§ 157 A Distinction and a Difference
On the Congressional Limited a passenger who, to judge from the visible evidences, had been patronizing a bootlegger, hailed the Pullman conductor as the latter passed through the car.
“Shay, conductor,” he inquired rather thickly, “how far is it from Wilmington to Baltimore?”
The conductor told him the distance, and passed on. On his next appearance the inebriated one halted him again:
“How far is it,” he asked, “from Baltimore to Wilmington?”
“I told you just a few minutes ago,” said the Pullman man.
“No, you didn’t,” said the traveler. “You told me how far it was from Wilmington to Baltimore. What I want to know now is how far is it from Baltimore to Wilmington.”
“Say, listen,” said the irate conductor. “What are you trying to do—make a goat of me? If it’s so many miles from Wilmington to Baltimore, isn’t it necessarily bound to be the same number of miles from Baltimore to Wilmington?”
“Not nesheshar’ly,” said the other. “It’s only a week from Christmas to New Year’s, but look what a devil of a distance it is from New Year’s to Christmas.”