Free trader-journal. (Ottawa, Ill.) 1916-1920, 1919-02-19

next few years of his life might be
caught. Comforting to reflect that an
engineer is like Il soldier, never can
be certain about tomorrow Time
enough to know that tomorrow meant
Tucson What was that threadbare
proycrb in the Overland Pacific that
Tod Marshall always keeps his men
until they lose their teeth? That de-
fined the men who made themselves
necessary.
His eyes were resting ON the hanali-
ties Of the modern city that had robbed
"old town Of its flavor. Were it not
for the beauty of the distant hills, the
jar and rumble of the trains whose
roar called to nearby pleasure cities,
twinkllng lights and crowded theaters,
stretches Of parks and recreation
grounds, he, who loved the thrill and
confinement Of an engine, who had
found enticement in a desert, char.
ter Of adventure in the barrancas of
NJ ..ico, would stitle in Tucson. Amer.
lean progress Was as yet too thin 4
veneer on Mexican Indifference to
make the place endurablc-as city.
I'm good for a lifetime here, if l
want II" his thoughts would work
back TO the starting place. "If ]
kuuCkle down 20 it, let him grow to
depend on me, it's as good as settled
that | am buried in Tucson" Hadn't
he heard Marshall himself say That he
didn't keep kindcrgarten-tha his
office wasn't training school for
men" He wanted his men to stay
That, one of the reasons of the great
mans power; detail rested on the
shoulders of his employees. 1t kept
his own brain clear, receptive to big
achievements.
Perhaps as the work unrolls, as
see more OF what he wants of me, Why
he wants me- | may like it, / may get
to shout for Tucson 1t was impos.
sible enough to smile over! Child's
work, compared to Mexico.
The distinction Of serving Marshall
well certainly had its drawbacks. He
wanted to sweep on. Whether he had
IA definite terminal, a concrete goal,
had he ever stopped to think? Spe'
cialiZation had always a fascination
for him. 1t was that which had
thrown him out of his instructOrship
into the firoboX OF a western engine.
1t had governed his course at cofege-
to know one thing WELL and then to
prove that he knew it we'll! Content
ed in the Mexican barracks, here he
was chatting, FESTIVE, after IA few
weeks of Tucson. For what was he
getting here? Adding what scrap OF
experience to the rounding of his pro
feSsion?
RetroSpectively engineering could
hardly be said to be the work of his
choice. Rather had it appeared to
choose him. From hoyhood engineers
had always been, to him, the soldiers
of modern civilization. To conquer
and subdue mountains, to shacklc wild
rivers, to suspend trestles over dizzy
heights, TO throw the tracks Of an adj
vancing civilization along Il newly
blazed trail there would always be a
thrill in it for him. 1t had changed
the best quarterback of his high school
into the primmest of students at col
lege. Only for short time had he let
his vanity sidetrgck him, when the
honor of teaching what he had learned
stopped his own progress. A rut =
He remembered the day when it had
burst on him, the realization of the
rut he was in. He could see his Law
renee schoolrcOm, could see yet she
face under the red-haired mop belong
ing to Jerry Matson-queer he 'remem-
bered the name after all those years
He could picture the look of conster-
nation when he threw down his book
and announced his deserion.
He had handed in his resignation
the next day. A month later and he
was shoveling coal on the steep grades
of Wyoming.
Marshall keeps his men with him !"
The engineers glance Travelled around
the tleckless Office. A stranger to Mar
shall would get a wrong idea of the
man who worked in it, Those precise