The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1901-02-01
STUDYING HISTORY.
GOOdland Railroad Men Reading a
New Book.
Biographical Sketches and Illustrations Of
Omeers and Early History Of the Great
Rock Island Most Popular Book
With Them az Present
Goodland raiIroad men &c readinl

WIN mem AZ n AEaGA-E
Goodland railroad men are reading
history history Of a great railroad
The book in which they are mostly
interested just now and which has put
the shook Of rules" into the clear, is
the History Of the Great Rock Island
Road, Together With Sketches and Il
Iustrations Of Officers of Earlier Days
and Of the Present Time"
The book is just out at popular
prices" and the sales promise to exceed
any popular novel ever published.
The demand for the publication in
GoOdIand alone exceeded by far the
expectations Of that gentleman known
as book agent, and it is feared that the
supply viii be exhausted before orders
can be forwarded to the publisher if
the demand is as active at other divi-
sion points as it is here.
The railroad men are all jolly fel-
lows and nothing delights them more
than to Jolly one Of their number.
a recent occasion for some Of these
ju d'esprits offered itself in the book
agent line and some 80 or 40 Of the
men found that they were up against it.
Several months ago an agent was
here representing an enterprising Chi
.cagO publishing house which proposed
to get up history Of the Rock Island
railroad with biographical sketches Of
the men who had.long been connected
with this important railroad system.
The history took like a contagiOn and
few we're immune or quarantined
against. The agent was equipped with
an innocent looking subscription
blank which subscribers were asked to
sign. Most Of the men put down their
signatures without reading it.
The agent went his smiling way with
a weIl-fIled wallet of the signed blanks.
Time rolled on like a 800 engine pull
ing the Colorado flyer. When that
train pulled into Goodland the other
morning the book agent stepped upon
the scene with the notable historical
and biographical work. Tt was gilt
edged and profusely illustrated, a sup
erb volume of $50 pages. The sub
scription blanks were also giIt-edged
for each one turned out to be a prom
isory note for SIS. The biographical
part was limited to officials of the road
and those who had cashed up $50 add
tional to get into the picture gallery.
The boys saw the point, answered
the signal, and pulled in on the siding
and reported sit was all right" They
cashed up, Of course-there was moth
ing else to do Some Of the men were
out on the road and the pretentiOus
volume as large as a dictionery was de-
livered to the astOnished better half.
The joke was passed around for the
benefit of the fraternity. Some re-
marked: "I'm a suckerr' What the
women said is sub rosa, a lecture be
hind the curtain.
One Of the men stopping at the De
pot hotel allowed the book to be ex-
amined in the Office for a time We'd
nesday evening, but being tired, re-
tired and took it to bed with him. One
engineer took the glittering volume
into the cab Of his engine and pro
Ceeded to 'bOOk up" on railrOading be
fore his train left
The boys are all busy reading the
history and some day may break in to
the general Office as a railway man
ager.