The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1878-10-23
xsasania an q Doy.
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20 49, xshpf. u LIFE. ss

6 - EARLY LIZ &.
ty. Il. bishop. III scribner sor sovemoeEl
! e ..s.sss,s, Ma bennn the werld-as train-
49, s., ~, Grand Trunk railroad OF Can't
a cansrnI Michigan. To one who has
s s,a ire gprecocioiIs scsi~Fossession, tine
sssnnant conversational powers, ana tue
shsrn financial dealings OF the Young per
an,,s who for the most part abound tta
i, ii does not seem 4 profession Tor the
cultivation Of a spirit OF qules Te-
search, or the most thorough ACQUIRE.
u,ent OF the sciences ana arts. r DnS
is Isl fair TO presume that Master hol-
son att this time had no very com
nrehensiyc scheme oil development Pr
pared Is offered the most sayaalaDis uea .ts
cs livelihood. He went into it with sach'
. Will, that ii, course OF time be became an
cmnloyer OF labor, having four assistants
nnder him for the disposal OF MS wares.
y fya Ia NOT ayerse TO recus TO the humofs OF
shis part OF his life.
4 :" - Were YOU one OF the kind OF train
5bovs. ), he has been asked, tswho sells hgs
IN boxes with bottoms half an inch thick - Il
ali / recollect right, be replied, with o
merry twinkle, a. the bottoms OF my boxes
were good incb.
90 There exists tlaguerreotype OF the train
boy Of this epoch. It shows the future
celebrity as chubby-faced IelloW3 ~ !, =. q
elazefl cap and muller, with papers unaer
his arm. The face has an expansive smile
mt TO nut too fine point upon II. grln.
Vet there is something honest and little
sienrecating in it, instead Of inpudence.
He was. as will be shown, an eccentficlty
amone rrian-boys, and was no doubt sensl-
BILE or it. He looks like a fellow whose
glazed cap brakeman would tonzle over
his eyes in passing, while thinking Sooo
Z deal OF him oil the same.
His popularity consisted in having estao-
llshed in turn in the distsed smokinS,seC-
ton OF a springless old baggage car, Which
served him as headquarters tor MS Pape!s,
fruits. and vegetable ivory, two industries
little known 10 train-boys in general. lie
surrounded himself with quantity OF bot
files and some retort-stands, made in tue
!, railroad shops in exchange for; papers, pro-
cured n copy OF stFresenius's Qualitative
Analysis,,' and, while the car bumped
r,steiy along. conducted the expert
Ynents OF a chemist. BY hanging about
the office OF the. Detroit Free Press
in some spare hours he had acquired
an idea OF printing. AT laYoraole
opportunity he purchased from the once
800 pounds OF old type, and to the iaoo-
ratory a priating-ofice was added. IL
seems to have been by peculiar, good
us
own. with his eyes extremely wide open
and sure of what they wanted to see, tbat
his practical Information on so many usefui
subjects was obtained. He learned some
thing of mechanics and the practical mas
fery OF s. locomotive in the railroad shops,
and acquired an idea OF the powers OF eiec-
tricity from telegraph operators. With his
printing-office lie published paper-the
Tyand- IrunE Herald. 1t was weekly,
twelve by sixteen inches, and was
noticed by the London Times, to which
a copy had been shown by some traveller
as the only journal In the world printed on
railway train. The impressions were
! taken by the most primitive OF all means
that of pressing the sheets upon the type
with the hands-and were on but one side
of the paper. Baggagemen and brakemen
contributed the literary contents. In 1862.
during the battle Of Pittsburgh Landing, the
9 enterprising manager conceived the idea OF
teleeraphing on the headlines of his eX-
citing news and having them pasted on bull
,ietin-boards at the small country stations.
The result was profitable venture, and the,
first awakening Of interest on his side in the
art Of telegraphing in which he WAS des-
tined to.piay such q remarkable part. -
!. During this time he continued his read
ing with undated industry. His train
carried him into Detroit, Wnere tnere were
advantages he had never enjoyed before.
An indication ct his thirst for knowledge,
OF naive ignoring Of enormous difficult
ties, and of the completeness with which
the shaping Of his career was in his own
hands, is found in project formed by him
to read through the whole public library.
There was no one to tell him that all OF
human knowledge may be found in a
certain moderate number OF volumes, nor
to point out to him approximately what
they are. Each book was in his view dis.
tinct part of the great domain, and he meant
to lose none Of it. He began with the solid
treatises Of dusty lower shelf and actually
read, in the accomplishment Of his heroic
purpose, fifteen feet in line. He omitted
no book and skipped nothing in the book.
The list contained. among others, New
toms Principal" Ure's scientific dicton-
aries, and Burton's Anatomy Of Melan-
choly."