The weekly clarion. [volume] (Jackson, Miss.) 1863-1882, 1877-06-27
THE AGGAGE SMASHER'S
STORY.
How Eae Handled the Trunk OF
"a NeWly-Mnrricd Couple of
Uncertain Age.

rennrter asked a dapper little fellow in a
blue uniform and n gold banded cap at
the PENNSYLVANIA Railroad Depot, day
or two ago.
81 am one of them.
"You?" the reporter said i1quiringly,
and then looked him over "What !"
he thought himself, ''this little pin and
needle. the trunk smasher of the road
No He can only be the deceitful dummy
put here to delude travellers with the
belief that their baggage will be handled
like can of nitro-glycerine. The man
with the iron fist and steel boot who Jerks
the life out of trunk by a twist
of the wrist, must be behind somewhere"
just then q carriage drove up, 4 lady
got out, and a gentleman asked for
checks for a moderate sized trunk for
Chicago. The dapper little fellow looked
at their tickets, put CHECK on the trunk,
and then by a mysterious twist, and
without seeming to move his body, skill
fully rolled it along the long baggage
room. AS he reached the truck, on
which other trunks had been loaded, he
gave a little yank, and the trunk bounded
up from the floor. Another movement,
too rapid for the reporter to see what it
( Il
without SO much as pa scratch on it.
Then the baggage master came back,
as fresh and as clean as Il fancy bar-ten-
/ der
"Where's your baggage?" he asked the
marvelling reporter.
'Ihavn't any. But how is it you handle
that trunk so easy?"
The little man looked at the reporter
politely but inquisitively. The reporter
told him who he was, and that ne wanted
to know something about the secrets
of the business, and whether they were
getting re1dy to smash a pile of trunks
this summer
Then a sad look crept over his face.
'fSmashing' gone by, at least herea-
bouts" he said. There isn't any more
fun in the business such as the old men
tell me there used to be. We don't have
any chance to study people and get to
know them by their trunks as the old
fellows did. There isn't any life, not a
bit of free and easy work about this thing
nowadays. A fellow, if he is going into
baggaging, ought to have begun twenty
years ago. Then there was fun. | didn't
know myself-only what | hear the old
boys say"
Then you don't oil up you arms and
practice with the dumb bells, and kick the
sand bags, SO as to get in good working
trim to master trunks?'
''No, indeed we've been trained very
differently. It's gone to the other ex-
IRENE. They expect US to wear a clean
shirt, Piccadilly collar, with white tie,
use perfumed soap on our hands, and to
( IL 10
can put on calico Jacket to keep the
dust off from our shirt bosoms. But you
notice blggageman show himself now
any more than he can help when the
trains stop. You can just see his head
out of the ear door when he's unloading
a trunk. Then we have to learn how to
get purchase on a trunk, so as to twist
it around on one corner, and make all
the strain come on that corner and our
wrists, and a scratch on a trunk now
shows that some green hand has had hold
of it. They'll expect us to learn the Ian
guages next. Oh, yes, we are scientific,
but thereisn't any fun about itany more,"
and the poor fellow sighed.
"Let me take you hand" he continued.
He gave the reporters hand wrench that
made it feel as though it had got ito the
screw of an ocean steamer.
That's what it does for us any way.
The old boys could have knocked your
head off at one blow, but they couldn't
squeeze like that"
Last year the Centennial, you know, |
was busy one for US, and we had more
regular cowsheds of trunks to handle; but |
we managed most of them, except hair |
trunks, swan but we did hate to get |
hold of hair trunk. You can't get any |
purchase on them. They are so slippery
that you can't do anything with them,
and the little iron handles cut the fingers.
1t looksrnow as though travel would be
light this summer. The hot spell turned
out few, but business isn't going to be
the difference between baggaging now
and few years ago see some of the old
boys"
Now, this little talk was revelation,
and it seemed good thing to follow up
the disclosure, and see whether the ira
ditional baggage smasher was really pass
ing away like so many other of the
delightful old institutions which civillza-
ton, and especially railroad civilization,
has destroyed.
At the Erie, the Central New Jersey, {
and the Grand Central Depots, the repOr-
ter found the same dapper little men.
Some of them would talk little about
business, but all were sad. They hear {
stories about the old days, when the
smashers looked on the trunk as person, {
and felt free to act out their real feelings /
toward it. {
They see that the veterans learned .
lot of human nature from trunks, and I
could tell at glance what sort of per- /
son represented particular piece of bag (
gage, and then they would treat that |
particular piece in just the way to dis &
turb that person. No, the new men are
getting to be machines. They do their {
work perfectly, neatly and uniformly 4;
but the monotOny of it shows itself on c
their habits. Ask them if they expect
much summer travel many Saratoga r
trunks TO handle; if they are in good {
to grapple with the three s
deckers-they smile sadly. They don't t
seem to expect anything; their training '
teaches them that a Saratoga differs 3
from hog-skin valise only in the meth (
cd of treatment, and they care no more {
for three decker than a carpet bag. (
They have mastered the business scien-
tifcally, and it has mastered them (
knocked all the individuality out of i
them. So / couldn't learn from them {
whether big or little summer travel is {