The Red Cloud chief., 1889-09-20

busy taking down replies aid sundry men,
oranda. The stack Of letters n kilograms
had very p~erccptibly diminished when the
door of the Office opened to admit an old
man. Not a rcv old man, perhaps, and yet
one whose shoulders were decidedly benten,
whose hair was scant and grizzled and
whose wcather-beaten face was marked
with many a deep furrow.
Half way from the door to the large desk,
cap in hand, the man stood while MI. Lock
wood finished the dictation of q long letter.
Then tho official looked up.
"Ah, RaInsford," he said. ''good morn
ing. Let me see. I said 1870. You are
ahead of time. Just take . seat ard I will
be through here in less than fifteen min
utes."
Then mar seated himselfin one of the capa-
cious, leather seated chairs. while b su.
p~erintendent went ON with his work as
though there had been no interruption.
Having dictated q reply to the verylast
letter in the stack, Mr.. Lockwood rose
from his chair and walked over to where
his visitor sat. On his way he lit a cigar.
and then, thrusting his hands into his
pockets, thus began:
"You have worked for the ~company-hoW
long, Rainsford"
'Thirty-thrcc years. SIR"
":ln the cab all that timer"
"Every year Of it. Three years firing and
thirty years a engineer"
'It's q good record, IN almighty good rec.
ord. Rainsford."
Mr.. Lockwood coughed, q little, hard.
dry cough not caused BY the cigar smoke.
Then he walked to his desk. walked back,
and coughed once more. Eyes, it's an ex.
cellcnt record. But has it ever struck
you that you are not a. young rs you were
thirty-three years agoa You know, Rains.
ford, every dog has his day. We are all
growing old. It 10 merely . question Of
time"
The superintendent smiled grimly, and
the engineer smiled also, though he could
by no means comprehend the drift of the
officials moralizing remarks.
well, SIR" said he, "there's no dc.
nying what you say. liant As timber as ]
used to be. A nan on the shady side Of
sixty ant exao.y Sall himself one of the
boys. But, pleas. Tod, Mr.. lockwood, I'm
equal to a good many more u before we
20 into the round-h0zse for the last time"
Mr. Lockwood coughed again, and
kpocked The as~es Oh his cigar.
1.-THE fact Is, Rainsford, that we are going
to make several changes ON the Midland.
I've been put in here by tho directors and
they expect q good deal out Of me-more
than I can get out Of the road - It Is
manned at present. I believe in young men.
so, though I have nothing whatever against
you personally, I shall have to request you
70 hand in your resignation. Let me see;
this is the twenty-second-let us say on the
last of the month"
The words fell on old Dick Rainsford's
ears with q dull thud. Such . possibility as
this, while he was still In good health
sound mentally and physically-had never
entered into his mind. T~hiity-three long
years of faithful service In sunshine and in
storm, in prosperity and in adversely,
through evil report and good report. under
receivers and under presidents, through
strikes and financial panics-the thirty.
three best years Of his life. and then ~
quest to resign.
The fine old fellows tongue was tied, and
he did not ever make an effort to o He
Just sat still and twirlcd his cap In his
fingers while over and over and over the
words followed each other through his par
tiaily-stunned brain-roQsested to resign.
Even the cold biooded, selfish and calcu.
hating official was ~momentarily affected.
I'VE might find . crossing or . target or
something of that kind for you to put in
your time at; that would be easy for you
and might help you out . bit. We don't
want to be hard on you, Rainsford-indeed,
that isn't the question. It's . matter Of
business and ~expediency, for you may be
sure that the directors do not run this road
for glory and can not afford to work it in the
interest of a lot of pensioners. So"
''That will do, Mr.. Lockwood" said Dick,
hoarsely, as he slowly arose on hearing the