The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1892-04-28
Conductor Smiths Dilemma,

Conductor Smiths Dilemma.
Is there one among the thousands that
have travelled on this train who does not
know, and who knowing does not esteem
Conductor smith-"Billy" Smith of the
Blue Ridge Railroad? Surely not, for
like his prototype, Baines Carew, the
sympathetic attorney of the Bah Ballads,
who was so overcome by the recital OF
his clients woes that he chad scarcely
strength to take his tee" Billy, the en-
bodiment of courtesy and kindness, never
collects fare or punches ticket with out
a deprecatory smile and look of SYM
pathy as tho it grieved him very much.
| This accommodating disposition has made
him an easy prey to an exacting public.
Other trains have passed over his road,
but the cream of the travel has always
been Reserved for Billy. His the happi-
ness of looking after tow-headed boys
! sent to visit distant relatives his the
honor of escorting the boarding-school
grown girls who have been provided II. ..th
halEfare tickets by their thrifty mothers
his the privilege of. hauling to and fro,
ladies who have been blessed by prodi.
gal providence, ladies with bird cages,
ladies with baby carriages, ladies with
cats in baskets, ladies with geraniums in
pots, ladies with home made jam and
| pickles in jars, ladies with bundles and
/ band boxes, ladies With an overweening
desire to pour into his sympathetic ear
divers family secrets-the exact number
Of teeth the last bsby but one has cut,
the number and variety of the fashiona.
bic ailments considerably diagnosed by
| their family physician, ETC., etc. With
these and like condolences the patient
| conductors time is not infrequently
mhiled away between stations.
Thus for years has Billy Smith trod-
or rather ioggled over-the path of duty
between Walhalla and Bolton. In the
springtime, when rill and river are swol-
len by heavy rains, and the tawny waters
rush down the hillsides, outlying the
plowed lands and scattering the rich soil
"out among the neighbors," when the
pale blue wild violets and the waxen
Easter lilies peep from dell and dinglo,
and the peach aud plum trees, clustering
around: the farm houses, open their pink
and wkite petsls to the sunshine and the
dew; in the summer, when the golden
bees s%arm over the clover blooms and
the ripe grain falls before the sweep Of
the scythe; in the autumn, when the
chestnut burrs lie on the sod and the
dead leaves swirl in the blast; in the
winter, when the Blue Ridge is wrapped
in slumber robe of snow and the frost
crystals, forced out of the icy earth,
sparkle on the .ides of the deep cuts-in
all seasons and in I'll weathers, Billy
Smith plod. on. Time and toll have
streaked his beard with gray aud deepen.
ed the lines in his face, but his smile is
as sweet and his hands and feet as willing
as ever they we're in his younger days,
aud until be shall run bis last train
through the golden gates of the new Je-
rusaleu,, and pass in his manifests to be
checked up by the Almighty Auditor, he
will doubtless still be seen at the ternini
Of the Blue Ridge Railroad, loaded to
the gunwale. like lighter at coaling
station, with babies, pugs dogs, Towering
plants and all the miscellaneous para
phernalia apparently inseparabie from
itinerant femininity, aud he will still ts ke
commanding position in the centre of
his coach and diurOally sing alas! "that
old, swset soug": "Beltou, Beltop. juno.
tion Columbia and Greenvile Railroad.
About fifty minutes, fifty minutes, before
the train comes for Columbia. Passsn.
gers going in the direction of Columbia
will have to git off now, you'll have to
git of, as this train leaves In about ten
minutes, ten minutes, for Greenvil!e, for
Greenvills-which is in the. opposite di.
rection from Columbia"
There are moments in every life when
flowers are no longer sweet and women
are no longer fair; when there is no mu.
sic in the song of birds, no merrimen: in
the laughter Of children, and all the
world seems dark.
One of these moments came to Billy
Smith the other day when Conductor
Fielding of the main line unloaded at
Belton, Diana Horlbsck, an elderly black
woman from Beaufort county, who with
her granddaughter "Lizzybet," spotted
pig in bag, two barnyard roosters and
hen tied by the legs, four quarts Of
roasted peanuts, bushel of "Crazy
Jane" sweet potatoes, large bundle OF
bedding, and divers and sundry other be.
longings, was on her way to Pendleton
to visit relatives. "rhe fight came up,''
as the Congressional reporters say, ION
the recurrence of the previous question: ~
which Tas in this case an emphatic de.
mand for the payment of full fare fol
Diara's "gran'" "Lizzybet," who was a
leggy girl of apparently fourteen years ol
age. "Cap'nl," said Diana, "dat gal is 8
'leben yeahs Ole gal, en- wayrcbber I do.s
tekkum on de strain, de buckra nebbel
does chasge me mo- den chillun money
fuh de gal. Ent you member, sub, de
yeah wen de drydout' cum? Well, dat
gal wuz bawn cen dat same berry yeah
cen de fuss paat ub de summer, cause
member berrywell de drydout dry up all
| de swamp, en- backwa!er en- ting cen
Auguss', en- all de man on dc plautes.
shun gone out cen de swamp en- ketch de
allegetter out'n e hole, an dis gal Lizzy'