Supposedly, passengers tended to call porters "George". Why would the porter make a point of telling them to call him that? Why would he object to his own name?
timzSupposedly, passengers tended to call porters "George". Why would the porter make a point of telling them to call him that? Why would he object to his own name?
The current 'understanding' is that the practice comes from addressing slaves by their master's name -- the idea being that "George Pullman" was the massa-in-charge. The Society for the Prevention of Calling Sleeping-Car Porters 'George' actually went so far at one point as to tot up just how many porters were actually named George -- you can find that datum if you look up the Society's history. It makes the case better than I probably could.
The Society also arranged, by about 1926, to have the Pullman Company put little racks at the ends of the cars, with the porters' actual names in them. But that is several years past the date of the OP's story.
Concerning the little girl chatting up passengers: My oldest sister, born in 1916, was taken with her parents to San Francisco to visit friends in 1921. They probably took the Santa Fe, although I am not certain. I know they had two Pullman berths and went by way of Santa Barbara because of a family story. Dad was a long-time Frisco Railway office supervisor in Springfield, Missouri. My sister said she was talking to other passengers and one of them was a prisoner being transported. He gave her a handkerchief that he had made, and she still had it years later. This, or something similar, might add some color to your story.
That's a wonderful story, William. Thank you.
Santa Barbara is on the SP. Best routing guess Frisco to Kansas City, then Rock Island/SP via Tucumcari, El Paso and Los Angeles.
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Railway age gazette. v.54 1913 Jan-Jun. - Full View | HathiTrust Digital Library | HathiTrust Digital Library
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