The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-10-03

down t---.. ...-J. ~-., ,,-->. al down in
track like herd of Sta.npeied steers.
There, just coming around tt
curve, was a Giittering vision of bras
and varnish, half hidden in a nimbu
of smoke ana dust. Two short blast
on whistle greeted the gang; tn
vision hestated for minute, while
the section men disappeared in tn,
nimbus and reappeared as suddenly as
if they had been shot out of a gun, anC
here came the vision gliding up to the
platform, with bell ringing and pol
valve suffering soto voce,' like
young lady trying to suppress ticklisl
cough. 1t was the pay car. At this
point you lost consciousness.
Coupled to the engine was a wheel
ed palace built on graceful lines il
freshly vanished yellow paint which
rlvaled the brasswork on the engine IN
brilliance. The plate glass windows
were curtained with bright hued bro
cade. Not speck nor a flaw was to
be seen. Even the yellow wheels bore
only so much dust as had been gather
ed on the days run. Through an open
window came fragrant doors. while in
the background a white jacket, sur
mounted by q black face, vibrated al
intervals
"All this time Old Man Flatwhee
was heading 4 little procession bound
toward the rear platform of the pay
car at gait which he assumed but
once q month. Flatwheel had consci
entious scruples against undue exer-
ton. He always had the caboose stop
ped at the station platform so that
without dissipating his energies he
could saunter in to gas with the agent
until the hind man announced that the
work was all done and that we were
ready to 60. Then he would get his
orders or clearance and tell the hind
man to give 'em the sign and saunter
back to the caboose before they got to
rolling. But to have seen the ANNA
ton with which he swung himself
aboard the pay car would have created
the impression that he was the only
working railroad man on the division.
cat his side stslked Panhandle Dan,
the engineer, his face actually wreath
ed in smiles Panhandle Dan had q
chronic crouch from 1901 a. m. Jan. l
to 80 D. N. Dec. 81, except for
three minutes once a month. On the
way to the pay car he always perked
up a bit and was even known to crack
a joke with Old Man Flatwheel. After
these two came the hind man talking
necessarily with the fireman. Charles
always was talking that way. He had
an automatic tongue, which never ran
down. Half the time he didn't know
he was talking. His was what the
doctors would diagnose as a reflex
conversation. Frank, the fireman, was
the only sober one. He, poor fellow
was doing sums in arithmetic, trying
to figure out how on earth $50 could
be made to pay all necessary bills for
a helpless father and mother, wife
and four kids, besides board bills for
man who was obliged to be away from
home half the time.
Then there was the operator In
shirt sleeves and careworn air hoping
he could get back to his key before
the dispatcher lost his temper; the
agent, placidly smiling, and the two
coal beavers from the coal shed with
an expression of almost human intelli-
gence struggling up through number
less strata of CRIME and whiskers
After thirty days of humping over a
scoop shovel in q choking smother of
dust they were now about to be recon-
pensed with thirty seconds of bliss in
which they could fondle real money
with their own hands. After that the
storekeeper would do the fondling and
feel bad because there wasn't more.
You had presence Of mind enough
to float into the pay car in the wake
of others. There were nine in the lit
tie party, and you knew by experience
that the average time required to pay
nine men was sixty seconds; also that
Moriarity would have 'em rolling be
fore the last man had scooped his al
lotted coin into his trembling palm
But in the presence of death or the
paymaster one may live an eternity
in sixty seconds. How glad you Were
that you had not been rude and rushed
in ahead Of anybody, even the coal
beavers,
Prom the Autographs of Caroline
Miskel Hoyt On the wall to the little
hollows in the hard mahogany counte.
worn out BY the atridon Of, the Si2s.-