The Southern herald., 1915-01-29
BILL DAIDY'S CHAPTER
BY ROBERT F. HOFFMAN.

1t is feature of the glad, free lif
Of this republic that every man is ell
titled to an opinion on everything III
der the sun, and, within wide limits
is entitled to the unrestricted expires
sion of that opinion.
Bill Daddy is one of those who be
lieve there is good in the large exel
else of that privilege, although of lat
years he has added caution to candor
In the old daysShe came in off his en-
gine, loaded with the usual 'accumula
tion of griefs over the shortcomingi
of the roundhouse, which are apt tt
loom large in the long watches of the
night run.
He gradually grew the habit of clos
ing his regular harangue to the round
house foreman with a sort Of perora
tion which summed up the real or i'm
aginary derelictions of everybody con
nected with the road, from oall-boy to
president
In an effort to break the .flow of
Bills rough eloquence the roundhouse
foreman unwittingly set Bills feet
upon the path that led upward-down-
ward, Bill laughingly insists some
times.
Bill, why in thunder don't you
write book?" said the long-suffering
foreman, when Bill had become more
than usually aggressive in his none
too gentle impeachments. "You are
sure wasting your talent on an en-
gine."
Bill glared for a moment before he
was able to let down the pressure of
road management which he had men
tally assumed, and then, as the recol-
lection Of a purchase he had recently
made for his growing son flashed
across his mind, he gave way to a slow
grin and said:
Blamed If l don't believe that's a
good idea, Ballard. Maybe I'll just go
you a chapter, when my boy gets fit
with his machine"
So, Daddy, in his evenings at home,
-ook to rehearsing his daily griefs to
he boy, who laboriously hammered
hem out of the typewriter into gro
esques Of composition and the print
sr's art.
Daddy dictated" and revised"
killed copy" and edited" although
le did not know it In those terms,
md after many days what he had
5rown to call "The Chapter" was fin
shed, decked out with border lines
hat fairly exhausted the resources of |
he boy and the eighty-odd characters
4 the machine.
Bill gloated over 1t for a week of
lights, and then liked it so well that
10 decided to have 1t all done over
gain, in order that he might not only
upply Ballard, but also send carbon
opies Of it surreptitiously to the su-
Of motive power, the d.
ision superintendent, and-holy of
olies-the general manager.
The superintendent of motive pow.
duly received his copy, threw it in
le waste basket, and remarked casu-
lly, bill"
He liked Bill, but not Bills too free
Ecoriations.
The division superintendent read his
'py and, laughing, pigeonholed it for
Iture use in letting down the pres
Ire of the superintendent of motive
'wer when next they should lock
)rns over engine failures.
The general manager took up his
'py from its personal cover and read !
from start to finish, as follows:
Chapter One. q
If this don't fit your case, you get a /
earance card right here. The board t
out for others. r
When you build an engine and want b
Q most results and don't care what
nd, fix yourself with lot of dis a
uraged craftsmen, and, for chief, get 6
good wrangler that talks into his b
liskers and don't decide much. "
Tell them fellows, at the start, that +
u put them into that cheese-box of. v
Q to stay, and they can't break out Il
to the road to see an engine do bust. Z
IS, noways. b
Don't pay any of them too much. fl
ey are working en- paper, and you Il
a easily fix the engine after we get el
Hire lot Of master mechanics that o
ow all about sawmills. There amt n,
ne around here, but you can see Il
I'M running In the woods If you take IL
ide with me. They will be ready to hi
up your new engine when it comes te
3 m
Tx up boiler steel specifications
t you know are o. K, and then let
purchasing agent bluff you into
ing something better but cheaper; 81
can prove 1t. That will sure give a 81
, once in while, to some of us fel- in
3 that's little slow about circulat- T.
in the scenery, and It will make hs
lgs brisk in the boiler shop. Them tn
ows need work. They are too strong re
rest nights.
Ise hammered engine frames. Ill tn
a track man I'd like to be able to alb
my hand on a busted weld and VIZ
"Them's It," after the engine
lped the track and got pulled out Of lo'
'orrow-pit. The dispatcher won't
3. II aha don't block the trnnlr II