The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1903-02-15
Ibis cnme about through there be-
ing whigkcrs on the rails 1t
may not BE generally understood
that whiskcrs grow on steel

may not be generally understood
that whislSers grow on steel
II rails; curious MS 1t seems they
DO. Moreovcr on steel rails they are
dangerous. and ut times exceedingly dan
cero,ls
DO not infer that all steel rails grow
whiskers; nor is 1t, as one might sup
pose, only the old rails that sport them.
Tho youngest rail on the curve may
boast rs stout a beard as the oldest rail
on tho tangent and one just ns gray
They flourish, too. in spite of orders;
Tor, while whiskers are permitted on en-
Einccrs and tolerated on conductors. they
are never encouraged on rails. Nature.
however, provides the whskers, regard
less Of discipline, and, what Is more
shaSes them herself.
Their culture depends on conditions
Some months grow better whiskers than
Others. September is famous for whis-
hers, while July grows very few. Wits.
Eers will grow on steel rails In the air
of single night, but not every night
mir will produce whiskers. It takes a
high frosty air-one that stays out
)ate-to make whskers. Take. for ex-
ample. the night mir of the Black Hills.
1t Is known everywhere among steel
rails MS beard tonic. The days mois-
ture, falling MS the sun drops beyond the
hills, is drawn into fcathery. jeweled
CTyStalS Oh lTOSL on tIle CHllly Slccl DIS Il
glass OF Ice water beads In summer
shade. And these dewy stalngmites
rise in dainty profusion, until. when
the day peeps into the canyons the track
looks like a pair Of long white streamers
winding up and down the levels. But
beware that track! It is very dan
gerous track and It's possibilities lie
where samson's lay-in the whiskers
So II lies In early morning, as pretty
49, fINsv, $t,rS1 NV0r
a fly: only this pitfal waits for engines
and trains and men-and sometimes gets
them.
1t waits there on the mountain grades
In an ambush really deadly for an I'M
wary train, until tho sun. which is par
hcularly lazy in the fall. peeping over
into the cuts. smiles. at length, on the
bearded steel as II 1t were too funny,
and the whiskers vanish into thin air.
A smooth-faced rail presents no es-
peclal dangers; and If trainmen in the
hills had their way they would never
turn a wheel until the sun had done
barbering. But dispatches no having to
do with them, take no account Of whls-
kers They make only the schedules,
and the whiskers make the trouble. 10
lessen their dangers. engineers always
start, up hill or down, with thankful of
sand, and they sand the whisllers. 1t Is
rough barbering but 1t helps the driver
tires grit bit into the face of the rail.
md In that way hang on. In this emer-
gency thankful of sand Is better than
all the air Westinghouse ever stored.
Aloysius McGran was q little sweeper;
but he was an aspiring one. for even
sweeper may aspire, and in point Of fact
most of them do aspire. Aloysius work
ed In the roundhouse at the head Of the
Wind River pass on the West End Noun
talns. 1t is an amazing rough country;
and as for grades, it takes your breath
merely to look down the levels. Three
per cent, 4 per cent, 8 per cent.--it IS
really frightful. But Aloysius was used
to heavy falls; he had begun working for
the company as a sweeper under Johnnie
Horigan, and no engineer would have
thought of running grade to compare
with Johnnies headers.
Horigan was the first boss Aloysius
ever had. Now, AlOysius, If caught just
right. is a very pretty name. but Johnnie
Horigan could make nothing whatever
of it. so he called Aoysius. Cooney, as
he said, for short-Cooney McGrath-and,
by the way, If you will call that McGraw,
we shall be started right. AS for Hori-
gan. he may be called anything: at
least it Is certain that on the West End
he has been called everything.
Johnnie was ordinaly boss sweeper. He
had suffered numerous promotions-scye-
1al times to wiper, and once to hoster;
but his tendency to celebrate these oc-
PASSIONS usually cost him his job and he
= reverted to sweeping If he had not been
Euch an inoffensive. sawed OFF little old
pubbin. he wouldn't have been tolerated
pm the payroll, but he had been with the
company 80. long and discharged so often
that foramen. .grew.tired of trying to get
rid OF him, and in spite of his very regu-
Jar habits he was hanging on somewhere
oil the time
When Johnnie was gone, using the word
III at least two senses, Aloysius Cooney
btcGrath became pso facto boss sweeper.
It happened first Sunday morning. just
after pay day, when Johnnie applied to
the foreman for permission to go to
church. Permission was granted. and
Johnnie started for church, but it was
doubtful II he ever found it. At all events
at the end Of three weeks he turned up
ngain at the roundhouse. considerably the
worse for his attempt to locate the house
of prayer which he had tried to find only
after he had been kicked out of every
other place In town.
Aloysius had improved the intervals by
sweeping the roundhouse as 1t never had
hoec fTont before whnp Tnhpnia