Wpg's Literary History, part 1

from "Under the Ribs of Death", by John Marlyn (published in 1957, it depicts life in Winnipeg's North End immigrant slums in the 1920's and 30's.)

As he crossed Main Street, at Higgins, he came to the Royal Alexandra hotel, saw the crowd moving towards the CPR station, saw his father standing there. His father greeted him, and they followed the crowd into the vast echoing cavern of the station, to a rope barrier. Sandor had been here before and it had always been crowded, but now for the first time the suppressed excitement of the crowd began to affect him.
From the upper level came the interminable slow creak and groan of a train coming to a stop. Then the long awaited tramp of feet, growing louder and louder, reaching the head of the stairs, and finally the first of the new arrivals emerged from the gates and looked about them timidly and fearfully, bent under the weight of their belongings.
The two groups stared at one another. Then a man's voice cried "Ilonka!"... A woman shifted her child in her arms and waved, and before they were in each other's arms the barrier was down and the two groups were one. The station echoed their gladness in many tongues. They touched one another and cried. They embraced and smiled and stood apart and stared into eyes familiar and yet grown strange.