St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1901-04-13
A DESERVED KICKING.

IA DAlAO1IAb LII A1O1A14N0 VI
During a recent conclave of rail.
road magnates in New Orleans some
thing reminded a well-known general
manager of a whimsical story. Il am
afraid there is no particular moral to
this yarn, he said, s'but it happens
to be true, and I'll give It to you for
what the newspaper boys cali human
interest. Not long ago the million
aire president of a big manufacturing
concern up in Ohio made a speech at
banquet, and toillustrate how seem
, ing misfortunes may prove blessings
in disguise, he said that he got his
start IN life through being kicked off
Of an accommodation train IN the
dead of winter. 1t was during the
hard times of the sos, he went on to
relate, and although he was skilled
mechanic and something Of an en-
gineer, he found it impossible 10 pro-
cure work Of any kind, even manual
labor. Things went from bad to
worse, and at last he found himself
stranded somewhere in southern Ohio.
He was stone broke and desperate,
and wanted to get to DAYTON, where
he had heard vaguely there was some
thing doing in his trade. So one BIT
ter cold evening he slipped on board
an accommodation train, hoping to
be able to talk the conductor into
carrying him, but he failed ignomin-
iously. He begged and pleaded, and
told his story with all the eloquence
of despair, but the ticket puneher re-
fused TO melt. On the contrary, he
pulled the bell rope when he came
to the next station, grabbed the I'm
happy young mechanic and propelled
him off the ear with a. series Of swift
kicks. He landed in a snow bank and
slept in freight shed, but next day
has chance came. A span suddenly
gave way IN new iron bridge over
"a big creek at the edge of town and
the whole structure threatened to go
down before ex9erts could arrive from
the builders felndry AT that criti-
cal Juncture the stranger jumped
into the breach, built temporary
supporting trestle out Of logs and
crossties, and saved something like
$40, 900 worth of work. OF course,
the bridge people we're delighted, and
when they saw what really scientific
job he had done they offered the
shabby engineer a handsome position
in their establishment. From that
on his rise was rapid, and, in cenclud-
ing the little tale, he laid especial
stress on the apparent hopelessness
Of his position the night he was eject
ed from the train, and made the point
that one should neer give way to de-
spair. If that conductor had car
ried me on instead of kicking me off, (
he said, L would have missed the
great chance Of my life and might
be working now at the bench / am
really indebted to him for my start
in the world. and ] have often wished
that | could meet him and tell him
about IT,
This curious little narrative was
generally copied by the papers, " con-
tinued the railroad man, ''and one
day a conductor in our service came
into my offieein great excitement and
showed me q clipping. I'm the very
man that put that fellow off, he de-
clared, and after questioning him a
little as to dates and details | con
cludea he was correct about it. After !
rumlnating over the matter for a |
week or two and reading the speech |
until he knew il by heart, he con-
cluded ii would be wrong to deny the |
an opportunity to ex-
press his gratitude, and accordingly |
he applied for a leave of absence to
pay him a visit / granted the leave, |
got him a pass and he departed in
high feather. As soon as he arrived |
at his destination, according TO his |
own story, he went at once to the
mandatory, which was a great deal
yaster and more impressive than he |
l. n 4 \ n -