The Tiffin tribune. (Tiffin, Ohio) 1868-1887, 1869-04-29
THE ENGINE DRIVERS
STORY,

] we don Ch0So lightning over tue
prairics on our line, for we're slow
aud pretty sure. I've been half as
| fast again on the London and Bir
minghum aud Great Wcstcrn--faster
than l liked too, though il was my
trade, so you see | don't mean to
raise your hair that way.
Ours is a new liue--a very new ono
-runniug through miles of unsettled
country, where it's no wonderful
thing to make out in the far distance
half.a dozen lnjuns galloping along
with their hair and blankets stream
ing out behind; aud more than once
I've wondered how it would be if one
Of those painted beauties was to col.
lcct his friends, aud pull up the line.
Pom my word, it's about as srnsa-
tional feeling as can come over you
Talking about your hair standing on
end, why there's pereeptible creep
ing, for all the world as if some Que
was pouring canary~seed through the
roots. And, mind you, tomahawk
aud soalping knife are not things on.
ly to be heard of in Cooper's novels,
for they ar" in use to this very day,
so that more than one Sioux or Paw.
nee warrior can display his green aud
bloody scalrs torn from the heads of
the hated whites by his treacherous
hand. Seems very horrible, no doubt,
aud to belonging to the past but for
all that, such things are taking place
in tho Far West.
Now, it's through this part Of the
country that our line runs, and for
years past I've drove on that line.
drove there when it only ran twenty
miles, and l saw and ran along that
line as it stretched out farther and
farther into the great region west.
ward, till it went its hundreds.
We've cow-catchers on our engines,
and nothing to laugh at neither. On
few mile long lines, you can fence /;
but when your line happens to get
over thousand miles, fencing comes
expensive, and would make a hole in
the profits; so that it was soon found
necessary to have something in front
that would throw off COW or bul
lock if it had stroyed on to the line;
or else, being an obstinate sort of
beast, it might throw of the traiu.--
For they will stray, and there's no
mistake about them, and when you
see them there, and sound the noru
for We use that as well as a whistle
--iustead of The stupid things getting
off and into safety, they'll 20 gallop-
ing of iu their clumsy cock-tnil one
two-three fmblo, till we catch up to
them, aud theu-wcll, l should say
that in my time I've made beef Of a
score of cows, though, l never made
an end Of fellow creature yet. l
was very near it, though, once.
You've laughed about the stokers
going out in front on to the cows
catcher, to heave billets of wood at
the brutes; but it's fact, aud I've
done it before now, and a good crack
from a cornerish piece Of wood has
saved 'em, making them give a kick
aud plunge off the single line, and
giving us room TO 80 by.
But there are things that will not
get out of the way. do what you will
| believe you might sound the whis
tie, or whatever you'd got, at any old
woman who was crossing the line,
and she'd only stand still and stare,
while, if you had billet of wood,
she'd only shake her umbrella at you,
and call you a villain. They re
dreadful creatures are old women,
and if it warn't for the thought that
they were once young, l don't know
how we should bear them. They
don't seem to understand railways at
all; they never have their tickets
ready; they're always either too soon
or too late; and when once they are
in the car, they bother every one to
death aud drive the guard mad by
expecting that folks have entered in-
to a conspiracy to carry them right
past their destination. Why, a
friend Of mine, n guard on the line
between New York and Chicago, once
told me of an old lady going 70 the
last place and wanting to get out at
tue first station.
Well, putting the cows first, aud
old women second, the next on tn c
list, to my way of thinking, stand
children, bless EN- love children,
got halfa score of them myself, but
they always give me the cold shi ers
when | see them near railway
For you see, | suppose, for companys
sake, being an out of the-woy lonely
spot, there was a chap built himself
a log-shanty close to the line, where
he had made bit Of clearing, and
perhaps he thought it would be bit
of company for his wife aud little
ones to see the trains 60 by with peo-
pie in, besides being a Bit Of protec-
lion from the wandering tribes about;
for you see where a man sets up his
tent, as you may say out in the viii
derness, he's obliged to run risks; so
any chance, however small, Of making
it less risky is snatched at.
got quite to know these people,
and nice hard working folks they
werO. Why, before they had been
there six months, that BIT Of will
derness began to look like little gar
den Of Eden; and two NOR people
came and pitched in the next bits. |
quite knew those fret folks lhIu INV
never spoke for always "en' by
them at twelve miles an hour; but the
little one used to stand at the shanty
door aud cheer. and as time went on.
I'd wave my hat at the wife aud the
husband too, SO that they generally
used TO como out, when they heard
me coming up or down and more