Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1890-09-05
THE COMING or NLNETYTIvo

Most wide awake boys are interested i,
railroad matters, and certainly Svdnc,
Roberts was no exception 10 the rule. n,
had known for a good while-as, indeed
had every one else along the line-that tn,
Heathfeld branch was doing too much busi
ness to be running over a single track, an,
he was glad TO hear that at last il had beer
decided to lay down the much needed add
tional rails. The work was begun in tn,
spring, and by the end OF June it had beer
carried as far as West Heathfeld, sydney,
home. So it was that he and his cousin
Ned Gilman, who had come 30 pass tn,
summer vacation with him, could spenc
very agreeably part of their time in over
seeing operations, and in making sure ev
erything was done properly aud IN order
Their superintendent, which was duit,
gratuitous, may not have been of any par
ticular value to the railroad company. bu
certainly it was a wonderful satisfaction t,
themselves. 1t CHANGED that James Grant
the foreman of the construction gang
took board with Mrs. Lowell, the Roberts
next neighbor, and 50 the two bows wer,
able TO scrape an acquaintance with hin
directly.
Grant was a fine manly looking fellow
not over thirty years Of age, but, strang,
to say, though his eyebrows and mustacb,
we're dark, his thick, closely cropped hail
was nearly as white as snow Syd and hi,
! cousin had often wondered how such Q
state of things came about, and one da,
their curiosity on that point was gratifed
II was during the noon hour, while the,
we're sitting, all three, in the shanty, dis
posing of the contents Of their dinner pals
that Sydney happened to ask Grant 10 tell
them a story.
"A true one, | mean, Jim some real ad
venture that happened to you, be added.
well, I'm not much on yarn spinning
returned the young foreman, "but III dc
my best. How would it suit for me to tell
you the way got this white top Of mine
eh Z"
Just the thing - exclaimed Ned 1--WE
wanted to hear how that happened, only
we didn't like to ask you"
'Oh, bless you it's no secret" said
Grant. Twas a mighty rough expert
ence, but it's nothing to be ashamed of.
Let me see, it must have been about five
years ago, | think. was in much the
same business I'm in now. We were
double-tracking the b. and F., or rather
we were extending the second track over
the whole line. By yand-by we got in among
lonesome
places there were there, too. was a sort
of assistant boss, although had full charge
of my special gang, the head foreman hav-
ing general oversight all along the road
They were pretty hard set, those men
had to look after, mostly Italians of the
lowest sort, hired because they would work
for next TO nothing. 1t needed pretty
strong hand TO control them, but | had it b,
or thought had. "
81 guess you made them walk straight if
you were anything like what you are now, -
interposed Sydney. Il notice you keep
these fellows here mighty well under your
thumb
Under my thumb" retorted Grant
with laugh. II had to keep those rascals
under my heel. These chaps | have now
are like lambs compared with that crowd
tell you, boys, no Niger driver in the
West Indies ever was more Of tyrant
than | had to be then Ii wouldn't have
done to knuckle to the fellows an inch
had TO give them hard words, and be ready
TO follow those up with hard blows, and
even then | didn't steer clear of trouble
There were two particularly tough subjects
among them-one a swarthy fellow by the
name of Giacomo, the other sort of giant
named francesca. We used to call them
Black Jack and Big Frank.
''Oue time | caught Big Frank stealing
railroad iron. Such junk is pretty hard to
dispose of, we usually think, but he man
aged to get rid of some fifty odd pounds of
good spikes and bolts aud get drunk on the
proceeds. didn't fancy such cuttings up,
and | gave him the sack-turned him off.
OF course that didn't please him overmuch,
and soon heard that he had declared open
Its 80. aW.Ns. e 4 I
the earliest opportunity"
Weren't you afraid he would do it =
asked Ned
Afraid I" Grant repeated, with slight
curl of the lip. The man who is afraid
has no business standing in my shoes, let
me tell you. If those rascally Italians had
had the least suspicion that | could be
scared by them or any one else, might
just as well have given up trying TO man
age them first as last. Just after sent
Big Frank a-packin Black Jack had spree,
and lost a day and a half. 1t wasn't the
first time the thing had happened, and |
warned him that if he went off again he
would get walking ticket that would be
good for the rest of the season. Well, he
was out another half day that very week.
didn't suppose he would have the mpu-
dence to come back after that, but he did
In the afternoon | caught sight of him,
working away with the other hands as Sc
rehely as II nothing unusual had occurred.
sent Tor him lnstanter. lie came, look
ing as innocent and unconscious as you
please. I'm not very good mimic, boys,
but III try and give you some idea of the
sort OF lingo he used when he tried to talk
English.
You want see me, borss he began.
Yes, said l, sharply Jack, do you re-
member what l told you last week, and
this week, too
Las, wick { he repeated, with a slow
shake OF the head and a curious, lazy
drawL No, borss no member so long
20.
Well, said l, luckily l can remember
for two. I've no use for man with such
short memory as yours, Jack. You may
60
'Go Yes, borss all right said he,
and moved OIL,
Il don't know whether he really misun-
derstOod me or was only pretending to do
So but, at any rate, he didn't go in the di-
rection had intended. lie simply return
ed to his place in the gang and went on
shoVelng ballast. Something called my
attention Just then, and 1t was several
minutes before noticed this. When did,
though, made tracks in his direction pret
~ nvely' can tell you. was young and