Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1874-02-27

The most tenacious flea upon the
bareback Of the body polite, is the
sewing machine agent. There is no
SHAKING him off. No specific has
ever been invented that has proven
effectual in eradicating him from So
ciety. You may chain him under
pile driver; throw load Of stone
on top of him; fire him out of a "a
inch Calumbiad; lock him up in a
powder magazine and blow up the
institution with fuse; drop him
from ballon; consign him to Osh-
hosh; compel him to subsist on
boarding house hash and fish balls;
administer to him a barrel of flea
bane month, but it's no use; you
can't kill him. He was never born
to die; for no matter what treatment
you subject him to, he invariably
turns up in front of your door, with
his horse tied to the hitching-post,
and machine on tho stoop, and be-
fore you have any settled opinion
as to whether you are yourself or
somebody else, he has dragged that
machine into your sitting-room, and
worked tho cold lady, into the be.
lief that she is totally incapable of
surviving another day without this
greatest OF all labor saving, health
preserving, back-actlon, selfoiling,
non-explosive, understanding,
patent spool pin, self-adjusting, lock
stitching, love-promoting, and indi-
spensible household utensil-a sew
ing machine.
Henry Ward Beecher, or some
other logical cuss, has said that
nothing was ever created in vain.
1t may be true. If, SO, the sewing
machine agent has his part to per-
form in accomplishing the great
ends intended by the Creator Of the
Universe. Perhaps without him
the earth could not revolve around
it's orbit Should he sink into OBJ
livion, the motive power which
drives the worlds machinery might
collapse a tiue, and general disar-
rangement of cogs, belts, eccentrics,
pistons, etc., ensue, which naught
could repair but his immediate re-
instatement Had the sewing ma
chine agent ceased to exist, undoubt-
edly that glorious Magma Ghorta
the Salary Grab law, and the dec
laration Of Independence, as pro-
mulgatcd by Susan B. Anthony,
would never have been tackled to the
nations escutcheon.
Seriously speaking, the sewing
machine agent is tenacious flea
most indefat gable, indispensable
and intelligent member ofthe genus
pule.e, without whom society would
retrogadc and the easy despatch
with which the family are kept cloth
ed, the means by which want has
been driven from the door, care
lightencd, faces frightened and
hope awakened, would be subvert.
ed by drudgery, want and wretch
edness. "God spare the sewing ma
chine agent is the prayer of thous'
ands who have experienced the
blessings bestowed through his
agency, and "God spare the sewing
machine agent" say we.-Goleno
G0zette.
A writer in the Hartford Couroa'
gives "reminiscences of railroading
in Connecticut forty years age
When the Hartford and New Haven
road was first opened it had very
meagre facilities, the road bed was
poor, had only scrap rails, which
were all the time curling up and
running through the car floors, and
the cars were small and the locomo'
tives weak. In fact, it didn't take
much to block train in those days
Sometimes an inch of snow on the
rails would do it. Henry G. White.
one of the first conductors on the
road, tells how he and the baggage
master used to sit in front OF the To-
comotive, one on each side, and
brush off the snow from the rails
with broom, as the train slowly
crawled along. Each had = pail Of
sand and sprinkled a handful on the
rails when necessary. The driving
wheels (engines only had one pail
thep) used to slip round and round
and torment them almost TO death
On enc occasion a train got "stuck'
on the Yalesvillc road by one inch
of snow, and the wood and water
gave out before they could overcome
it. At last they got out the neigh
bors, yokcd four pairs of oxen to the
train and drew it, passengers, bag
gage and all, into Meriden with fly
ing colors.
In the early days of the road, thu
stage coach drivers used to regart
the cars with great contempt. In
deed, thirty years ago, the passen
ger trains were three or four hours
on the road to New Haven, and th'
stage coaches went in about th'
same time. superintendent David
son remembers riding with his faith
er in carriage drawn by two hors
cs, in 1910, which had a race will
passenger train near Wallingford
where the railroad and turnpike art
parallel for three or four miles, ant
during all that time the carriage
kept even with the train. Their
were only two trains each way, dai
| ", then, both carrying passenger
and freight. The old cars were di
vided into three compartments
opened on the side, and had twenty
four seats.
The locomotive had only twelve
inch cylinders, and no cabs to pro
tect the engineer and fireman from
the weather. The oldest locomo
tives were the Hartford, Quinnipiac
Charter Oak, and New Haven.
| A corrnSnOndont of the Jackson