The Meeker herald., 1909-02-27

rs pressed upon me in man.
ner that shall never for
get while was WORKING on simple
proposition that grew out Of . railway
strike" So
Capt. Dickson. . former olicial Of
the United States secret service. now
retired, was in q musing frame Of
mind. whom called on him the other
evening and he gave expression to the
foregoing words. Something that hap
pened during the day. had brought to
his mind one Of the vivid experiences
Of his days Of active service. and had
no trouble In getting him to relate the
circumstances. put them down In
his own words.
The p. Z o. was little railroad
that ran between two small towns in q
certain western state, and l. happened
to become mixed up with this labor
dificuIty because of the fact that the
road carried the maths. My depart
ment was brought into play to prevent
any interference with the government
mail service by the strikers.
The country ct large was not much
affected by the tying up Of this insig-
nincant part of the great network Of
railroads. Yet the government. with
the thoroughness It displays in every
thing connected with 1t, took the liveli-
est interest in the case. I was as
signed to 1t with instructions to see
that the mail train made its regular
daily trip without being molested.
was much surprised to find an old
college-mate Of mine oflciating as gen
eral manager sof the road. remem-
bered him as q studious. gawky. red
headed youngster. who was taking
course in civil engineering. had
some work with him In the surveying
class, which was part of the course
Of mining engineering to which was
devoting my attention. He was tco
self-centered and too studious to be
popular with the boys of his class, and
because / appreciated his loneliness
and showed him some slight courtesies,
he formed = deep attachment for me.
We promised to write when We left
college, but ~ those promises gen
orally. 90, neither Of us thought Of 1t
or. II we did, ever acted upon 1t, We
quite lost track Of each other until /
walked INTO his once one. afternoon
to confer with him about the strike.
He was not quite As red-headed and
Sawky ~ in his college days. but he
had changed 70 little that readily
recognised him. He knew me Instant
ly and greeted me with warmth and
. genuine pleasure that was most
Agreeabl4 He was showed under with
work. but he brushed aside the mass
of papers that Uttered his desk and
made he sit down and tell him some
thing of my experiences since had
left college before he would take up
business matters with me. He told
me Of the struggle he had had in
climbing from obscurity to his present
position, which was not In
any sense IN unimportant one. His
road was 4 feeder or tapline for one
of the big trans-continental systems,
and his post put him in direct line for
into the service Of the lat
ter.
He was a. frank and engaging and
devoted TO his work as when he had
been an awkward. bashful college boy.
H5oked down upon, Stunned and de-
spised by his classmates because OF
his poor circumstances and his lack OF
time to be what they considered =
rood fellow. He had fought his way
upward against the greatest dihicul-
ties, and I marveled at his ability to
cope with the adverse conditions that
~ to- Ia Me hat. |