Ottumwa tri-weekly courier. [volume] (Ottumwa, Iowa) 1903-1916, 1907-01-03
slDELIGHTs.



They had just kind of accidentally
little bunch of railroad men, and we're
sort of renewing acquaintances, don't
you know-talking over old times and
recalling incidents that occurred when
they were younger in the service. Good
cigars made the room hazy with
smoke as well as helped refresh the
memories Of the smokers.
After several had told their stories
the whole bunch looked toward the
big jolly conductor who was over at
one side of the room listening. He
is a passenger conductor on the Bur
lington-one of those men who look
on the bright instead of the dark
side, who is no older today than he
was the first time you saw him. He
seemed to think 1T was his turn, and
the others all listened as he said:
when / was running local freight
train some years ago, / had couple
OIL brakemen that were the real things.
What they didn't think of hadn't yet
been discovered. They were the bus
lest pair that ever bothered the life
out OF any train crew. Just about
the time you would think they had
played every kind of prank there
was, they'd break out in a new place
and have everybody mixed up in it.
They were worse than itch in a coun-
try school, There was absolutely no
way to escape them.
They had been pretty tame for sew
eral days and l was wondering what
was going to happen, for l felt that
it was just the lull before the storm.
1t was few days before Christmas,
and it happened that I had bought
a couple of suits of underwear and
left one of them in the way car. They
asked me what had in that bundle
and told them it was some under
clothes and I wanted them to let them
alone as they were the best under
clothes ever owned. They didn't
say anything.
"Of course we had to get out early
in the morning, and never got to eat
dinner at home only Sundays. The
night before Christmas when we come
in, we were ordered to make the reg1l.
lar trip next day even if it was Christ
mas. The brakemen were all torn up
about that because they were figur.
ing on big Christmas dinner at
home. Finally, however, they said
they would have their wives fix their
dinners, so they could carry them
along and they would have big
Christmas dinner anyway.
1.-THE next morning when they conc
down to the train,one Of them was
carrying a big box with their dinners
| in it, and the other was leading the
| hiornct I,,1l1 ryp,, T1
said the dog didn't belong to them
they were just taking him up the roaf
to have fight. Then they began tc
talk about what an elegant dinner
they had in the box; they joshed about
how they would let me look a
them eat turkey, mince pie, plum pud
ding, etc, while was trying to stuff
down lunch counter sandwich. The,
come over that about forty times be
fore we got started Along about the
middle of the forenoon, we came tt
a station where l had to check up {
lot of stuff and l was out of the cal
for quite while. When l got bacl
to the way car the men were out OF
top. 1 opened tue door and Wake,
in and the first thing saw was tina
cid bull dog strutting around there
all dressed up in my underclothes
They had them rolled up and tiet
around him till he looked like an Els
5 kimo down on his hands and knees
He had been rolling on the floor am
scratching at the clothes trying Il
get them, off, till they were black an,
torn and strung out about six fee
behind him. Now, I'll tell you l wa
pretty sore. | took the clothes off o
the dog, and began to figure how
could get even. | couldn't think o
any way till l happened to see tina
box of Christmas dinner. Then it wa
plain.
Nov the dog had been workin
t hard to get these clothes off, and
/ figured that his appetite was just RICH
to enjoy turkey. SO took tina
: box down and poured the contents on
on the floor and told him to go to II
And he did. He ate till he couldn'
stand up and then laid down by th
box and kept on eating. When the
finally came back in the caboose tina