Evening star., 1926-11-09
DAD FOWLER'S WHISTLE WINS
HEARTS OF TWO GENERATIONS
Starter in Mount Pleasant on
W. R. {. Co. Pay Roll for
Last 49 Years.
Optimistic Outlook Laid to
Constant Contact With
Young People.

Out at the end of the Mount Pleas.
ant car line is one Of the richest men
in Washington.
His name is Samuel +. Fowler. and
he has been In the employ of the
Washington Railway and Electric Co.
for more than 40 years. for the past
21 years serving in the capacity of
starter. doing his daily duty at
Seventeenth street and Park road in
fair weather and foul.
I His wealth is not measured by the
coins which men hoard in banks and
exchange In the marts of trade. but
by the golden currency of friendships
formed during nearly half a century
Of faithful service to the public and
hy the bonds of fellowship TO all
men
Everybody. Young and old. rich and
moor. of the Mount Pleasant com
munity calls him Dad" and as Dad
Fowler. he is known wherever trac-
ton men foregather. He is the guide.
philosopher and friend of every child
in the neighborhood. and there are
many parents in the vicinity who
once felt the clasp of his kindly hand
as he guided them safely across the
street on their way to school. two
decades and more ago.
Whistle Is Familiar Sound.
The shrill of his starters whistle
as he sends the cars safely away on
time is one Of the sounds to which
the neighborhood has become so ac-
c,,stomed that the silence will he
silence indeed when the day comes
that the whistle shrills no more.
r'or Dad" Fowler is we'll along In
wears, though Young in understand
ing. Contact with scores OF young
people every day helps to keep him
Young. he said and 1t Is hard for him
to realize that hut a few weeks inter
vene before his 10th birthday.
Standing at the end of the car hne'
he sees buildings which were not even
planned when he first arrived to keep
watch and ward over the terminal and.
incidentally. the children Of the neigh
horhood. Mount Pleasant was way
out In the country when he came
there. he said. and on the sites Of the
apartment houses Of today grew the
trees Of yesterday.
Within his lifetime he has watched
village grow to city. His first
position with the company. obtained
IN October 1s 1877. was as horse
car driver on the old Metropolitan
Line"
Ue0TEetOWU wv NHUtVts
From Georgetown to. the Capitol he
drove his steed. his coming announced
hy iangling bells atop the harness,
and hauling in his wake conveyance
as antique to modern eyes as would
be the ark itself But he hauled many
a man whose name is written high on
the scroll Of the Nations famous ones,
for those were the days when George
town was still community sufficient
unto itself and Capitol Hill was in its
heyday.
The one horse cars went out and
the two-horse cars came in and still
young Sam" Fowler-he hadn't
reached the age Of electricity and gray
hairs then and nobody called him
"Dad"-piloted his cars through
streets which ran the gamut from
dust to mud and back to mud again.
After the horse cars passed into
history. he became a motorman, and
held that position until his promotion
to the rank of car starter, in 1905.
Dad" Fowler has seen parsonage
and just plain persons come and go
he has lived through the march and
sweep Of great events; has witnessed
styles and modes Of living alter al
most beyond recognition: but his faith
In human nature rs just as strong as II
was when he began a record OF pub
lie service that hasn't got a black
mark on It,