The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-08-07

40 ciAS " IA0 Ivy zeal OF Ike ledger. and
when you bid the boy good-by, see that hs
has copy Of the 'Superintendent's Advice to
His Son. old Superintendent
From the Railway Agent.
Inc superintendent was giving advice to
MS son IN private manner. The son was
ABOUT TO accept the SUPPLEMENTARY Of a
branch road, and the old man kindly gave
him some pointers, and in the following lam
guage
:. sy al means be dignifed. William. even
II you cont do anything else. When in the
presence arsssa OF your superior officers you are
asked question bearing on some technical
ity, don't speak too quickly You must take
time, and If you happen to know nothing
anout the matter, you should maintain a ju-
you were making msstal notes of the diane
Ter, Circumference and specific gravity of fine
SUBJECT. That word gravity reminds me also
William, that you should be extremely grave
while in the presence of the higher oficia,s
But don't forget what tell you about taking
your 4s time IN answering weighty question
Ii you should be pressed for an Immediate
answer resort to circumlocutiop. and 90 hacp
70 the genesis of the matter to begin with
'ior that VIII give you time. and time in such
predicament is valuable. While YOU are
waiting or circumlocuting an accident NAV
happen, or you may see something wrong
WIN tne track, which excuse will enable YOU
10 jump the track without suspicion. yoUr
father has been in many such predicaments
ana used tact 10 escape from them, with All
his cQlOrS lying.
Take this axiom to heart, William. Re-
member this: Blessed is the man and ~
spected by all his kind. who, having notbi~o
&c say. abstains from giving worldly evis
tie prominence you may attract to voi1rseif
by the display of wisdom will occasit a ieai
Ousy among your contemporaries, and, like
a. thorn, you will often feel it prickipg yon'
Keep quiet. William, keep quiet. and saw
nothing II you can help 1t, and then the
! people who can't understand you will cali
n,,I
when you get old like me, you will wonder
now such an ignorant man as yourself man
times promoted.
did it, William, and yet hundreds Of
times | have been told things by the section
men men along the road that I never knew any
Il had not been for the fellows who work fer
W ~ cents day You go and find plenty OF
are alert. but don't introduce any innova-
TONS that might cause an investigation of
JRe Poncy you you are pursuing. Now, goodby
some day you'll be general manager
STATION AGENTS.
One Of the most numerous classes of rail-
way employees is station agents. 1t is neces-
sary that all their operations should be care
FULLY supervised, they are the recipients
OF the principal portion Of railway revenue.
It occasionally but rarely happens that no
eices OF Geiacatons Of employees of this class
Gays labors and annoyances Of the latter
class was drawn by one of their number:
- ne gets up in the morning before daylight
10 attend TO the local freight When it comes
along, the freight is unloaded anywhere with
IN mile from the freight house, and the
agent, who has nothing else TO do Tugs II
in alone. Then, perchance, there is a car
to go, and then the train men dance. and
say he has been holding that particular car
Sut II they take it. The local gene and
freight all in freight house he goes home
10 breakfast IN a tolerable state of humor
comes man who has S. or $40 to send
by express, and who, after spelling three or
four envelopes, finally gets one to suit him.
for him. He expects to send a barrel Of pota-
toes to Michigan in the fall and wants to
Know how much it will cost, and if the agent
cannot set lower rate if he ships three or
FOUR barrels. Then the train comes and.
before he can get his baggage and express
on, the conductor and engineer are calling
fee to get it.
The train gone. he commences to sweep
OUT ana clean up. No sooner has Re finished
sweeping three or four rooms and a long plat-t
form than there are some cars TO be moved =
He gets his pinch-bar and shoves and pinches
for the next thirty minutes and finally ge?s
back to the office in time to find out that
somebody had Western Union message and
has been calling him all the morning and
has requested the dispatcher to stir the agent
up little: The agent very likely feels
stirred. but has to be resigned and ouiet
when told that new man will take his pIace
IL he doesn't stay in the office all day and
attend to business better Dinner time comes
at all hours, and sometimes would not coma ,
at all IL the agent did not Steal off 10
dinner. snatch bite and then rush back
Just in time to have another racket from the
dispatcher. Ii a freight train gets laid out
twenty minutes at small station the con
ductor gets wild and swears at the agent for
not getting special orders after the dispafcher
has given him 90
And so It goes day after day. Every one
from the head to the foot, has a pick at him:
anu even the brakeman swears IL he is not
on nand TO open switch every time a train
wants 10 take siding. The ticket depart
ment is no better. 1t generally pays small
commission on ticket sales as part Of the
agents salary. TIE men around the village
VINO 90 most OF the travelling want the agent
10 favor them In everything, and then thew
stand In with the conductor and don't nead
TO buy tickets have SEEN dozen people sston
the train at one time, and maybe I sold one
2o-cent ticket to the crowd Some will NOT
buy ticket because the agent will NOT trust
them for 1t, and others think it very stylish
to pay the money to the conductor Eyonr
sons, fairs, circuses, and such generaIiv
send the agent a complimentary ticket hui
they know we'll that he can never get or ~
use 1t. He is penned up from DAYLIGHT iIntH
3 p. M, and liable to get called up at anv
hour during the night. " any
THUS you have hnl-station agent h,o
gagemaster ticket agent, freight agent eS
press agent, mail carrier, swltchman. and
finally operator" "-D'