Woodstown register. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 187?-1892, 1871-03-07

New Character for Romance.
In this section of the Union the rail
road brakeman is generally regarded as
the one public character utterly una
valuable for romance his duties, profess
sional speech, and most familiar personal
aspect being a ifar removed from any
possible appeal to the heroic or senti-
mental in imagination, as to defy even
the ingenuity Of those wonderful real
lists, the current carpenters of American
dramas. Something can be done with
the s~witchman on the stage; and the To-
connective fireman is eligible for fine eff
fects in the way of climbing nimbly to
the cow-catcher and grasping the i'm
periled being from the track just in
time; but the brakeman, even under
mutilation between clasLing platforms,
never has the least chance Of sublimity /;
and if, by some. extraordinary legal con-
sequence of an accident, allowed to fig
ure in court as second only to a martyr
ed engineer in having stood faithfully at
his post to the last, is inevitably discov-
cred to be 50 hideously homely and such
a revolving marvel of questionable at
tire, that eyen the least responsible re-
porter shrinks in despair from the idea.
of making anything heroic or romantic
Of him. Such, then, is the hopelessly
prosaic cast of this patient, continually
mutilated, and chronically Questionable
mere human incident of railroad life and
death at the East but at the West he
seems to be quite a different character,
and, at various times within the last few
months especially, has shown in nearly
every grade Of standard romance, from
divorce and elopement to heirloom of
foreign millions. Els most frequent
dramatic effect in that versatile section
is involved in his final coming-out, amid
enthusiastic congratulations of conduc-
tor, engineer, lbaggage-master, and COM
muters, as the scapegrace son of SOME
fine old English family, at last recalled
across the ocean to eater into the fabu-
lous paternal estate and be reconciled to
the wife whom he forgot to bring with
him in his fight; but now the Gazette of
st. Joseph, Mo-, introduces him as for
tunes favorite in a romano wholly dis
dainful OF the ~hackneyed foreign climax.
Mr.. Butler is his name in this last cele-
b~ration, and his story opens with the
formal prefer of his courtly addresses to
q charming young lady Of st. Joseph,
whom he first saw and admired upon a
time when she rode on that train Of the
Hannibal and st. Joseph Railroad of
which he was a brakeman. The likeli-
hood Of any stylish young lady's falling
in love with a brakeman can be made
real to the Eastern mind only by the alb
solutely necessary supposition that the
occidental slave of the st9am-whistle is
of far more comedy asbectland engaging
style Of dress than his oriental brother;
and hence it may be inferred that he of
this romance was by no means the grimy
miracle OF irregular features and indies
cribaDle hat and boots SO often seen
through the windows of car doors by OBJ
serving travellers on this side the CONT
nent. Still, despite his superior appear
ance, his suit for the hand of the young
lady was not Immediately successful; she
withholding the desired affirmative until,
as she said, he should be able to assure
her Of his pecuniarya ability tosupporther
as she wished to be supported. Mr. But
Ter unhesitatingly promised to give her
that assurance very soon, and thereupon
disappeared from St. Joseph for a few
weeks. Returning, he brought the In
nouncement that he had become the pop
ular and affable conductor Of a train on
the Union Pacific road; and, as the lady
believed that the speculative opportuni-
ties Of such a position must be much
more than its mere salary, the two were
married, and speedily departed on the
bridegroom's train for Ogden. Taking
a small tour in the latter place, the ex-
brakeman persuaded the young wife to
give him her modest dowryof $1,000, for
investment in three mining claims,
which, although they had long been
deemed nearly worthless, he regarded as
sure to appreciate. For some time after
this disposition Of the money, there was
hard living for the twain but, some two
weeks ago, the mining claims suddenly
arose in value to such an extent that
Of them was readily sold for $4,000.
The next n brought twice as much
the third, four times as much and now,
as the local papers say, Mr.. Butler, for
merry brakeman, is a rich man, enor-
mously respected, and assured a future
as luxurious as his past was the reverse.
10 be sure, his story is not quite SO ro-
mantle as was that Of the other Western
brakeman who fell heir to a million ster-
ling in England last month /; but, as IL
Illustrative Of those vicissitudes of Ameri-
can life which theorizers claim as first
class material for American novels of So
ciety and native comedies, it may serve
as well to furnish useful hints for the
coming great geniuses Of the new home
literature. A brakeman, suddenly raised
to wealth and luxury, still seems to lack
something Of the romantic capabilities
usually required for the sustained inter
est of unconstitutional fiction; but it is
held, In some very respectable critical
quarters, that a Sufficient mastery of
true art" is all that is needed to make
an American Lothian" Of him. g'
saaae4
nor-- IN