The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1902-03-02


Some one, possibly a former resident
of Boston or Boston Harbor, where Ian
guage is regarded as a means of conceal
ing rather than expressing thought, has
made the startling discovery that the
brakemen in the service of the various
railroad companies are accustomed to
| use sentences wherein every rule laid
down by Messrs. Lindley Murray and
Goold Brown is ruthlessly violated. 1t is
| further charged that, in their daily con
versation, they are won't to employ words
of whose existence Emerson and Whip
pie seem to have been strangely
ignorant, since they are never to be met
with in the printed volumes which bear
the names of these eminent essayists.
The upshot of the discovery is that there
has been d demand for reform in this
direction, both for the effect the purer
forms of speech will have upon the mon
themselves, and also for fear that the
youth of the land, while riding around
consciously imbibe idioms that do not
harmonic with the genius of our Ian
guage and that will require years of
constant and assiduous training to elm
mate.
The North Western railroad is the first
to recognize the crying need Of a knowl-
of
among it's brakemen and it mas Get ID
work vigorously to supply the deficiency.
A pamphlet, it is stated on the author
ity of the impeccable Chicago Tribune,
has been prepared at the instigation and
by the authority of the officials of that
road, in which the proper things for a
railroad man to say on all occasions are
so plainly set down, that anyone, even
though he be a brakeman, need not err
therein. e Clio b e has not been
favored with a copy Of this publication,
but from the account given in the col
umns of it's esteemed contemporary it
gathers that it will not be considered
good form to speak of the president of
the system as the "old man." the gem
eral manager as a Stiff" the superin-
tendent as a "cheap skate and the
chief dispatcher as a ''blithering idiot"
These expressions which have done such
valiant service for years past, and which
are household words in every well-regu-
lated brakeman's vocabulary must be
vigorously excised in the future.
But this is not all. Hereafter it will not
be proper to call g sidetrack anything
but an auxiliary and when the weary
traveller who is hung up forty miles from
anything but a water tank begins to ask
some one connected with the train to
is lying en- an auxiliary waiting for q
superior train to pass" The engineer
has passed away and in his place is the
"engineman." Whistle signals have been
replaced by audible signals" and trains
will be moved" instead of run" hence
forth. The hind brakeman is to be sup
planted by the imam in charge OF lie
rear end of the train" and trains will
not break apart any more. They will
only separate"
There is yet more Improvement Of
manners and speech are to go hand in
hand. Passengers are to be notineu not
to forget their goloshes and umbrellas,
and the name of the station must he
given in a clear, resonant tone of voice
It will not do to hiss out the word
"Norridge," when the train is approach
ing the station Of Norwich, and the
brakeman who enters the dining car
without removing his cap will lay him
self open to reprimand, even if nothing
more serious results. Passengers who
get flossy and who evince, desire to
start a rough house, are not to be eject
ed from the windows or hurled to the
ground from the platforms while the
train is moving" All such summary
proceedings must be deferred until the
next station is reached. and the erring
passenger must then be invited to leave
the car. The employee who has drunk
from the same water tank with the fat
drummer for a hundred trips must not
address the knight OF the grip as Bill"
Familiarity with passengers is to be cut
out along with the rest.
1t is easy to see where the service win
be greatly improved by strict OBJ