 Healthy, but Out of the Race--Nye 101 Her Tired Hands--Nye 152 His Crazy Bone--Riley 89 His Christmas Sled--Riley 150 His First Womern--Riley 41 How to Hunt the Fox--Nye 46