The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-11-23
~ ES. I've had some hard bumps
said L. S. Dickinsons yesterday,

SalQ l.. -. OlCkliSOIl > SSlSIudEs
when pressed for a story, but
I recall an incident that is more pleas
ant to remember than railroad wrecks.
1t was when was firing on the South
ern Pacific between Sacramento and
Truckee It was a devilish hard run
right over the Sierra Nevadas, and 1t
took a good deal of fuel. We used
wood, and a man had 10 work to keep
steam up. On some parts of the grade
1 could throw in wood fast enough,
and the engine was pulling so Rard that
she would almost spit the big sticks
out of the smokestack unscorched.
1T was a very common thing for
tramps to pass the wood to the fireman
for the privilege of the ride. You could
nearly always gamble on tramp, and
sometimes there were two or more APP
plications. Well, this Hghtened the
work somewhat, and I was always glad
TO have one of them on the engine.
| One night we We're getting ready TO
pull out of Sacramento. as usual The
engineer was oiling her up, and / was
in the cab giving the brass a rub when
heard some one call looked out of
the window but saw no one, and
I thought 1 had been deceived. 1 grabbed
| the oil rag again, when the call was
steam was making considerable noise.
and it wasn't easy to locate the sound
of voice every time. looked around
] expecting to see the usual applicant
| for a ride, but what I did see at first
gave me a start. Almost at my elbow
was a figure very little higher than my
/ knee and clad in the most fantastic
/ garb you can possibly imagine.
Il had to look twice to make sure L
/ wasn't dreaming. The little figure had
on a mans hat and mans coat, and the
! tails of the garment swept the floor.
/ The hat was pinned behind so that it
would stay on, but 1t almost hid his
/ face. 1t gave an elfish appearance to
! the child, and it certainly didn't look
human in the pickering light of the
| cab
~ say, mister. piped the voice,
! won't you let me ride with you; 1 can
pass wood? He looked eagerly and
anxiously into my face and waited for
| me to speak. I was dumfounded. The
lad was about - years old, with deli
cate features and a pair of abnormally
large eyes which / afterwards discov-
cred were brown. He had a voice and
manner that indicated a good bringing
up, but it was evident that he had
knocked around to get on to the ropes.
1 didn't believe he could lift one of the
sticks, much less pass them. but 1 told
him that if it was all right with the
engineer it would be all right with me.
He jumped down like a monkey and
found the engineer. In a minute he
was back, eager and expectant.
Well, what did he say? I asked.
" He said it was all right if you
didn't mind
"'Ar right We won't be ready to
start for an hour yet, and you had bet
ter lay down and take a rest
Will you call me when you get
ready to start?'
" Certainly I replied. He made me
promise several times that l would
wake him up in time. and then he took
off his coat and laid down on the
bench. Under his coat he had on q
sailor boys uniform, but l did not sus-
pect that he had been to sea. 1t was
such a suit as boys of his age otter
wore, and I supposed he had run away
from home. He had scarcely stretched
out when his regular breathing indi-
Gated that he was asleep. We Won
dered who he was and where he hac
come from, and we made up our minds
to find out and notify his parents
''It was daylight before the kid woke
up. and one Of the first things he SaiC
| was a reproach because I had not Sc
him to work.
well, he. Immediately rolled up hi
sleeves and went at it. The way tn.
little fellow worked surprised both O
us. We tried several times to find GU
who he was, but at first he refused t
give us any satisfaction. Finally h
said: If I tell you won't let them TAX
me back, viii you?'
I'VE hesitated. Promise me that yol
won't let them take me back
I'VE saw that if we found out any
thing that we would have to promise
finally told him that if il was all RICH
no one would be allowed to touch him
The little fellow then said that he wa
the son Of a government employee a
Washington. whose name / have for
gotten. 1t seems that the lad had
= fOndness for the study of insects AM
to crafty his knowledge for entymol
e ogy and get a collection enlisted on
man-of- war as powder monkey. How
he managed it / don't know
1.-THE ship was bound for a five years
I cruise, and was to touch at Sout
: America and visit the Orient befor
its return. He got a me collection o
! curios and specimens. The ship an
chored at San Francisco harbor afte
a pretty hard cruise around the Horn
/, When the lad saw the city in tn
distance. an overwhelming desire t
see his mother came over him. He bat
tied with the feeling. but it was n
use. He had been away from hom
nearly three years. and the ship wa
then on its way to China
He knew that to remain with tn