The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1909-07-11
GOSSIP OF RAILWAYMEN

III SEE" said the old railroadman,
that prizes are being offered for
articles on how to become an eff
Gent trainmaster or claim agent, or
a traffic manager by some of the rail-
road papers. This is most interesting
and should occupy the attention of my
friend F. G. Athearn, who can write
IKE an angel, and who can maize q
Pase OF statistics as interesting az a
uiiiie mover. Though I must saw I
CT saw any of the office BOYS porting
over anything that Athearn ever wrote
Ihls shows their bad taste. for Athearn
IS one OF the incest men in the rail-
ROAD business and has done more to
improve the morals of rude railroad
men than any one L know.
ou should see the clubhouses
that Athearn has built under Harri-
mans orders. Gracious, tbev ne sr.-all
"a 0idp can come in from a run and
De SCOT from foot to head. with great
udups or grease on his face, lust like
an actor when he is taking off his
iIaAeup' and a polite attendant will he
On tap and conduct him to a hot hath
"here ne can soak away for an bour
win the water getting hotter every
iiiolnent' that is, if he is at Roseville
1nen, when he gets out of the
luo ne can go into the reading room
anu peruse every paper that is printed
an nave magazines and periodicals
TIL ne can't rest, and some well selected
novels, all chosen by f. g. Atbearn a,,S
calculated not to injure his morals.
put improve his mind. 1t would he a
pity for an engineer to be reading sucb
mover stuff as they print NOWADAYS. and
80 Athearn Is very particular what
KIND of books go out from his clearing
mouse on the tenth floor of the Flood
building
nave never read any of the books
myself, because 1 think the less a rail-
roadman reads of light literature the
petter on he is, but the young ladies
IN the Flood building devour Athearn's
BOOKS and read them through three
or four times over while bitting +be
typewriter, which gives them so much
better command of language than their
bosses.
nave often wondered when I have
seen one of those bright young things
with a book in her lap how she man
ages to avoid copying some of the
pages of the book instead of the drv
old letters the boss is sending, but
women are so clever.
~ the DOyS ever go to the library
Good gracious, no! Youths do not
read books nowadays. They employ
their time to better advantage. What
are the sporting papers for? Do you
suppose that the future general man
ayers of railroads can afford to waste
their time reading books? Why, the
idea is what my friend Billy Webster
would call 'preposterous'
William j. Slattery is their popular
author, and the way they lambast him
sometimes is really awful Does any
one know more about baseball than
the youngsters In the Flood building ?
Well, 1 guess not. Tommy Egan can
tell you more about the national game
than any man in the country. and how
he finds time to learn all about it is
a wonder to me. Tommy can tell all
the averages for the last 100 years. but
when Tommy was asked when the Pan
anna canal would be finished he said:
- Go on, what kind of CUFF is that YOU
are giving me? Who ever heard of
Panama canal? ] have heard about
Panama Bill of Newcastle, who wears
that funny bonnet, but Panama canal.
You must be dippy
And. Tommy is a faithful reader of
the papers. There isn't a thing on the
sporting page that misses Tommy, and
he could give points to all the sporting
writer's, but when it comes to more
trivial matters Tommy is not up to
the mark. He simply overlooks his
hand and flags on to the latest sporting
news.
Boys, it is no use lodging the mat