The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1894-11-06
ZONE ENGINEER"

important than that, being the termi
nal point of a great railroad, the party
consisted of employees of all depart.
ments, occupying the chairs, the I'm
occupied desks and tables of the day
clerks, and n of them had q ntaken
the liberty to perch himself on the end
OF the short table upon which 1, as
night clerk, was 7laboriously making
out a list of cars received and for
Warded, stopping every now and then
TO listen to some particularly interest.
ing story or join in the laugh that went
round when some one made a good hit
at the expense of some one else.
There were we'll dressed, white
handed ''office dudes" al the road men
called the clerks, engineers and fore
men In oVeralls and jackets, freight
conductors, near each of which sat his
jealousy guarded lantern, two or three
uniformed train men who would 90
out on No. 81, a few tough looking
brakemen and switchmen, who, with
the freight agent, the day operator,
the dispatcher and the yard master,
made up a crowd of representative rail
road men who filled the Office to over
flowing, and who laughed and talked
and told stories, or engaged in wit and
repartee at each others expense, not
caring at all or whom the laugh fell,
for had't the victim always a remedy9
If he didn't like it, there was the door
through which he could slip; but in
justice to the good nature of all, let me
say that ''the hole the carpenter left"
was seldom II ever used as a means of
escape by the victims of the most bois-
ferrous jokes.
Il say, Dick" said Engineer Jimmy
Lynch to Dick Morley, who had once
been his fireman, but who was now
himself an engineer, "do yez reminder
the time we unloaded the coal fur 'em
up to Mackayville9 1 seq to Dicky, SEE
I, when we shot around the curve to
come into the depot, an there was a
load of coal they was unloadin'-my
air wasn't workin' good that day and
when l seen I couldn't stop in time, 1
seq to Dick, Now jist see me unload
that COAL Dick jumped off, but I un-
loaded the coal fur 'em all right enough,
didn't I, Dicks"
"Ya as" drawled Dick, as he leisure
ly loaded a short handled pipe, you
was whiter'n a dishcloth and after I'd
seen you throw 'er over and git down
behind the biler head with yer hands
over yer face, 1 skipped; 1 done bet
tern you did, I seen the coal onloaded
and you didn't"
Good-natured Jimmy joined in the
general laugh. Il Unloaded the coal
fur 'em, anneyway," he said.
THAT makes me think of the time l
give that farmer a ride on the caboose
from Green Creek to Delazon," put in
Conductor Lawrence; "you see this
Teller had a hull lot of eggs in a big
milk pail, and when he came in he sat
'em down by the door and put himself
in a chair with his back toward the
engin'. Dan Smith a pullin' us, and as
we had orders to git 'em there, Dan
was a sockin' it right to 'er. We was
poundin' along at about twenty mile an
hour when Dan seen somethin' wrong
ahead and he plugged 'er. Great Scott2
but you ought've seen that farmer; he
wasn't expectin' it, you know, and
when the caboose fetched up, he went
over backwards with his head plum in
that pail of eggs and the chair on top
of him; he thought he was killed, sure,
and lay there kickin' and yellin' fur
his mother till we got him on his legs
ag'in. Even then we could hardly
make him believe he was alive; he was
a pretty lookin' bird, I tell you"
Perhaps a score of other anecdotes,
all personal experiences, were reeled
off; some were ludicrous, some excit-
ing, a few pathetic, All were listened
to with interest and when one showed
evidence of exa~ggeration, the story
teller was numerically guyed in Ian
guage more full of force than elegance.
They finally dFifted into stories of
head end collisions, with hair breadth
escapes in some instances, others end
ing with 1.-The engineer and fireman
was both killed" All telling of the
experiences of other men until Jack
Flynn, the veteran yard master, spoke:
Boys" he said, II come pretty near
uuittin' railroadin' once on account of
a head end collision. I've been in most
every kind of scrape you can put a
man in when he's almost livin' on the
- -, ont If ,oDo oil witb O