The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1919-02-18

next few years Of his life might be
caught. Comforting to reflect that an
engineer is like a soldier, never can
be certain about tomorrow. Time
enough to know that tomorrow meant
Tucson! What was that threadbare
proverb 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 banali-
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,
twirkling 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, a char.
ter Of adventure in the barrancas Of
Mexico, would stifle in Tucson Amer
ican progress was as yet too thin a
veneer on Mexican Indifference to
make the place endurable- a! city.
I'm good for lifetime here, If !
want it," his thoughts would work
back to the starting place. If !
knuckle down to 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 a kindergarten-that his
Office wasn't a 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. It 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, I may like 1t, may get
to shout for Tucsonr" It 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
a definite terminal, concrete goal,
had he ever stopped to think? Spe.
calization had always a fascination
for him. It was that which had
thrown him out Of his instructorship
into the firebox of a western engine.
1t had governed his course at college
to know one thing well, and then to
prove that he knew 1t WE'LL Content.
ed in the Mexican barracks, here he
was chafng, restive, after a few
weeks Of Tucson. For what was he
getting here? Adding what scrap Of
experience to the rounding of his pro-
fession?
Retrospecdvely engineering could
hardly be said to be the work Of his
choice. Rather had 1t appeared to
choose him. From boyhood engineers
had always been, to him, the soldiers
Of modern civilization. To conquer
and subdue mountains, to shackle wild
rivers, to suspend trestles over dizzy
heights. to throw the tracks Of an ad-
vancing civilization along a newly
blazed trail, there would always be
thrill in 1t for him. It had changed
the best quarterback Of his high school
into the primmest Of students at col
lege. Only for a short time had he let
his vanity sidetrack him, when the
honor Of teaching what he had learned
stopped his own progress. A rut -
He remembered the day when it had
burst Oh him, the realization Of the
rut he Was In. He could see his Law
renee schoolroom, could see ret the
face under the red-haired mop belong