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The Brakeman At Church

The Brakeman At Church image
Parent Issue
Day
20
Month
February
Year
1880
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

Uu the road once more, willi Libanon 'ading away in the distanee, the tut pas ener aruiuniitiR idly on the witidow pane, ie orops passender sound asleep, nnd the ill, tbin passenger Mtdiaa 'Ueneial Jrant's Tour Around tbs WorlJ," and 'ondering why ''Green s August Flower" lould be piinted ahove "A ïiuddist Temile at Benares. " To me comes the brake ian, and, seating himselt' ou the umi of ie seat, faj s : " I went to chureh yeste.rday." "Yes?" I said, wit li that interested in ection that ask-, for more. 'And what hurch did you attend ?" " Which do you guess?" lic aked. " Some union mission churcb," I buzrded. '' Naw," lie said, "I dou't like 10 run on hese branch roads vcry much. I dpu't fttn go to ehurch, and when I do, I wa'it o run on the main line wheiv yonr (Un i egulur, and you go on ¦ehednlc timt;, and on't have to wait on conriections. 1 don't ike to run on a branch. Grod auougk, blH don't like it." " K pisco pal ? " ' guessed. "Limited exprrss," be said, ";ill paiacc ars and two dollars extra tin I seat, last ime, and only stop at the nu BtaiioDS. íice lioe, but too txhau.-tive lor a brakcnan. All train men in unilmin, oooductr's punch and lantern silvei-plaied, and no train boys allawcd. The pafengl ra are llowed to talk back to the ( ondueti r, and t makes thein fren and oasy. No, 1 oould ot stand the palace eirs. Kieh road, hough. J;)in't ol'ien liear of a rmnu eing appointed for tliat line. Sonto uiiglity ice people travel on it, too.' " Universalist ?" I SOfTget-ted. " Broad gaue," Mtia thé braki iiimii ; 'does too niuch coniplimentary business. iverybody travels on a pas. Conductor oesn't geta fare once in tit'ty miles. Stops t all flag stations, and won't run hjto uny hing but a union depot. Ni nuiukiug ur on the train Train orders are rathcr vague hougb, and the train men dnn't gel Üong well with the passengers. Nu, 1 limit go 0 the Uuivealist, tbough I know sume awl'ully ;ood men wlm mn cm ili it r ad. " Prebyterian '!" 1 asked. " Narrow gauge, ch?" said the bvakeman, "pretty track, straight as a rule; tuniel right through a uiountain rather than ;o around it; spirit-level grade; passengers iave to show their ticket b .-fore they (et on the train. Mighty strict road, but the cars are a little narrow ; have to sit une in t seat, and no room in the aisle to dance. Then there is no stop over tieketn allowed; got to go straight through to th.' station .ou're ticketed for, or you cannot get on at all. When the car's l'u'l no extra coaches; cars built at the shops to bold just mi muny and nobody else alluwed on. Hut you dunt often hearof'an accident mi that rood. U's run right up to the ruKh." "Maybe you joined the l'n o Thinkers?" 1 said. "Scrub road," taid the lirakcinun," dirt road bed and no ballast, no time card and no train dispatcher. All trains run wild, and every engineer makes lus own time, just as he tileases. Smnke if you want to. Kind of go as you-pleai-e luid. Too many side tracks, aod every sieli wide open all the time, with the switch man sound asleep and the target lamp dead out. Get on as you please and get off whcn you want to. Don't have to show your tickets, and the conductor isn'texpected todo anything but amuse the passeniiers. No, sir ; I was offered a pass, but I don't like the line. I don't like to travel on a road tliat luis no terminus. Do you know, sir, I asked a división superintendent win re that rad run to, and he aid he hoped to die if he knew. I asked liiui if the general re ntendent could teil me, uiJ lie said he lidu't belicve they had a saneral superintendent, and ir they had, he didn't ïitm ïnyrhing moro abotit the road than llie passengere. I asked hini wlio he reported ;o, and he faid 'nobody. ' 1 a.k'-d ;i codluctor who he got bis orders frou), and he utid he didn't takc orders trom any living Luau ur dcad gllt'Ct. And iKrti I ui4uj :he engineer who he got liis orders froni he said he'd like to Öe anyhody givc Htin or; Iers. He'd run that trshi to snit hiinself, jr he'd run it into the diloh. Now you jee, sir, l'ui a railroad luán, and don t care to run on a road th.it lias no unir, makee ao connection, runs nowheie, and has no superintendent. It niay bt al right, luit ['ve railroaded too long to understand it. " " Maybe you went to the Congregationii jhurch?" 1 said. "Popular road," said lbo brakcman ; "an old road, too - one ot' the vcry oldesi in this country. Good ioad bed and comtortable cars. Well managed road, tno ; directora don't interfcre with división superintendente and train ordeis. Uoad's uiighty popular, but it's pretty iodepenJent, too. Yes, didn't one ot' i he división juperinteudents down ea.-t dUcODtioue one Dt' the oldest stationi on this line two or three years ago? But it's a roishty pleasant road to travel on. Always has sueh a fplendid class ot' passengors. ' "Did you try the Metlmdisi ? " 1 ;i. "Now you'ie shouting," he i-aid, with Bome enthuï-iaru. " Nice road, en? Faut time and plenty of passeiif.ris. EInginea carry a power of team, and dunt you lor get it ; steam gauge sdiows a hundred, and enough all the time. Lively roaii, and wlien the conductor shouts 'all aboard,' you can hear him to the next .station. Every trkw light shinus like a headlight 8top-ove cbecks are given on all through tickets; passenger can drop off the train U often a he likes, do the station two or three d.iys, and hop on the next revival train tliat eoujes thundering aloDg. (ood, whole souled coiupaniunable comluetois ; ain't a road in the country where the ppsaengert teel more at home. No passes; cvery passenger pays f'ull traffic rates f'or bis tiolcet. Wesleyanhouse air brakes on all trains, too ; pretty safe road, but 1 diiln't i de 0T6 it yesterday." " Perhapg you tried the baptikt?" 1 guessed once more. "Ah, ha!" said the brakcman, "she's a daisy, isn't she? Kiver road. Benutiful curves; sweep around anytliiiiK to keen close to the river. But i; is ;ill icl rail and rock ballast, single track all the. way, and not a side-track froru the rouml house to the terminm. Ttkeg a heap of walcr to run it through, doublé tanks at eveiy Ma tion, and there isn't an entine in the shops that can pull a pound or run a mile with lens than two gauges. But i( runs througfa a lovcly country ; ihese river roada lwyi do ; river on one side and hills on the otber, and it's a ste idy climb up the grade all the way till the run taèë where the f'ountain head of the river begin. Yes, sir, l'll take the river ruad every time fur a love!y trip, surc connections and good timo, and no prairie dust blowing in at the windows. And yesterdsy when tlie conductor carne around tor the tickets with a Hule basket punch, I didn't aak him to pass me, but 1 paid my f'are like a lí i tic man - twenty-tive cents f'or an hour's run, and a liltle concert by the passengers thrown it. 1 teil you, l'ilgrim. you takc the rivvr roud hen you what - " But just here the long whistlc froni the engine announced a station and the brakcman hurried to the door, ihoutiog ". " Zionnville ! 'J'his traiu niakcs no stops hetween here and Indianapolis ! " It's an mrful lañe that has tío turn !