I was on the F train coming in from Penn Stations late yesterday morning. The cars were moderately crowded, empty seats here and there. The usual mix of quiet mid-day travelers going or coming. Where? Always hard to tell, you can only guess.

Then suddenly at 5th Avenue two classes of chattering kids got on. City kids, for sure; not wide-eyed strangers to the underground world. They grabbed the empty seats and kept chattering away, filling the car with children’s voices. Some adventure in the city had stirred their sense of wonder. Their voices were bubbling over with excitement. I judged they were 5th or 6th graders, maybe 40 of them.

I noticed one of their teachers standing near me, a young woman. One, two or three kids turned to her like a magnet for some quick exchange. She had that pleased look that comes when something’s well done. She had just led these kids to unknown worlds by subway.

The first stop in Queens the door opened and they quickly flowed out, still chattering, kids, chaperones, teachers, in well attended lines, going back to school, then home.

Revelations happen in the subway too.