The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-03-04

little book will go far to establish in his
| true place one of the heroic figures OF
| American history. Nothing has had more
| to do with the phenomenal development
! and prosperity OF our country than the
railroads, and it is the American engineer
and fireman who make these possible.
There is a crspness and verve in the
style of this writer which ought to give
him a reputation even if he had no story to
| tell. But he has one to tell, every time,
| and that adds 10 the charm of the book
Each one of the tales is different. and has
a special reason for its being. The only
one in which there is any elaborate plot is
The Sky Scraper,' which describes the
! reunion of a father and son in circum-
stances curiously dramatic. The one which
gives the title TO the book deals with a
| little wiry. daredevil Irishman. who took
out an engine during strike. The Kid
| Engineer" is a character study OF plucky
| boy whose history was mixed up with tie
same strike. The MillioD-Dollar Freight
! Train" has a comicai side TO it, and this
also is strike story. Almost pure comedy,
though with a strong spice of adventure. is
| The McWilliams Special" These who
read Jules Verne for amusement may
member that in order to create compl ca
| ton in one Of his narratives, ne makes an
! engineer rush train over bridge which
is about to fall, the impetus of tae move
| ment lifting the weight from the lettering
piers. In this later story the incident is
nearly duplicated, but more realistically.
The McWilliams Special gees over
burning bridge at fun speed. tru-ting TO
| the chance that the steel framework has
resisted the power of the flames. Bucks"
is a tribute to the GOODNESS and inventive
genius of train dispatcher. and there is
little dramatic touch at the end, which,
| however, comes in quite naturally. San
keys Double Header reads like bit of
history, and perhaps it is. 1t is the story
OF an Indian conductor. "Sic,oGe Clark" 10
another tale which may be taken from life.
In fact. all Of them seem 10 be more or less
affected hy that complaint
Mr.. Spearman's humor is so dry that 1t
snaps. 1t crops out in the most desperate
situations. Here, in the first story. is
Foley, the l1ishman, taking out a train
when the strikers have threatened to lii
the engineers, and Foley himself is sus-
pected OF being a spy upon the company,
who Will ditch the train If trusted tn it,
Owing 10 this he had been given a freight
train for the first trip. with nothing par
ticularly valuable aboard. He tells the
writer that there is "a stiff hill" near
GAINESVILLE.
Any trouble 10 climb it?'' asked, for h.J
rurposcly given him heavy train
Not with tina; of butter. II YOU hold that
butter another week it will Climb hill without
any engine
Again, train-despatcher, in speaking of
a Western blizzard. says that il blew so
hard that night that it blew most of the
color out OF his hair. He was a Titan
headed Irishman. Moreover. "Siclone"
Clark during strike. swore that he would
Kill the first man who took his engine out
A man named Fitzpatrick got the job. He
was told Of the vow. Mr. Spearman says:
fftzpatrick shifted to the other leg
Did be say what ! would be doing while thu
was going onf''
After all is said. the most complete OF
The stories is possibly that of the McWil-
Ii ms special. The description OF the
train-merely an engine, a di apidatei
baggage car. and one other coach-crossing
the burning bridge, is worth reproducing:
Sinclair shut of He wanted no push or pull
on the track The McWiiliams special was inst
tremendous arrow. shooting through truss OF
fire. and half a dozen speecllcs. men on either
side Of TIC river waiting for tho catastrophe
Jerry MaeElr9y erouched loH-under. the gauges.
Sinclair jumped from Ms box and stood with a
hand on tho throttle and a hand on the air, The
glass crashing around his head like hail. 4
blast OF fiery air and flying ciHders burned ami
chokcd him. The engine. alive with danger, few
like great moBsey along the writising steel. So
quick. SO black, hot the blast. and so terri
he the leap, she stuck her ncse into the clean air
L..
There was heaye in the middle like the lurcl
oil a sessick steamer, and with it the Fiye-N Nine
got her paws on cool iron and solid ground. and
the Mattanack and the blazc-ail except a dozen
tongues which licked the cab and the roof OF the !
baegase-car minute-were behind. George Sin !
clair, shaking the hot glass cut OF his hair locked
ahead through his frizzled eyeiids and gave her
a full head for the western bluffs Of the valley; |
then looked az his watch. SeYenty-nine |
minutes later Sinclair whistled for the Denver
yards.
There was tremendous eommoton among the |
waiting engines. II there there were |!
fifty big locomotives waiting TO charivari the Ne
Williams Special. The wires had told the story
in Denver long before, and the Five Nine sail.
ponderously up the gridiron every mogul, every |
consolidated every ten-wheeer, every hog, every |
switch-bumper, every air hose screamed an mp
rodrious welcome to George Sinclair and the |
SGy-scTaper.
Things have been said about a certain |
chapter in Captains Courageous, which is |
supposed TO owe its origin to the same Incl |
dent which probably suggested Mr.. Spear !
mans story. Discussion was also created |
by ".O0I," which purported TO be a tale of |
an American engine, told from the engines !
point OF view. But 1t is probable that an ,
impartial public-especially one thickly |
sprinkled with railroad men-wili declare |
that The McWilliams Special makes Mr.. |
Kipling's carefully constructed work look |
like heap OF scrap iron. 1t Is rather in |
teresting 10 compare MI. SpearI1an smile !
for the engine she crossed the bridge to |
that which Kiplng uses in a similar con-
nection. ".0J7" is said to resemble "a |
hunted cat on top of fence" Readers can
take their choice. but some will undoubted- |
ly be inclined TO say that this American |
railroad man mas beaten the Anglo Indian
at his own trade-that OF personifying |
things and coming figures of rhetoric Mr.
S1earman certainly makes his engines
seem alive. and without any unnecessary
strain ON the imagination, at that (New
York: Harper & Bros. si.25.)