The Conservative. (M'connelsville, Ohio) 1866-1871, 1870-07-22
SeIecte0 aaliseeIIanu.
HOW L BECAME A BRAKEMAN, AND
WHAT BECAME OF 1T.

To whom can riches give repute and trust,
Content or pleasure, but the good and jusl?
Judges and senates have been bought for gold:
Esteem and love are never to be sold:-PoPE.
At the time wherein nay simple stor
commences, had just returned from tn
Office of one of the railroads, having ap
piled, and applied successfully, for the r,
sponsible, respectable, and, as times go
the tolerably welLpaid situation Of brake
man.
The situation, repeat, is respectabl,
one, yet not exactly to the liking of one
who, but few months before, dashed il
his own buggy, after pair Of fast nags
down the Bloomingdale road-who eschew
ed any others than Bajou's kids, sportec
diamond studs, and was throwing the bucks
of the Avenue into commissions or envy
with the patterns of his waistcoa.s AL
these were mine. and yet Ibecame brake
man.
OF course. when 1 applied for the situa
tion-with letter of Introduction from G
folmer clerk of my father, now a wen-to dc
merchant uptown took good care tc
stroke my incipient moustache with that
dehcately white hand of mine. OF course,
1 alluded incidentally to the former great
ness, or, to speak more correctly, to the
former wealth of my family. Of course,
took it for granted the president would not
consent to debase me by making me 8
brakeman, bat would appoint me his pri-
vate secretary. Alas! the unromantic,
matter-of-fact official, instead of shedding
tears for my misfortunes-instead of ende-
avoring to. soothe my lacerated feelings =
scanned me from head to foot, and said:
''Well, you are not exactly a chap We
care to employ, but as my friend MIR.
Brown recommends you, we'll try you
Come tomorrow morning; and mind, young
man, TO be here at eight o'clock, to sec
ond."
''Chapr" ''Young manF' And this to
me! Oh, how nay blood boiled at the in
dignity! I, Augustus Reginald, ct cetera;
for shall not utter my patronymic in con-
nection with the brake on the rail-, to
be called a ''chap" by that insolent presi-
denti
But then, dear reader, did you ever live,
for months, by sending up the spout, or,
In plain English, by depositing with the
pawnbroker, your yaluables? Did you
ever come to your last dollar? Well 1
hope you never did, and fervently pray
You never may. did, and it is truly won
derful what teacher of philosophy and
moderation is poverty. i accepted the
offer.
Ny history was pretty common one In
our fast country; rise from corner gro
Gerry and bad liquor store, to brown-stone
front house, thence to bankruptcy, which
carried my father through the bar-room to
the grave, and broke my mothers heart.
My only sister, older, by some ten years,
than myself, scarcely remembered, being
but child when she was discarded, for
marrying beneath her, as my mother used
to say, a young man who was nobody, and
a mechanic to boot.
On me, therefore, the presumptive heir
to the brown-stone front house, and to
countless thousands, were>all the parental
endearments lavished; that is to say, my
father sent me 10 the most expensive
schools, where learned to smoke cigars,
ride on horseback, decline without mucn
stammering, the five Latin declensions,
and speak Saratoga French, which no Paris
ian could have, by any possibility, under
stood; SO that, when Teverses came, was
fit for nothing but jockey; yet, with the
innate shrewdness of my nation, took, in
preference, 10 the institution in the ascen-
danf. the rail
can't say l liked my new employment,
at least, l did not like it at first. By de-
grees, however, custom blunted off the
edge, and, in course of time, almost for
got nv former sell, and even passed, with
out a rlush, my former acquaintance on
Broadway.
Hardships-and those of brakeman are
neither few nor hght-strengthened my
constitution, till finally, by dint of atten-
tion to my duties, and good conduct, l
worked my way from the platform 10 the
iBside of the cars; and sported the label
with the legend conductor, with far more
pride than L formerly did the best beaver
of Genin's matchless manufacture.
1t happened that my route was on a
branch road of one of the greatest railways
that ever enriched the country, or beggar-
ed the stockholder; and that took board
with a widow remarkable for nothing parti-
cular, unless it be for pale, pretty, rather
sad-looking niece-an orphan girl, who
supported herself in decency and compar-
tive com ort, in exercising her trade of q
milliner.
At first, there was but little sympathy
between the young lady and myself. She
was sileng reserved-I, talkative and for
ward, To be sure we met seldom, namely,
at supper on week days, and on Sunday
only at meals; our pursuits on that day
being of an opposite character, for while
was poring over the columns ofsoms trashy
Sunday paper, she attended church, or a
Sunday school, In which she was teacher.
One Sunday at dinner, Miss Kate men
toned that the Reverend Doctor NJ
would preach ia the afternoon in her
church, and asked me, with what [ then
construed into sneer, whether would
not like to hear him.
''If Miss Kate will permit me to accom-
pnny her, replied 1, with the Fifth Avenue
how
with the greatest pleasure" answered
she. eagerly, slight tint of the rose color
ing for q moment her usually pale counten-
ance.
/ thought never saw her SO pretty. In
iact, thought her very beautiful, and be-
Iieve me, kind reader, think her so still.
We did CO. 1 offered her my arm, and
cannot account how it happened, that when
that little neatly gloved hand, came, by a
natural sequence of position, within few
inches of where popular error places the
heart, almost heard its beating, and am
almost certain Kate must have fell 1t,
though she denies it to this very day.
AS we entered the sacred edifice, the or
gan was already swelling its solemn notes,
1nder the skillful hand of the performer.
had not been within Gods house since the
change of nv fortunes. To be sure, at
school 1 was made to attend divine service
twice on every Sunday, and, during vaca-
tions, my mother insisted on my accom-
panying her.
o'tFor," said she, sit was 80 respectable;
and you must pay particular attention to
the Reverend Mr.. Softly's pronunciation, |
Il is so aristocratic.
But, since then, as had to work hard |
six days in the week, 1 thought was enti-
tIed TO DAYS study of the transcendental |
works of Sylvanus Cobb, Jr., q Co.
Yet with all this, I was not naturally ir-
religious; only, having been taught to con-
slider re Iigion as a matter of form, shared
with thousands the most perniclous sort of
care for my worldly well |