stretching from the atlantic seaboard on the east to the mississippi river on the west, lies the great p. & o. railroad, comprising, all told, some four thousand miles of track. look at it on the map and you will see how it twists and turns and sends off numberless little branches; for a railroad is like a river and always seeks the easiest path—the path, that is, where the grades are least and the passes in the mountains lowest.
once upon a time, a czar of russia, asked by his ministers to indicate the route for a railroad from st. petersburg to moscow, placed a ruler on the map before him and drew a straight line between those cities, a line which his engineers were forced to follow; but that is the only road in the world constructed in so wasteful a fashion.
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that portion of the p. & o. system which lies within the boundaries of the buckeye state is known as the ohio division, and the headquarters are at the little town of wadsworth, which happens, by a fortunate chance of geographical position, to be almost exactly midway between the ends of the division. a hundred miles to the east is parkersburg, where the road enters the state; a hundred miles to the southwest is cincinnati, where it gathers itself for its flight across the prairies of southern indiana and illinois; and it is from this central point that all trains are dispatched and all orders for the division issued.
here, also, are the great division shops, where a thousand men work night and day to repair the damage caused by ever-recurring accidents and to make good the constant deterioration of cars and engines through ordinary wear and tear. it is here that the pay-roll for the division is made out; hither all complaints and inquiries are sent; and here all reports of business are prepared.
in a word, this is the brain. the miles and miles of track stretching east and west and south, branching here and there to tap some near-by territory, are merely so many tentacles, useful only for conveying food, in the shape of passengers and freight, to the great, insatiable maw. in fact, the system resembles nothing so much as a gigantic cuttle-fish. the resemblance is more than superficial, for, like the cuttle-fish, it possesses the faculty of "darting ? 3 ? rapidly backward" when attacked, and is prone to eject great quantities of a “black, ink-like fluid,”—which is, indeed, ink itself—to confuse and baffle its pursuers.
the headquarters offices are on the second floor of a dingy, rectangular building, the lower floor of which serves as the station for the town. it is surrounded by broad cement walks, always gritty and black with cinders, and the atmosphere about it reeks with the fumes of gas and sulphur from the constantly passing engines. the air is full of soot, which settles gently and continually upon the passers-by; and there is a never-ceasing din of engines “popping off,” of whistles, bells, and the rumble and crash of cars as the fussy yard engines shunt them back and forth over the switches and kick them into this siding and that as the trains are made up. it is not a locality where any one, fond of quiet and cleanliness and pure air, would choose to linger, and yet, in all the town of wadsworth, there is no busier place.
first of all, there are the passengers for the various trains, who, having no choice in the matter, hurry in and hurry out, or sit uncomfortably in the dingy waiting-rooms, growing gradually dingy themselves, and glancing at each other furtively, as though fearing to discern or to disclose a smut. then, strange as it may seem, there are always a number of hangers-on about the place—idlers for whom the railroad seems to possess a curious and ? 4 ? irresistible fascination, who spend hour after hour lounging on the platform, watching the trains arrive and depart—a phenomenon observable not at wadsworth only, but throughout this broad land at every city, town, or hamlet through which a railroad passes.
across one end of the building is the baggage-room, and at the other is the depot restaurant, dingy as the rest notwithstanding the valiant and unceasing efforts made to keep it clean. the sandwiches and pies and pallid cakes are protected from the contamination of the atmosphere by glass covers which are polished until they shine again; the counter, running the whole length of the room, is eroded by much scrubbing as stones sometimes are, and preserves a semblance of whiteness even amid these surroundings. behind it against the wall stand bottles of olives, pickles, and various relishes and condiments, which have been there for years and years, and will be there always—for who has time for food of that sort at a railway restaurant? indeed, it would seem that they must have been purchased, in the first place, for ornament rather than for use.
at one end of the counter is a glass case containing a few boxes of stogies and cheap cigars, and at intervals along its length rise polished nickel standards bearing fans at the top, which are set in motion by a mechanism wound up every morning like a clock; but the motion is so slow, the fans revolve ? 5 ? with such calm and passionless deliberation, that they rather add to the drowsy atmosphere of the place, and the flies alight upon them and rub the jam from their whiskers and the molasses from their legs, and then go quietly to sleep without a thought of danger.
how often has this present writer sat before that counter in admiring contemplation of the presiding genius of the place as he sliced up a boiled ham for sandwiches. he was a master of the art; those slices were of more than paper thinness. it was his peculiar glory and distinction to be able to get more sandwiches out of a ham than any other mere mortal had ever been able to do, and he was proud of it as was napoleon of the campaign of austerlitz.
the greater part of the custom of the depot restaurant was derived from “transients;” from passengers, that is, who, unable to afford the extravagance of the diner, are compelled to bolt their food in the five minutes during which their train changes engines, and driven by necessity, must eat here or nowhere. and they usually got a meal of surprising goodness; so good, in fact, that there were and still are many men who willingly plough their way daily through smoke and cinders, and sit on the high, uncomfortable stools before the counter, in order to enjoy regularly the entertainment which the restaurant offers—a striking instance of the triumph of mind over environment.
