The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1902-07-07
OPERATOR AT WA-kA-RU-SA
Why the Operator at Kaw Decided Not to
Avenge an Insult.


lily L Aclt lndl one great dnDlllOn OF
my life had reached realization. While
taking a course of instruction at a
business college at the Kansas capital
had formed the determination TO en-
| ter upon a commercial life and often
while mastering the details of single
and double entry, bills of lading, in
voices, cash balances, etc, had cast
the pen from my wearied fingers,
leaned back in my chair and drawn
bright mental pictures of how, by
close attention 10 my duties and the
exercise of tact in making myself use
Iul 10 my employers, / would speedily
rise from bookkeeper TO cashier from
cashier to manager, and eventually
look with pride upon the abbreviatc-
Co" on the golden-lettered sign over
the door of a great establishment, in
the knowledge that it referred to my
self as the junior partner.
sCter my graduation and when about
to depart for field in the east where
business laurels were to be won, I
called to say goodbye to Frank La
mont. an old schoolmate, who was then
holding position as train dispatcher
in the general offices of the Santa Fe
road.
To Frank 1 confided all my aims, my
hopes and ambitions, and grew half
indignant when he shook his head and
expressed the fear that II would prove
parallel case TO that of the child cry
ing for the moon.
You will find you have a big con-
tract on your hands, old man." he said.
'Bookkeepers are as thick in eastern
cities as sunflowers are upon the
prairies of Kansas, and I have no
doubt there are hundreds, yes, thou
sands, of old fellows with silvered hair
today bending over books who went
there as young men fred with the same
ambitions which are now enthroned in
your brain. Why do you not adopt
railroading as a profession? In this
life, should you prove to be adapted to
the business, you would have a chance
TO attain an honored position. Would
it not be more desirable to be at the
head of a great railway than be the tail
end of an ordinary business firm?"
You would no doubt advise me to
begin at the bottom and work my way
up" 1 replied. sarcastically. First
take a pick or shovel in a section gang,
be subjected to the abuse of an litter
ate boss with north of ireland brogue,
eat execrable grub cooked by woman
whose habits of cleanliness would be
open TO grave suspicion and have my
occupancy of rude bunk nightly con-
tested by troublesome insectal pests,
which would regard me as an intruder?
No, thank you
he retorted- Your commercial course
included railway bookkeeping, and
that is a leading factor in railway ad-
vancement. / will take you into my
office and teach you telegraphy, and
you can gain a general knowledge Of
moving trains over the road by
telegraphic orders. When proficient you
will be given charge of an unimportant
station and as you grow in railway
EnnUiOdya F1lI
more important station will be
entrusted to you at each adj
vancement. and some day you may be
here as l am, with the SUPPLEMENTARY
staring you in the face. Eventually
you MAXWELL. there is no telling what
power you may WELD on some one of
the great lines"
His words gave me food for very
serious reflection. They diverted my
thoughts from the beacon light which
cleaned on the heights of mercantile
fame, and directed them to what ap-
peared a much brighter light on an
other eminence. The idea of wearing
out my life and becoming round Shout
dered bending over ledgers in a count
ing room became odious to me as new
and brighter ambitions dethroned the
older ones in my youthful brain, and I
began to wonder how 1 could ever have
thought of life of such drudgery.
recalled what 1 had read of messenger
boys in railway offices having risen to
superintendencies, of railway presi-
dents who were once peanut and fruit
vendors on trains and / fell into the
habit of lying awake at night and men
tally making tours of inspection over
a great line in my own private car
drawn by my own private engine, and
surrounded by my faithful lieutenants
the superintendent of divisions. / pic
tured myself sitting at desk in a lux
uriantly furnished Office debating short,
crisp. dignified letters to my confiden-
tial StenOgrapher, while men of note
sat in a reception room near by, each
awaiting his turn to consult me on
matters of vital interest to the progress
OF the country which my road traV-
ersed. AS a result of this visionary
dreaming, ] entered the office of nv
friend, Lamont, and after a few
months tuition. found myself sitting at
the cheap desk in the cramped depot at
Kaw City, practicing upon an imposing
signature to attach to my daily reports
Go the general offices and gazing with
pride upon the word Agent" which
followed the oft-Written name on the
sheet before me. Some day it would
be relegated to the past and be sue
ceeded by that of Superintendent, -
and with prophetic eye 1 glanced away
llNO 4uluTC NnSn WOulO
sign the name with q characteristic
flourish over the typewriter title
General Manager" l smiled when
thought how men high in official and
business life might some day seek for
that signature when it was attached to
an artistically-engra pass
As the days passed, the novelty of
my new life began to wear off and a
feeling of loneliness would at times
steal over me as I sat in my office or
strolled about the depot platform.
There were but two buildings in the
city" named in honor of the murky
Kaw river, which ran near blythe
depot and the section house During
the days the latter was inhabitated by
red-faced Milesian woman who went
barefoot during the week to save her
everyday shoes for Sunday. a small
brood of half-clad, dirty children and a
sleepy dog of the maligned ''yaller''
color, and at night by half score of
sun-browned section laborers whose
only real enjoyment of life seemed to
be drawn through the blackened stems
OF once white clay pipes. In this house
got my meals, and although 1 was ac-
corded a seat of honor at a private
table wild de boss an de missus," and
was served with food presumably bet
ter and in greater variety than that
given the men. usually triedao think
of something more pleasant while eat
ing it.
Amid these lonely, uncongeniaI sur
roundings, the hours began to percep-
tibly lengthen. the days to seem almost
as weeks. and looking back after one
months official duty in the dreary spot
it seemed to me an age since. with
heart aglow with pride, had assumed