Omaha daily bee., 1884-01-07
cry Walks AND TALKS.

- 6NN'AShhhNAh w ~ Shf1
Man About Town. "That's q big salar,
"a soft thing some people will call it
but l am glad of it," continued the gen
tleman ; 81 have known Mr.. Vining fo
several years. l regard him as a superio
man in many respects. He is a gentle
man, a scholar, a philologist, a man o
literary tastes, an inventor-in fact
genius. During all the years that he ha.
been connected with the Union Pacii,
as general freight agent and genera
traffic manager he has always taken time
to keep up his studies. He is q greaI
student of languages, and has made The
origin of language a speciality. He is il
fact one of the most eminent philologists
in America, and he has in preparation al
exhaustive work upon philology, which
he intends to publish some day. He has
spent several years of hard work upon it,
but it is not yet completed. 1t will be
the.effort of his life. Mr., Vining is a very
extensive reader of the higher class OF
literature, and is n fine mathematician,
being an expert in the higher branches
of Mathematics. 1t has always seemed tc
me that he would have made a better col.
lege professor than Il pool commissioner.
Of course. as a college professor, hewould
not havemade 50 much money. Mr.. Vim
ing is as learned as "a scholar as he is
shrewd in business affairs. While he is
feathering his financial nest, he is filling
the storehouse of his mind with learning,
I have been told that when Gould was
the ruling spirit in the Union Pacific he
gave MIR. Niniug IN opportunity, with
some other Union Pacific officials, to
make a very profitable deal in stocks.
don't know exactly how much he made,
but | believe it was something over $50,
O00." "You said Mr.. Winning was an in.
~ventor; what has he invented2" asked the
BEES Man About Town. 81 know of
one very important invention" replied
the gentleman, 'and that was an auto
matte car-brake. He invented it some
twelve or thirteen years ago,
and took out a patent. He never did
anything with it until about three years
ago, when he received a letter from an
automatic car-brake company, asking him
what he would take for his patent. He
had almost forgotten all about it, and
never had any idea that he would make
any meney out of it. 1t appears that
the attorney of the automatic car-brake
company, in looking over the patents in
the patent office at Washington, came
across Mr.. Winnings patent. The result
wss that MIR. Vining sold his patent to
the Westinghouse company, who paid
him his price. What that price was |
don't know, but it was quite a large sum.
The company needed Mr.. Winnings in.
~vention to combine with those 1t already
possessed. Mr.. Vining in his Office
is a very different man from
what he appears to be on the
street. In his office he is all business,
and when time permits he is quite soci-
able, and when in that mood his CONVEX
sation is quite entertaining. On the
street, however, he appears to be a very
eccentric man. He walks along, as if in
deep thought, swapping his fingers,
recognizing no one, and from a paper
bag eating peanuts, which by the way is
his favoritepastime. l suppose the peanut
peddlers all rejoice in Mr.. Winnings pros
perity. About the only things that attract
MI. Winnings attention as he walks along
the street are the show-bills on the bill.
boards. He frequently stops and studies
these works of art with as much attention
as he does some difficult freight problem
or Greek or Sanscrit root"
Nv
-"This cold snap reminds me of the
winter of 1S55-56," remarked an old set
tier as he was standing over a Paxton
hotel register trying to thaw himself out.
had as cold weather as this during
the whole of that memorable winter. 1t
began early in December and lasted way
into March. People in those days did
not have the comforts that we now have.
The houses were mere board shells, and
the cracks were stuffed up with cloth and
other articles, to keep the piercing wind
out. We had 10 coal, but had to burn
wood. 1t kept two men busy in each
house to supply wood for the
The fire was kept up
night and day, and some n was on
duty all the time to watch the stove and
see that the fire didn't go out. The
principal occupation of people during
that winter twas trying to keep warm,
and more than half the time they
couldn't do it. If the present cold
weather, which seems to have come all in a
should continue, you will then
have some idea of what the winter of
1S55-56 was, when the mercury dropped
SO low that y~ou.couldn't find it with a
line and a graphing hook. In
these days, however, people can protect
themselves much better against the cold
weather, asthey..have coal and ~self-feeding
furnaces, and steam heating. Be-
the buildings are different from
those of the pioneer days. The way we
are fixed now we ought not to complain
of cold weather. OF course the poor
will suffer, and l venture to say
that there are some destitute persons
in this city who have at times during this
cold weather had no coal, and have
suffered. This never should be
allowed in this city of 90, 900 inhabitants,
among whom there are SO many rich men
and persons in comfortable circum-
stances"
Nv
-MacD onagh, of the Waterman,
after reading THE BEES article on the
men of Omaha, ground out the
following:
Who is this with face so red,
An old SLOUGH hat upod his head,
Who moves about with stately tread?
The Colonel"
Who Is this with blood.shot eye,
Who smiling greets each passer-by,
Who walks right up and calls for rye!
The 'Major."