Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1901-05-16

| finest educational institutions in the
west could do was done for her, and
at the completion of the college term
she was, at her own request, given a
postgraduate course in mechanical
engineering. Her schooling finished,
she was given position in the office
of the superintendent of motive power
at a nice salary, that was looked on
by the men in the office as a kind OF
pension. 1t was supposed that she
would, in office parlance, hold the
chair anu that her time would be
occupied by purely technical duties,
! but the young woman soon proved
that she was worth more than her
salary. One day. within a year of her
graduation, she submitted plans and
| specifications for a new type of
engine. There were a number of
ideas in the plans and some decided
improvements, and it was just the
thing the company had been looking
for. Some of the best mountain
passenger engines the Southern
Pacific ever had were built from that
set of plans. 1t was a rude shock to
the masculine element in that office
that the girl should carry off the
honors they thought were safely their
! own, and then they fell to wondering
what this phenomenal girl would do
next. She did what they all do, if
the right man comes along. One day
big official OF an eastern railroad
came through the Office. No one
ever knew how it happened, but the
bright light of the motive-power staff
snapped mechanics for matrimony.
An experiment with the new woman
was closed, and the first lady
mechanic was transformed into what
she is today-a very happy wife.
mot until little over two years
ago did the staid old management take
another plunge into officially unknown
waters. Then, when Spanish treach-
cry raised the cry, Remember the
Maine,' and ell the patriotic instincts
of Uncle Sam were at boiling point, o.
Pcase, the trainmaster at ella Bend,
N. M, jumped out and put his name
on the muster roll of the 1st territory
cavalry. Before he left he wired his
resignation and turned the office over
to his wife, who, for years before her
marriage, had been a telegraph
operator on the line. All her married
life she had been doing more or less
of the clerical work of the Office ella
Bend is little place in the middle of
a long division, lonesome as only a
coal and water station in the great
American desert can be, and it was
almost impossible to keep a clerk
there for any length of time. In the
interval between the departure of one
clerk and the arrival of his successor,
Mrs. Pease learned all the details OF
the office work, and, on the departure
of her husband, it was a very handy
knowledge. Just at that time the
road was rushed to it's utmost capacity
by the enormous government business
it was handling, and every employe
was working overtime. Mrs. Pease,
wired repeatedly that the office was
without a head, but no attention was
paid to the communications, and
meantime she handled the Office like a
veteran. One day the superintendent
of the division dropped into ella Bend
The acting trainmaster was having
an audience with big engineer who
had carelessly run through an open
switch. He sat, grinning watcher,
while the dainty little woman made
the engineer squirm with her scathing
comment on his neglect, and when she
told the big fellow he could take a
3O-day vacation to improve his eye
sight the superintendent was evident
ly satisfied that the assistant train
master was on to her job Before he
left he told her that the general
manager was so well suited with her
conduct of affairs that he had
authorized her permanent appoint
ment to the office.
1T was over year after her ap-
pointment that l came through ella
Bend, and | sought the trainmasters
office. | entered, but almost backed
out again. I thought I had got into
some ones family quarters. There
was carpet on the floor and pretty
white curtains at the windows, and
everything was suspiciousIy clean for
q railroad Office. Before I could get
out, however, a neat little woman
came to the railing from behind
big desk and asked my business.
fumbled around like a. boy, but
finally made har understand yoc
looking for the trainmaster. 1 hold
that position. What can l do for
your l regained my nerve and told
her 1 was looking for work in train
service, and pulled out a bunch of
letters and my card. She looked the
letters over and then said: They are