Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1906-06-05

n
|H.MI on the score Of the i'm
|Vu possible and to anticipate
inquiry as to whether
ndGH0h THE Dispatcher's Story"
SoNe6 is true 1t may be well to
state frankly at the out
set that this tale in its inexplicable
psychological features Is transcript
from the queer things in the railroad
life. It is OaseG on an extraordinary
happening that fell within the expert
ence Of the president Of a large west
ern railway system. Whether the
story, suggestive from any point Of
view of mystery, can be regarded as
demonstration Of the efficacy Of prayer
may be a disputable question. In pass
ing, however, It is only fair to say that
the circumstance on which the tale Is
based was so regarded by the dispatch
er himself and by those familiar with
the circumstance.
A hundret. times II once the thing
had been. on appeals for betterment,
before the board of directors. 1t was the
one piece of track ON the mountain
division that trammen shook their
heads over the Peace river stretch.
TO run any sort Of line through that
canyon would take the breath Of an en-
pineer. Give him all the money he
could ask and it would stagger Wet
more himself. Brodie In his day said
there was nothing worse in the Andes,
and Brodie, before he drifted into the
Rockies had seen, first and last, pretty
much ail Of the Chilean work.
But our men had the job to do with
one-half the money they needed-tht
lines to run, the grades to figure, the
culverts to put in, the fills to make
the blasting to do, the tunnel to bore,
the bridge to build, In a limit; that
was the curse Of 1.-THE limit. And
they did the best they could. But
will be candid-if a section and eleva-
ton of Rosamond's bower and a sec.
tion and elevation Of our Peace river
work were put up to stand for prize
at a civil engineers cakewalk the de-
cision would go, and quick, to the
Peace river track. There are only
eight miles of It, but our men would
back 1t against any eighty on earth for
whipping curves, tough grades, villain
GUS approaches and railroad tangle
generally.
The directors always have promised
to Improve it. and they are promising
yet. Thanks to what HALEY taught
them, there's q good bridge there now
pneumatic caissons sunk to the bed.
It's the more pity they haven't elimi'
mated the dread iuain line curves that
approach 1t through valley which I
brief rs canyon and the mauvaises
terres rolled into one single PROPOSE
tion.
Yet we do lots of business along that
stretch. Our engineers thread the cuts
and are glad to get safely through
them. Our roadmasters keep up the
elevations, hoping some night the
blooming right of way will tumble in
to perditlOn. Our dispatchers, study
ing under shaded lamps. think OF 1t
with their teeth clinched and hope
there mover will be any trouble on that
stretch. Trouble Is our portion, and
trouble we must get. but not there.
Let it come. but let 1t come anywhere
except on the Peace.
1t was In the golden days Of the bat
tered old Wickiup that the story opens,
when Blackburn sat In the night chair,
the days when the old guard were still
there, before death and fame and cir
cumstance had stolen our first COM
manders aud left only us little fellows,
forgotten by every better fate. to tell
their greater stories.
HALEY had the bridges then, and
Wetmore the locating, and Nelghbor
the roundhouscs, and Bucks the super
intendency. and Callahan, so he claim
ed, the work. and Blackburn had the
night trick.
When Blackburn came from the
plains he brought record clean as the
book of life. Four years on a station
key, then eight years at Omaha dis
patching, with never a blunder or
break to the eight years. But 1t was
at Omaha that Blackburn lost the wife
whose face he carried In his watch. /
never heard the story, only some ru-
NOR of how young she was and how
pretty and how he buried her and the
wee baby together. 1t was all Black
burn brought to the West End noun
tains-his record and the little face In
the watch. They said he had no kith
or kin on earth besides the wife and
the baby back on the bluhs Of the Mis-
souri,, and 30 he came on the night
trick to us.
was just q boy around the Wickiup
then, but l remember the crowd. Who
could forget themf They were jolly
rood fellows. Sometimes there were
very high jinks. don't mean anybody
drunk or that sort, but good tobacco to
smoke and good songs to sing and good
stories to tell, and, Lord, bow they
could tell them! And when the pins
slipped, % they would, and things went
wrong. as they will, there were clear
heads and pretty wits and stout hearts
to put things right.
Blackburn, as much a. ! can remsm-
Der, always enjoyed It, bat In q d.6sr-
ent way. He had such times manner
like nobody else's-a silent, beaming
manner. When Bucks would roll a
great white Panhandle yarn over bis
fresh linen shirt front and down bis
cool, clean white arms. one OF them al
ways barred to the elbow, sanding his
points with the ash Of San Francisco
cigar, and Neighbor would begin to
heave from the middle up like hippo
potamus. and Callahan would laugh bis
whiskers full Of dew. and HALEY would
yell with delight, and the slaves IN the
next room would double up on the dead
at the story, Blackburn would sit with
his laugh all In smile, but never
All Hunors
Ars Impure matters which the skin, hvss.
kidneys and other organs cannot take care
Of without balm.