The Washington times., 1901-11-10
Railroad Life.

Held for Orders is a new book Of rail-
road stories by Frank II. Spearman,
whose first book, THE Nerve of Foley"
at once gave him place among those who
are doing clever work in this line. His
later work however, is something more
than clever, and while it might not be
quite satisfactory to call it genius, the
fact remains that these character sketches
are as good as anything can be snort OF
that.
There are ten of them I'm the book, and
they deal with all departments of railroad
life. a typical emTloye being taken rs the
central figure OF each. The illustrations,
by Jay cambridge, are portraits of these
men. and they are as fine as the text.
The book will be q delight - those who
enjoy keen. clever. shrewd studies of the
life Of today-studies which go deeper
than the surface ard lay hold on the
great forces and deep-Iying relatiols Of
organized society There is not false
touch in it anywhere. 1t is thoroughly
good work, and thus far, the only rail
road classic We have In fiction.
Perhaps there has never been n better
bit Of description written than the story
of the run Of the yellow Mail" which
earned Jimmie Bradshaw his Sioux name
Of Jimmie the Wind IL is the last IN
the collection, bat it is a good one to read
first, for it contains some of Mr.. Spear
mans striking characteristics, and it is
simply nd purely story of action, with
out the touch of psychology or of pathos
which may be found in some OF the 9TH
ers. The run of the Yellow Mail was a
test run over the Mountain division.
Whore the scene of all the stories is laid;
and its object was to settle the question
whether the road should get a big mail
contract on certain terms or not. Not far
from the first station the Yellow Mail
was ditched, and the red-headed fireman,
Jimmie the Wind, patched up train,
brought in the mail and saved the con-
tract. That is the story, and 1t keeps the
reader breathless from beginning to end.
In this tale the author has shown his pc
culiar ability in the use of simile He can
use this figure of speech as effectively as
anybody now writing. His comparisons
are original, striking, vivid, and forceful.
Sometimes they are poetic, as when he
says:
Tine rumors about the mail came at
first like stray mallards. opening
signs OF winter
Sometimes the phrase is merely quaint,
as this:
Il
Keepers diamond and swept like a
parlor car for the test flight Of the
Yellow Mail"
Sometimes it is tragic, as in this de-
scription, the best yet written of rail-
road spill:
Before they knew it they were
through the gateway, out into the des-
trt country, up along the crested
buttes. and then, sudden as eternity.
he u Fft I-ts Qa # 9Na ~
tight curve, a bcnt-dOwu rail spcanS
cut like knitting needle, and the
Yellow Mail shot staggering of track
into a grey borrow pit
here was cruncEing OF truck and
frame, crashing splinter of yarnish-
cd cars, n scream from the wounded
engine, cloud Of grey ash in the
burning sun, and Il ruin Of human Of
fort in the ditch
And always it is effective as when we
come across this:
THE relieving mail crews waiting
at the Bend took hold like cats at a
pudding.
The man who wrote that knew cats. The
serious quicBness with which they attend
to a task Ike that is like nothing so
much as the concentrated energy Of a
human being who has all he can do and
is doing it in the very swiftest way which
tense brain and trained muscle can COM
pass
The average writer is n little shy of
simile, which IS said to be the weakest
figure Of English speech. Perhaps it is,
in ordinary peoples hands, but not in Mr..
Spcarman's. He has the gift.
There are so many good things in this
book that it would take another book TO
mention them all. THE Spider Water"
railroad man in the country 1t is the
story Of man with one monument-his
work-and one passion, also his work 1t
ranks with Fplings Bridge Builders"
but has none Of the dreamy mysticism Of
the Arglo-lndian tale; this is alive and
human to the last syllable. 1t is the same
motif. with a different working out
"Shockley' is a tragedy as two or
three Of the other tales are. and it is one
OF a type pathetically common in the
American middle class. 'Dolaroo" is an
other tale OF much the same sort, but with
humor and pathos mixed. De Molay
Four is fun Of the rollicking devil-may-
care spirit Of grown nen-not boys-on a
holiday; men with all the force of ma
ture age and the pent-Up jollity of boys;
md the friskiness Of such Il crowd is be-
yond the heyday Of youth. In the midst
OF all this the author pulls us up with the
sudden hint Of a gulf of tragedy yawning
in the path Of the merry'makcrs, and the
is almost too vivid to be artistic;
it is more like reality. Indeed the i'm
preston which the whole book gives is |
that Of being "A record Of facts, not fan |
cies-- No other sort of railroad book could |
be successful The life IS grim, earnest, |
and its comedy and tragedy, its drama |
and its farce, are on scale beyond that |
of the novelist's stage.
The same characters appear in most of |
the stories-Bucks. NeighbOr, Callahan,
Haley, Blackburn, Doubleday; the grimy |
Office at Medicine Bend, which went by |
the name Of the Wickiup, is familiar to |
the reader at the close of the book The |
characteristics Of every man are clearly
brought out, and in all the sketches there
is shown the spirit of loyalty to the road,
to each other, to whatever ideal rude or |
refined, each man has set up In the soul
OF him 10 be worshiped and served to
the best Of his ability. If anybody thinks
that steam has killed romance" on land.
If not at sea, he will do well to read this
book and find out where the real thrill
and daring OF American life is. 1t is safe
to say that Mr.. Spearman will never do