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VI THE 8:08 AND THE 5:1 5 Sooner or later everybody in Wil- mette, and in the Village of Gross Point, too, for that matter, passed through the North Western Railway station. That was before the Ele- vated pre-empted a right-of-way across Laurel Avenue, and the North Shore and Milwaukee started its hectic career from Evanston north- ward through the shoreline vil1ages. True, the St. Paul station at Maple Avenue and Third Street, named Llewellin Park, was a meeting place for the suburbanites of the south- eastern edge of Wilmette. But at the base of the triangle made by West Railroad, Central and Wilmette Av- enues, "the station" was the news- iest spot in town. Mr. Young Couple soon realized that here and on the 8:08 to the City and the 5:15 returning home, one should grasp opportunities if one was to get acquainted and become oriented to suburban life. "There are three kinds of us people here," volunteered one of the more sophisticated neighbors. "You are a worker, a clerker, or a shirker, according to the train you take." And this in a degree reflected the activities of the early rising crafts- men, of whom there were not many, the white-collared juniors who might be on their way to executive posi- tions, and the still more substantial men who seemed to have arrived. In the station the Chicago news- papers were for sale. From time to time advertising placards told of events of some local interest. There was a constant chatter of gossip by the commuters. In years to come this often would be political, for one station agent of nearly 50 Years tenure, Earl E. Orner was to be village clerk for some 25 Years and also serve as village president. All local news worth knowing passed through the wicket or side-door of his office. But it was on the trains that acquaintances were made and often cemented. Rarely did a suburbanite sit alone on his daily trips. Rarely did he walk alone from the Kinzie Street station to the Loop. On every side were companionable men. Not so often in morning hours were there women in those days. On the trains there often were informal meetings of members of various boards of municipal government, who could not get all their business ironed out at the formal meetings. Much more often, especially in the "smoking car", were continuous-performance games of cards. Possibly most important of the events on the trains was the stimulus of the newspaper reading habit. Al- though Mrs. Young Couple normally had the advantage of the papers Hus- band brought home, the habit formed on the suburban trains became so deeply ingrained with him that it not only became a necessity but a powerful educator. Of course, there were numerous minor adventures en route. One soon learned that it was possible to lose things from the hat-rack overhead. Flowers for Wife's anniversary, a leg of lamb bought at advantage near the Wells Street bridge, when the terminal was at Kinzie Street, cer- tain haberdashery not procurable in the home town,-these and many other valuable impedimenta were often lost. So Mr. Young Couple 20