New-York tribune., 1919-09-01
Railroad Pioneer.
Aged 90, Deplores
Present Unrest
What Are Br rotherhoods
Striking For? Asks Carret
lseman, Who Recalls His
Early Pay of ST. a Day
Staff CorresDondcnce

Staff Correspondence
SPARKILL, N. Y, Aug. 31.-Neither
railroad strikes nor the high cost of
living make any impress on the quiet,
even life of Garret Iseman, who sits on
his veranda here day after day, with
the patience of age, hoping that he
may live to see the dawn of his
hundredth year. He rounded the
nnetysixth milestone this week and
is one of the oldest railroad men in
the country. When the first mile of
Erie track was laid, away back in
1886, he had hand in the work. For
forty years he ran trains through the
Rockland region. His career as en-
glneer began with a wood burning To-
comotive in 1847
Mr.. lscman was rocking himself
placidly on the veranda of the house
where he lives with his daughter when
The Tribune reporter sought him out.
All alone he was but for his good dog
Tippy. A Cry shawl covered his
knees. A rough tweed suit hung
loosely on his gaent frame A tweed
cap sat jauntily on his hoary head
Proud of His Farm
Time has dealt kindly with him.
Despite the passage Of years his face
is innocent of wrinkles: his keen,
steel-bluc eyes beam kindly out on the
world and his cheeks have the russet
sembiance of autumn apples. Only
his hands are knotted and gnarled.
They have the look of much hard US
age. 1t is the old mans boast that in
his time he was good farmer as we'll
as engineer, and his pride in the
twenty eight acres of land surrounding
the house where he lives is touching
He likes to wander around and watch
his garden grow. On days when he
feels able he does little wedding and
watering. The high pile of wood at
the back OF the house is a monument
to the industry of Mr.. Iseman. for he
winter until the pile grew to goodly
proportions.
Outlivcs Five Children
The days slip smoothly by for this
aged man. He lives in the past. and
always, with certain inevta bllity, he
rocks himself in the old wicker chair
Five children and his wife have died
and he fingers with the echoes of the
past in his ears.
There are few followers of Izaak
Walton so aged as he, but his eyes
flashed and a rush Of vitality gave mo-
mentary vlgor to his frame as he told
of the big fish catches of thirty years
ago. AS late as last autumn he brought
IN fine haul Of pickerel.
Yes, indeed. it's a great thing to
weary. I'm getting weary" vluchsafed
Mr.. Iseman. "Ivc seen so many things
happen and so much change of one
KIND and another But Pm glad to
have lived through so much, and God
has been good to me- he said with
simple sincerity. "I've always workc d
harder than most men. and I've lived
on plain fare and believed in my fell
low men. That helps to keep you
young in spirit, even if you are old in
years.
H. c. of l.. Doesn't Bother Him
"Well, no, tho high cost of living
doesn't bother me much. We grow
everything OH thc place and we have
SuiChcHS, vegetables dNu eNeTNtnlN. =
We need. My clothes are home made
and my stockings home knit. What
more can one want at my age 2"
Mr.. lseman sets little store on mere
"book learning" He is frank on the
score that he never had any education,
but then, as he explained, one can have
a we'll stocked mind without conven-
tional schooling. He has intense faith
in the knowledge of the man of prac-
teal experience. He started to work
when he was twelve years old. At
nineteen he went to work on the rail
road and made 81 a day. He mad a
part in two railroad strikes-one in
81 and another in '66 He has little
sympathy for the railroad strikes Of
day.
81 don't know what the men are
striking for now,' ne declared "If
they were getting the wages we used
to get they would have something to
kick about. But just look atahe money
they are making! It's the spirit of
discomfort that is abroad The war is
responsible. | hope the poor old world
will never have another. 1t couldn't
stand it very WE'LL"