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these, then, are the activities which mark the lower floor of the building; those of the upper floor are much more varied and interesting, for it is there, as has been said, that the division offices are located. a constant stream of men pours up and down the long, steep flight of stairs which leads to them. conductors and engineers must report there and register before they take out a train and as soon as they bring one in; trainmen of all grades climb the stair to see what orders have been posted on the bulletin-board and to compare their watches with the big, electrically adjusted clock which keeps the official time for the division.
others ascend unwillingly, with downcast countenances, summoned for a session “on the carpet,” when trainmaster or superintendent is probing some accident, disobedience of orders, or dereliction of duty. still others, in search of employment, are constantly seeking the same officials, standing nervously before them, cap in hand, and relating, more or less truthfully, the story of their last job and why they left it;—so that the procession up and down the stair never ceases.
the upper floor is not quite so dingy as the lower. it is newer, for one thing, its paint and varnish are fresher, and it is kept cleaner. but it is entirely inadequate to the needs of the business which is done there; for here are the offices of the division engineer, the division passenger and freight agents, the timekeeper, the division superintendent, the ? 7 ? trainmaster—and dominating them all, the dispatchers’ office, whence come the orders which govern the movements of every train. near by is a lounging-room for trainmen, where they can loiter and swap yarns, while waiting to be called for duty. it is a popular place, because if one only talks loud enough one can be overheard in the dispatchers’ office across the hall.
so the men gather there and express their opinions of the dispatchers at the top of the voice—opinions, which, however they may differ in minor details, are always the reverse of complimentary. for the dispatchers are the drivers; they crack the whip over the heads of the trainmen by means of terse and peremptory telegraphic orders, which there is no answering, and which no one dares disobey; and the driver, however well-meaning, is seldom popular with the driven.
such is the station and division headquarters at wadsworth: unworthy alike as the one and the other. the whole effect of the building is of an indescribable, sordid dinginess; it is a striking example of that type of railroad economy which forbids the expenditure of money for the comfort and convenience of its patrons and employees—a type which, happily, is fast passing away.
on a certain bright spring morning—bright, that is, until one passed beneath the cloud of smoke which hung perpetually above the yards at wadsworth—a ? 8 ? boy of about eighteen joined the procession which was toiling up the stair to the division offices, and, after hesitating an instant at the foot, as though to nerve himself for an ordeal which he dreaded, mounted resolutely step after step. as he pushed open the swinging-door at the top, the clamour of half a dozen telegraph instruments greeted his ears. he glanced through the open window of the dispatchers’ office as he passed it, pushed his way through a group of men gathered before the bulletin-board, and, after an instant’s hesitation, turned into an open doorway just beyond.
there were two men in the room, seated on either side of a great desk which stood between the windows looking down over the yards. they glanced up at the sound of his step, and one of them sprang to his feet with a quick exclamation of welcome.
“why, how are you, allan!” he cried, holding out his hand. “i’m mighty glad to see you. so you’re ready to report for duty, are you?”
“yes, sir,” answered the boy, smiling into the genial gray eyes, and returning the warm handclasp, “i’m all right again.”
“you’re a little pale yet, and a little thin,” said the trainmaster, looking him over critically; “but that won’t last long. george,” he added, turning to his companion, “this is allan west, who saved the pay-car from that gang of wreckers last christmas eve.”
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“is it?” and the chief-dispatcher held out his hand and shook the boy’s heartily. “i’m glad to know you. mr. schofield has told us the story of that night until we know it by heart. all the boys will be glad to meet you.”
the boy blushed with pleasure.
“thank you,” he said.
“allan’s to take a job here as office-boy,” added mr. schofield. “when will you be ready to go to work?”
“right away, sir.”
“that’s good. i was hoping you’d say that, for there’s a lot of work piled up. the other boy was promoted just the other day, and i’ve been holding the place open. that will be your desk there in the corner, and your principal business for the present will be to see that each official here gets promptly the correspondence addressed to him. that basketful of letters yonder has to be sorted out and delivered. in this tray on my desk i put the messages i want delivered at once. understand?”
“yes, sir,” answered allan, and immediately took possession of the pack of envelopes lying in the tray.
he sat down at his desk, with a little glow of pride that it was really his, and sorted the letters. three were addressed to the master mechanic, three to the company’s freight agent, two to the yardmaster, and five or six more to other officials. as ? 10 ? soon as he got them sorted, he put on his hat and started to deliver them.
the trainmaster watched him as he left the office, and then smiled across at the chief-dispatcher.
“bright boy that,” he commented. “did you notice—he didn’t ask a single question; just went ahead and did as he was told—and he didn’t have to be told twice, either.”
the chief dispatcher nodded.
“yes,” he said; “he’ll be a valuable boy to have about.”
“he’s already proved his value to this road,” added mr. schofield, and turned back to his work.
no one familiar with allan west’s history will dispute the justice of the remark. it was just a year before that the boy had secured a place on the road as section-hand—a year fraught with adventure, which had culminated in his saving the pay-car, carrying the men’s christmas money, from falling into the hands of a gang of desperate wreckers. the lives of a dozen men would have been sacrificed had the attempt succeeded. that it did not succeed was due to the ready wit with which the boy had managed to defeat the plan laid by the wreckers, and to the sheer grit which had carried him through a situation of appalling danger. he had barely escaped with his life; he had spent slow weeks recovering from the all-but-fatal bullet-wound he had received there. it was during this period of convalescence, spent at the little cottage ? 11 ? of jack welsh, the foreman under whom he had worked on section, that the trainmaster had come to him with the offer of a position in his office—a position not important in itself, but opening the way to promotion, whenever that promotion should be deserved. allan had accepted the offer joyfully—how joyfully those who have read the story of his adventures in “the young section-hand” will remember—and at last he was ready to begin his new duties, where yet other adventures awaited him.
