The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1899-01-14
lila GING HIS TRAIN.


Ana NE LAk0WhBe Learned more
Abo.t TzaSasaen,s RnssnsasN HaAl-
road Methods aud Ta.~SsAsaalss
Than He Ever Knew Before.
There IL q clergyman In this city who
has come to believe firmly that be knows
little Of the ways Of the world, and espe.
cially Of that part pertaining 10 the man
aaement Of a railroad This clergyman Is
well known oil over the country, and he
has frequent calls from western cities for
his services. He consented to visit small
city In the west, near Columbus o, !
and dedicate new church that had just
been built Accordingly, he took night
train, and about "a hours loter he reached
the city. He was met by delegation
from the church and was taken at once to
the host hotel in the little place and made
o. comfortable as possible.
The duty that hc came to the town to
perform was properly carried out aud he
began to speculate upon the best way to
get home. He found that by catching
train that went through the town at
o'clock In tho morning he could get home
in time to fulfill an engagement Of i'm
pOTtdLCO, 81 lo uoClucu W bnho tsltb trulH.
He refused the kind offers Of several per-
sons to como around and take him to the
station. Ho said he would awaken him
self and that no would not bother any one,
but would slip out quietly early In the
morning The train he was to take did
not stop at the town unless tagged. He
visited tho station agent and asked him II
he would flag the train. The agent said
regretfully that he went home at 0 o'clock
at night and did not come back until
o'clock the next morning, but he would
como down to oblige tho.ininister. The
clergyman declined this kind offer, and
said that IL the agent would leave Ian
tern out where he could find II he would
light it and Gag tho train himself
This agreement was made and the cler-
gyman went home and retired early.
About 4 O'Clock he was astir, and after
packing up be walked down TO tho sta
tion, q short distance away. He reached
there about 4 :55 o'clock by his watch. He
found the lantern and lighted IT and sat
down towait for the train.
Now everything was all right excapt
that this minister was an absentminded
one and had never realized that there was
an hours difference in time between New
York and tho Ohio town. 1t was o'clock
by his watch, New York time, but only
o'clock western time, and SO he was an
hour ahead of time 1t was O'Clock by
his time when the train WAS due. He had
waited only q fow moments when big
train cane rattling along. He saw tho
headlight fare up through tho darkness
and he stepped out md swung his Ian
term The train drew nearer and nearer
md slowed up and finally came to full
stop
Then the clergyman discovered that he
Ind pulled down long freight. He was
speeches. with SURPRISE but the engineer
wasn't When he learned the condition
of affairs, he broke loose with torrent Of
abuse, to which the minister made no re.
ply. The engineer finally climbed back
on his engine and opened the throttle. 1t
was cold winter morning and the engine
creaked, pulled, snorted, wheezed and the
wheels spun frantically in getting the big
train started. Finally he got under way
and left tho Clergyman behind, but still
ignorant Of his time schedule being awry.
=. He pondered over tho situation and
finally came to the conclusion that tho
passenger train was late and that this
freight was put IN ahead on special
schedule. About ten minutes later he
saw another headlight blaze up In the dis
'tance and felt confident that this was the
passenger. So ho stepped out and swung
his lantern. The result was that the train
slowed up and stopped, and when he dis
rerned its outline through the darkness
no was almost stunned to see that he had
pulled down another big freight-as he
soon learned, the second section Of the one
that he had first stopped. Thore was moth
ing to do but apologize and stand the
abuse. This engineer also got his train
under way with difficulty and failed to
comment on the time difference.
After this the minister said grimly that
: he would stop everything that went
through there until he got his train, and
few moments later when he saw another
headlight careening along toward the sta.
tion he manfully, although with sinking
sensation at his heart, stepped out and
/ tagged It, This time he pulled down q
heavy construction train, and when he
saw the result he threw up his hands in
despair. Tho conductor Of this train
proved to DO cordial sort Of citizen, who
wasn't gTrratly put out. He explained
where all tho trouble was, after hearing
the clorgyman's story, and then said
"Here! You had better get on this train
with me and l will take you up to Column
bus. That will put stop to your flag
cling everything that comes along"
This suggestion was accepted, and when
tho passenger train rolled into tho station
at Columbus the minister climbed on
board. When the conductor came through
for his ticket the minister said genially:
II eayed you lot of trouble this morn.
ing"
"How was that?" said the conductor.
II was going to get on down at c.
said the minister, land was to flag you,
but instead happened to flag oonstruc.
ton train, and tho conductor brought me
up here to save the trouble of stopping
you"
An ominous look came into tho con-
ductor's eye as no 50 in a forbidding
way:
"What did you flag i'm WITH"
"Why, q lantern, of course" said the
clergyman.
"What did you do with it afterward?"
said the conductor, and the lines around
his mouth hardened.
"Why," said tho minister, instinctively
feeling that there was something wrong,
~ put 1t down on the platform, where the
agent could get 1t when he came along"
"Yes," said the conductor YEARLY,
inst where it would flag Anything that
came along. Next time you want to flag
train, parson, you get an agent to do 1t
for you. You stopped me all right down
there, and II hadn't put the light out
and put the lantern away YOU would have
stopped everything that came along there
until the agent got down. Now York
Tribune.