St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1890-09-20

Some JdeA of tho Work Of q LOCO
motive Fireman.


AAGSAO u89 U0e0 WTltb6U o. 600 1OC0m01
tivc fireman. Like tho newspaper 70.
pqgter. his identity is sunk In the great
Hdtsro8 3na the prominenca
Of his supeRiotA He Is seldom heard
from unleG he neglects 70 jump at the
critical moment and his nanno appears
in the listaof tho Aead or wounded. A
passing notice 4 all he resolves until be
serves tho tpll period Of the slavery Of .
locomotivegangway and moves from tho
0remsn's box on the left Of the cab to
the enginemany boz on the right and
then be Is . Azeman no longer.
Few Of thS travellers gliding across
the country In comfortable passenger
coaches givste thought to tho motive
power that enables them 70 visit two or
three States In . day. They can not
realize that there is any severe labor
attached to the trip They see the
neatly-uniformed conductor who leisure
ly treads the aisles the fndolent brake
man Longing from one end Of the train
to the other. and tho white-jacketed
colored porter. evidently not suffering
from overwork. These visions do not
give tho traveller any very vivid i'm
preston Of hard work. But while they
are appearing and reappearing thsre q
one man who is warming his bread by
the sweat ofAis brow" and that Is the
fireman. Dirty begrimmed end greasy
from head to foot tho fireman IL per.
forming duties that no two OF the pas
scnGers In the train behind HIN. would
care to undertake. were they capable OF
30 doing. There Is very little poetry
and vast deal Of reality In an engine
cab. especially the cab Of . passenger
engine. The train is running at hiRh
speed; the engine Is the motive power;
steam is its life. and it devolves upon
the fireman to supply the steam. Many
people would say: "Why. that's easy
enough! All2edoes is to put In coal"
"All he has - do is to put In coall"
It would be great sport to see the su.
thors OF such remarks put In tho coal.
would be interesting to watch them
ciambering from the box to the gang.
way. and the gangway to the box few
times while performing the double du-
ties OF firing" and watching the track
ahead. .l;,s
Putting in the coal is all right hut
when the coal Is put in every two or
thrcc minutes It soon becomes monoton.
Gus and shortly, ,lAtiguing. especially on
twelve or afteen-hour trip The pr,c-
tlcai fireman becomes used to his work.
however, and is able to keen up during
tho trip 10 dot only ..puts in : 'fre.
cssrs TWO or three minutes. but he il
oo''sea 70 put It in rightly and scien-
nnciiiy: 1t would be Impossible for =
green nreman to- keep up the peoper
.m"on. OF steam for passenger engine
or TO keep her hot" The fre-hor cf |
. locomotive u o. trecherous thing 10 |
ono not understanding It The boz "a |
from six to eight feet-in .o,,. !,
cases zen fect-in- length. and
four or nre feet in width. Tho bottom |
Is composed Of tyc movable CRATES
wh,eh are SO placed as to leave crcvices
d sac ends and sideo which 1ro Si4ua;lv
conduits Tor the saruuRht AZ tho frort I
cnd OF the frebn are 1hc fiucs. A Are 7
man ~no knows his business under 7
stands the codssfiction OF tho bor
thoroughly. He iscarcfui not to ..arc~
700 much IN front and thus shut up tho
lucS ana nc feeds to the ends and \
'idcs. thereby closing M. tia c,exiees
ma shutting out the cold air which
would speedily cool tho flues ana az \
troy their steaming power. Nos 90
much attention isrpaid 10 the center |.
l'.noasa the coalDust be evenly dis
J. '.soas',a and. in mo- cas4. allowed 70
heap which would result. in Ee
'tadcss % clog tkS' eta>esS .Nor-a.e..