Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town · Chapter
L'Envoi. The Train to Mariposa explained
The narrator reflects on the daily five o'clock train from the city to Mariposa, a journey that evokes nostalgia and longing among those who left the small town years ago.
What happens
The narrator reflects on the daily five o'clock train from the city to Mariposa, a journey that evokes nostalgia and longing among those who left the small town years ago. The train transforms from a suburban commuter line into a rustic, intimate passage home, carrying Mariposa's familiar characters and sparking memories of youth, community, and the simple life left behind. The chapter ends with the train arriving at Mariposa station, but the scene fades back to the Mausoleum Club, where the men still dream of returning.
Themes in this chapter
Nostalgia and the Past
The entire chapter is a meditation on longing for the past, as the narrator and the club members dream of returning to Mariposa and recall their youth.
Small Town Life and Community
Mariposa is portrayed as a warm, familiar place where passengers become sociable, call the conductor by first names, and discuss local topics like the harvest and election.
Characters to notice
- Judge Pepperleigh
Mentioned as one of the greatest judges that ever adorned the bench of Missinaba County, seen on the train with a two-dollar panama and glaring spectacles.
- Rev. Dean Drone
Noted as the clerical gentleman with a wide black hat, explaining the mechanism of the new air brake to a fellow passenger.
Key passages
“It leaves the city every day about five o'clock in the evening, the train for Mariposa. Strange that you did not know of it, though you come from the little town—or did, long years ago.”
The train to Mariposa departs daily at five in the evening, and it's odd that you, who once lived there, have forgotten about it.
Opens the chapter with the central symbol of the train as a forgotten link to the past.
“But if you have half forgotten Mariposa, and long since lost the way to it, you are only like the greater part of the men here in this Mausoleum Club in the city.”
If you've nearly forgotten Mariposa, you're no different from most of the men at the Mausoleum Club, who also came from there.
Highlights the universal nostalgia shared by the club members.
“Don't tell me that the speed is only twenty-five miles an hour. I don't care what it is. I tell you, and you can prove it for yourself if you will, that that train of mingled flat cars and coaches that goes tearing into the night, its engine whistle shrieking out its warning into the silent woods and echoing over the dull still lake, is the fastest train in the whole world.”
Though the train's actual speed is just twenty-five miles per hour, the emotional experience makes it feel like the fastest and most thrilling train ever.
Emphasizes the subjective, emotional power of the journey home.