Daily Los Angeles herald., 1884-08-13
Wants to Marry q Brakeman.

A West Side girl writes to the Sun as
follows:
81 want some advice, as you seem to
be full Of it and don't charge anything
for it, am 10 years old, and my folks
the fellow that wants to marry me.
He is brakeman on the railroad, on a
passenger train. He knows all about
the railroad business, and learns some
thing new about railroading every trip
he makes, but he does not dress very
stylish, and his voice is awful rough,
and ma gets nervous every time
he comes to the house, though pa thinks
he Is manly fellow, il he does act
rough. They both want me to marry
fellow who works in store and sings
real sweet, and dresses real nice, but he
has been u clerk nine years and has
never been promoted. l think my
brakeman will be promoted. He says
to me sis, / will got there. Eli, and
don't you let it escape your memory.
don't know Eli, or what my brakeman
means by getting there, but when he is
with me | feel so contented and happy
and not hall sick at my stomach as l
uo Wutu tho tttth Sthos w hhSh w
you think is the best?
Well 'sis, it is a hard thing to ask nm
old man that hasn't seen the two fellows,
to express an opinion, but ON q test
voto around this office, tho brakeman
would get there Eli, by largo majority.
II the clerk has been a clerk nine years
and never has been promoted, and sings
falsetto, and makes You sick, he will
never be promoted, and if you marry
him you will always be clerks wife.
and when he comes to buying dresses
and things for you. he will have to dress
poorer himself, and then he will be
ashamed, and then he may stop singing
and scold you In that falsetto voice, and
by and by you will be sick in earnest and
you will not have q very happy time.
That brakeman has got that in him,
from the description you give of him, to
be worth money to the railroad, and
after while tho railroad will give him
a train, and maybe superintendency.
Then you will forget the harsh voice III
which hs calls out the stations now.
That voice, in case you are sick, can be
toned down so that 1t will sound to you
like the whisper of an angel. That big
hand that seems so rough now. Look
back 20 years and see how many of the
first class brakemen Of tnat day are
away up on the top rounds Of the lad
der. Did you see that big funeral on
Grand Avenue Wednesday, when Is, 900
people rich and poor. millicnairos and
iaboring men; turned out and stood tear.
fully as the remains Of the grand rail-
road superintendent were taken away,
Did you realize that tho dead man,
honored by all who ever heard Of him,
and loved by all who anew him, once
was a brakeman, much such brakeman
as the one you love, and that his motto
in business was the same as that of your
brakeman. "Get there Eli." The ex-
preston quoted, means whenever you
have anything to do, never stop until
it is done, and never fail. 1t is a homely
expression, and is used many times
when prettier words would be better,
but there is ring of words. like tho
bugle in battle. The man who died 80
suddenly, was the same kind of brake
man that makes your mother so nervous
and you SO happy. He did not dress
well then. and his vote was rough, but
he was not contented with simply turn
ing the brake, and sitting in the car by
the stove, and splitting ON the stove, and
counting the days until pay day. He
was learning something all the time,
and though it was not in his line OF bust.
ness, he could soon tell about every
thing on the train. from the COW catcher
to the rear platform, knew when a rail
needed replacing, cattle-guard needed
repairs, how long every side track was,
and how many freight cars it would
hold, and he knew every man on the
road, and could call them by their given
names. He did not remain brakeman,
but was promoted right along, and il
his life could have been spared, the
railroad company would have laid him
down q million dollars in fifteen min
utes to save him. Now, sis look ahead
20 years, and the brakeman whose voice
is SO harsh that it is liable to stop the
clock, and who seems to be trying to
learn things that will make him valu.
able to the company he works for, may
climb right along up the ladder, until
your mother will think his voice is the
sweetest music she ever heard, she will
be nervous when he does not come
home from his work, where now, she
is nervous when he does show up. He
may rank within the next twenty years,
with hundreds of brainy men, who are
invaluable to corporations, and they
nearly all commenced where your dar-
ling harsh-voiced brakeman is now. II
your father and mother have got the
sense they ought to have, to be the
parents Of girl with as good head as
you seem to have. it is strange that
they will be mashed on the Sticky clerk
with his spindle legs, who seems to want