The National tribune. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1877-1917, 1888-07-12
THE COUNTY SURVEYOR.
A County Magnate Who Inspires Awe.
Terms Ciniu1S

Tends SifingS.l
Those of my dear readers who can read land
I suppose, without doubt that a good many
of them CAM will, with little difficulty, recall
the awe in which the magicians of the olden
time were held by their fellow-mortals This
awe and veneration has n parallel in modern
life in the general respect and consideration
with which the County Surveyor is treated on
the occasion of professional visit to one Of the
hamlets in his territory.
Enoch Jimson and Scion McGill got into
wrangle over new line fence that must be
built, each wanting TO shove 1T over toward his
neighbor little. Although the land In dis
pute amounted to but little, they could reach
no settlement of the difficulty without the lines
being run" So the County Surveyor is call
ed in, and it is then that his Importance is
manifested and his vanity gets a wholesale
tickling.
Augustus Bngs is not man you would pick
out in a crowd as being one to whom the world
at large would look up with any remarkable
degree of veneration Nor does he seem to ex-
pect it, as he walks among his fellow men in
the populous County-seat. But when he reaches
the little town of Punkinville his dignity and
Importance have grown to enormous proper
tions. Possibly it is the ozone of the country
air that has so remarkable an effect.
On this trip he is accompanied by youth
who carries the chain and holds the rod with
intention of ultimately learning the mysteries
of the profession, aud at last shining forth
himself This youth is the cynosure of all
eyes, as far as the juvenile portion of the viii
lage is concerned, and is envied as being the
happy pOssessor of enormous brain qualifica-
tions thus to enable him to act in the impor-
tant capacity in which he does. All the slang
phrases which he drops are eagerly snapped up
by his young admirers, and the chestnuts that
he incidentally relates pass current the latest
and best wit for many day.
1t is only the assistant that jests, however.
| The surveyor himself is self-contaiucd, and
scOrns such frivOlities as being unseemly in a
man advanced so far in science as he is. His
utteraECes are brief and sententious, and con-
fined mostly to sundry and dark hints as to
the capacity of tie individual who run the
lines before.
Deliberation and lack of hurry are marked
characteristics OF our surveyor on these trips,
and it being so near noon he does not under
! take his work until after he has refreshed him.
self with dinner. The smiling and gracious
| landlord escorts his guests to their seats the
cook holds the kitchen door open crack and
| inserts a tOuseled head to steal glance at the
! great man the young lady that waits on the
table adjusts her bangs and looks pleasant at
/ the assistant the regular boarders file in and
/ seat themselves and turn their conversation tC
as important subjects as possible so as not to
! be considered too Ostentatiously hippant.
DluuGI ONBi OuI buiNGyOI anu lis doolottfi
| are rejoned by the contending parties and an
augmented audience They proceed to the
| seat of war; the assistant spreads the three
| sticks so they will stand alone; the surveyor
motions the boy who carried the box to come
| forward. He steps forth with his precious bur
! den with the proud step Of a soldier called
! from the ranks to receive a decoration fol
! bravery. The eyes of the public are turned
/ toward the box, each eager to catch the first
glimpse of its contents. The surveyor takes
key from his pocket, stoops down and deliber
ately opens the cover 4 stiffness falls upon
the group, as he lifts from its resting place the
/ transit and puts it in position on the tripod
Each move he makes locating, leveling and al
| the various manuverings are watched carefully
! and no motion escapes notice. His assistant
| walks away from the instrument, bearing the
figured rod and pulling the wire chain. HI
pauses at a certain distance; holds up the rod
the surveyor places his eye to the instrument
and waves his hand TO the right; the assistant
moves the rod to the right; he waves his arm
again; the assistant moves again; he gaze
long and earnestly, then stands erect and tht
surveyor produces little red book in which
he makes few figures. He stops to talk will
Jimson and then with McGill. The Postmaste
sidles up, holds one eye shut with his finger
squnts into the instrument with the other anC
sees-nothing The cobbler, the next best poll
tician, who is also deacon in the church ant
school committeeman, follows the Postmaste
with the same success. One or two more of tn
more influential and important inhabitants d
the same while the new doctor, who once Car
ried chain during vacation to earn money t.
pursue his studies, asks the surveyor " if hi
vernier reads to the fractions of seconds
which so bOOms his reputation for learning
that old Doctor Bolus loses three patients dur
ing the next week, who transfer their supper
TO the new doctor who is up to the times"
At length the survey is made, and the mat
ter decided in favor of neither, for the old fenc
was in the right place. and the two contestant
become friendly once more. The surveyo
and his assistant leave On the evening train
and the village settles back into its accustome
tranquility, but for some time to come th
record of an event is based on the number c
days or weeks that it happened before or afte
that there surveyor was out to Jimsons."