The Chickasha daily express. (Chickasha, Indian Territory [Okla.]) 1899-current, 1908-06-02

though EnG ain 80 CnShp - sA0 AS1'
Costs S25,0 900 good money. But she's c
ugly, hump backed and cold You b
can't get on terms with her-cant /,
feel human interest. She sqnats on I
the rails like toad in a trance, only i
there's something about the toad thar
tells you he can hop Whereas, who
would ever know that this black giant
could pull whole train from here 70
nowhere?
mo, / don't take any shine 70 this
big lightning bug. Me for her neigh
Dor here, that has just steamed IN
with the limited There's something
for your eyes-and the real thing In
railroading.
Nothing cold about herl And moth
ing dead. She's painting for the road
again this minute You can tell that
by the way she stands. She's ready
for the springing away--as ready as
the racehorse that prances at the
post. And | want to say right now
that there's nothing like the experience
and the feelings Of a man that stands
at the throttle Of a machine Ike this
"a living machine, mind you-and
feels her bounding away over miles
Of steel, through light or dark, nerv
GUS and eager, but always obedient 70
the rein.
1T sets me to talking lot, stranger,
but can't help it. You see, I've been
at the throttle long time. / know
engines. And / don't believe any
man who drives one Of these electric
critters is going ever to know his ma
chine in Just the same way. It amt
natural. The thing can't make him
understand. Why, you can give a
regular talk to khis slim racer under
steam, here, but what can you have
to say to this other thing, and what
can 1t answer back, Of itself, when
ii has even to pick up its power from
3 third rail-an outsider?
, "Engines-the steam kind-begin q
have whims and notions the minute
they get TO work They have to be
broke. like horses. I've seen EN-
buck like broncos, in the old times
and I've seen EN- refuse to make
steam before they got quite ready
Then sometimes they are coltish ant
Just cut eapers by the mile Mostly
they settle down IN the end, but SONS
OF EN- stay pretty mean and sulky
and only At to draw local freights. /
takes a clever engineer TO do nimbl'
yard work
And, speaking OF cleverness, di'
anybody tell you of the old Delawar'
. & Hudson locomotive that jumped her
O. self back on the track? MOI Well
she did ii, all right, up the road froE
Binghamton. I've forgotten her nun
up Der, which makes no difference, any
r? way, but she was an engine that tn
!. boys used TO say had never done
mean thing, and she seemed TO B
ry positively ashamed Of herself whe
de she left the rails that night
Ds 1T was stormy and dark when tn
thing happened, and the train Gre
was about as glum as they could max
up EN-. They thought they saw lon
hard Job and perhaps long wait II
q wrecking gang They swore lit
at the machine, but the engines
wouldn't stand for much Of that an
besides. there was the crooked ra
of In plain sight that had done the nj
chief.
Now, some folks won't belie'
what followed, but ( do. because, as
say, | know engines, All at ono
when the boys were poking aroun
We that old Number Whateyer-it-was ju
TT gave a hump and a jump, and there s.
- was back on the irons just as ne
and as smooth as you please Sa
would one Of these third-rail iigge
be doing trick like that? We
hardly
Yes. I'm prejudiced. | don't de
It. But don't 60 SO far as the 9th
engineer who said once that he wor
III sooner run over his best friend tn
reverse his engine A locomotive
sure enough the most human Of n
III RHl0eb. ana hnOd MOM ACAtVW
,rs jumper feels when his pet &c
ortE from the rails to the scrap-heap. F
life is life, and Of course The
Amt anything made in iron and br'
OF that's going to take the place Of
.h.lH man or a child.
They don't put SO much faI
work on engines now as they used
latIk It was the way once that an engin'
,url Or fireman dead stuck on his mach
could put in all his leisure time sh
Ing the brass fixings.
lal "'All sentiment, some fellow viii
led about this time And sure It is.
sentiment helps some in the da
work. though It probably won't sti
in the way Of progress. That d
one there with the hump is eleet
and scientific and new. Its day
coming fast, as near as I can /
and some day there won't be any
as fellows who have handled
steam throttle. Unless human nat
gets some way electrified, too, th
amt going to be much sentim
along the road then, nor engine
tears for old machines that come
their doom in the scrap.pila-H