The Topeka state journal., 1900-06-18
FOUND FRIGTD ZONE,
New Reporter Says He Discovered It
Among Santa Fe Shop Clerks.

Among Santa Fe Shop Clerks.
The new reporter was assigned to
the Santa F'e shops, and when he re-
turned he wrote:
There may be and doubtless there
are men who can command the respect
OF and who viii receive courteous treat
ment from some Of the petty officials
OF the santa Re railroad employed at
the shops in this city. but the new re-
porter IS not one Of them and evidently
does not belong TO that class. He does
not seem 10 De on to the signs and
eountersigns. the sign Of distress and
It's answer, the sign of recognition and
It's answer: nor does he seem to be
ahle to give the proper alarm at the
outer door and apparently he has for
gotten the password The sign Of cour-
tesy he most assuredly has forgotten,
Tor he did not receive the least token
TO show that he belonged to the great
nerd OF American people who keep
clean and deserve at least a decent re-
ply to any ordinary salutation. Verify
the common brotherhood Of man-es-
pecially newspaper mans looked i1pon
with dlsdain by some of the iIlustriOus
hired men who are privileged to sign
some little dinzy title after their names
IN the absence OF some real official
The reporter is a very retiring. un-
assuming, inoffensive sort of a man,
and when the editor told him to go to
the shops and see what he could do
--C dLLEQlE4 liiE assignment with rear
and trembling, for he had heard of the
high and mighty airs assumed by the
great under officials who are clothed
during the absence of the plain men.
their chiefs, in a little brief authority,
ana ne feared TO meet them but he
swallowed his fears and boldly walked
Iorth- He approached a yard man who,
being a common working man. gladly
pointed out the way to the lair of
subordinate brass collar The reporter
approached his lordship in as pleasant
manner as he knew. but was instantly
frozen by a look through the eyebrows
and a statement that Mr.. Somebody
was not in. This closed the cOnversa-
tom The reporter looked around the
room several times and, after gasping
like fish out of water. succeeded in
getting enough breath to reply: Thank
you, when viii he return2" He re-
ceived no other answer than a large
hunk of cold disdain which he took out
and allowed TO melt in the cheerful
warm summer sun Oh, how pleasant
that sun felt! Tt was like breath
from heaven. The reporter had often
wondered what the feelings of the
klondikers were when they started
over ChilkoOt Pass and were struck
by the snowslfde- He knows now
After he had tapped his arms and
kicked his toes against a rail to restore
circulation he started across the tracks
and asked an engineer the direction
toward another snow storm. The en-
gineer pointed out the way and the
poor chilled reporter buttOned up his
coat. blew on his fingers and started
for the other side of the frigid zone.
When he entered the door the tempera-
ture dropped 50 degrees. but he was
prepared and changed his weight rap
idly from one foot to the other in or
der to keep his blood from congealine-
| The Great Man behind the desk paid
no attention TO the poor. blue. pinched
face OF the news man, but calmly read
7erh 10
| age reports or something of that kind
| and. after he had finished, condescend-
| ed to grunt like an Indian just once
| The grunt and the chilly atmosphere
combined almost stopped the slowly
l beating heart of the great editor that
| is to be, and he could just manage 10
| arCiculate He told who he was and
! apOlogized for it The Great Man said
/ he was glad Of it and at once proceeded
1 to enrich his mind with a treatise on
/ flat wheels. The icicie, he who had
! gone into the yards a warm number
| reporter, stumbled out, and remember
| ing that Greely, heArctic explorer. had
/ said eat grease, ne was tempted to sc
| to one Of the cars and pull some creased
| soaked waste from one of the boxes
I but refrained, because he knew it was
| contrary to rules. He had been mott
/ fed that he was not allowed to tail
10 any one or to go any place, and by
/ this time he felt like following inStruc-
! tions. He was chilled to the marrow
and snealzed in behind a stationary en-
| gine and managed to warm a bit He
remained there until he saw mar
| coming toward him who looked like ths
three hundred and fftieth assistant tC
President Ripley, and then he took L
flight box car was going up tbs
yards attached to a switch engine, an6
as it offered the only haven he swung
on and grinned disdainfully at the rep
resentatfve of the ice trust
Switchmen are good fellows. even i
they do draw more money than tbs
| men who breath ammonia and have
cold air pipes up their backs.
Some of the working men to whom
the reporter talked said some thing:
which would not be good for publica-
/ tiOu and the language was not calcu-
lated to be printed. It was used very
much as q stimulaut to help them II
their labor, but he enjoyed the warn
words and phrases for they helDet
( thaw out the frost bites. He learned
/ Incidentally that he would be frozer
any time he attempted to speak to any
one excepting the people he did no
speak to-
He made another attempt to get int
conversation with some one who hele
one of those little authority jobs. ane
that time was ready for it He didn'
shrink up or Wither or turn to Stons
when the man who had probably at on'
time ridden a short distance on the real
! platform Of some Of1c1aIS private car
/ mumbled an unintelligible answer to hi.
question. He said two or three thing!
rapidly and then backed off.
He learned afterward that there ars
some mighty nice men employed there
and he viii always regret that he die
not meet them.
What he wants to know now is: d.
these cold hunks of humanity keeI
their temperature down by eatins
lemon ice and frozen prunes or is i
| lust a natural condition inherited from
some Eskimo ancestor?
GOOD SERVICE REWARDED