The Bennington evening banner. (Bennington, Vt.) 19??-1961, 1919-08-14

! was Sl.2O III this, MS nfst JOD. lie
was soon promoted, at a slight adj
vance, to be engineers assistant, and
he stocked the boilers and ran the en-.
CINE in the factory cellar for twelve
hours q day
1t was at this time, he afterward
said, that the inspiration came for his
subsequent library benefactions.
Colonel Anderson gentleman with
la library of about 400 books, opened
it to the boys every weekend and let
them borrow any book they wanted
Carnegie made full use of the oppor
ltunity. Only he who has longed as
/ he did for Saturdays to come" he
said. Il can understand what Colonel
4 Anderson did for me and the boys of
Allegheny. 1t it any wonder that
( resolved, if ever surplus wealth
came to me, would use il initiating
| my benefactor?"
AT IA he became a telegraph mes
senser. The superintendent of the
/ Office, James Reid, also a Scot. took
ia liking to the new boy. Indeed, it
was his Scotch accent that warmed
Reds heart toward him and got him
the job. Andrew had not been there
a month before he asked Mr.. Reid to
/ teach him biography and spent all
I his spare time in practice. 1t was the
! first step upward 'My entrance into
! the telegraph Office" said Carnegie,
was a transition from darkness to
! lieht--frOm firing a small en- CINE in
a dark and dirty cellar into clean
Office with bright windows and a
literary atmosphere, with books,
newspapers, pens, and pencils all
around me- | was the happiest boy
alive"
One day a death message came be-
fore the operators arrived. Carnegie
/ took it, and delivered it, and this led
to his promotion to be an operator
| When the Pennsylvania Railroad put
up telegraph wire of ijs own he
became clerk under Divisional Super
intendent Thomas A. Scott; at a sal
airy increased TO S35 a month. Mr..
Scott got 1925 month, and" Car
lnegie said, 81 used to wonder what
on earth he could do with 80 much
money
At that time telegraphy was still
new The dots and dashes we're not
read by sound, but we're all impressed
on tape, and Carnegie is said TO have
been the third operator in the Unit,
ed States to read messages by sound
alone. He was now Colonel SCOTS
private secretary. One morning when
Colonel Scott was late coming down
the trains We're getting tangled up in
the yards. The young private secre-
tary wrote ont such orders as he
knew his chief would give and put
them on the wires. When Colonel
Scott arrived, greatly disturbed over
what he supposed and prepared to
plunge into the work of Strengthening
things out, Carnegie told what he had
done and said the trains were all un
der way, Scott said nothing to him,
but to the President of the road he
reported that he had little Scotch
devil in his Office who would run the
whole road If they'd only give him a
chance
His father died when Andrew was
16, and as the breadwinner of the
family he advised his mother to
make her Investment, $500, in ten
shares of Adams Express stock. She
mortgaged her home to do IT, and
there was a monthly dividend of l
per cent - can see that first check
of $40 dividend money" he said after
his retirement. 1T was something
new to all of us, for none OF us had
ever received anything but from
toll"
This first investment was made on
the advice OF Scott, who had told him
that it would be a good one and had
offered to help him il he could not
raise enough.
Colonel Scott became General Sup
erintendent of the Pennsylvania in
1853 and Vice President in 1860, tax
ins Carnegie along with him at each
rise In May, 1861, the civil war had
broken out and Scott was appointed
Assistant Secretary of War in charge
of military railroads and telegraphs,
and again he took Carnegie with him.
! Carnegie was now Superintendent OF
the Western division of the road. and
did not want to go TO Washington,
but Scott insisted
/ Mr.. Carnegie was placed in charge
OF the Government telegraph com
munications He went to Annapolis
and opened cOmmunicaticns which
the Confederates had interrupted,
He started out on the first locomotive
which ran from Annapolis to Wash.
ington. While passing Elbridge Juno
ton he noticed that the wires had
lbeen pegged down by the enemy. He
stopped the engine, jumped down be-
side the wires and cut them. One Of
them sprang up and gave him a
wound in the cheek, the scar of
which remained with him all through
life.
He was on the field at Bull Run in
charge of the communications and
was the last man on the last train
that left for Washington when the
rout began.
While travelling on his division of
the road one day he met man who
said his name was T. T. Woodruff,