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James Cox - My Native Land
and steam. Some of these springs have wide and secure edges, or banks, on which a man can stand and
fish. Then, on his right hand, he has the icy-cold water of the lake, from which he can obtain trout and
other fish, until he begins to dream of a fisherman's paradise. Dr. Hayden, the explorer, already referred
to, was the first man to take advantage of the opportunity and to cook his fish unhooked in the boiling
water to his left, merely making a half turn in order to do so. When the Professor first mentioned this
fact, he was good humoredly laughed at, but, as stated in an earlier part of this chapter, the possibility has
been so clearly demonstrated, that people have long since admitted as a possibility what they had first
denounced as an utter absurdity.
CHAPTER XVI. THE HEROES OF THE IRON HORSE.
Honor to Whom Honor is Due - A Class of Men Not Always Thoroughly Appreciated at their Worth -
An Amateur's Ride on a Flying Locomotive - From Twelve Miles an Hour to Six Times that Speed - The
Signal Tower and the Men who Work in it - Stealing a Train - A Race with Steam - Stones about
Bewitched Locomotives and Providential Escapes.
No one who has not given the matter special consideration has the remotest idea of the magnitude and
importance of the railroad system of the United States. Nor has any one who has not studied the statistics
bearing on the question the faintest conception of the cost of the roads built and in operation. The cost in
dollars and cents for a mile of track has been ascertained to a fractional point. Expert accountants have
figured out to a hundredth part of a cent the cost of hauling a passenger or a ton of merchandise any
given distance. There are even tables in existence showing the actual expense incurred in stopping a
train, while such details as the necessary outlay in wages, fuel, repairs, etc., have received the attention
which the magnitude of the interests involved deserves.
But the cost in human life and suffering of the great railroad system of the United States is quite another
matter, and one that does not come within the scope of the calculations of accountants, expert or
otherwise. It has been said repeatedly that a man is safer in a railroad train than on the streets. In other
words, the percentage of death and serious injury is said by statisticians to be lower among men
habitually traveling than among people who are classed as stay-at-homes, and who seldom take a railroad
journey. But while this is doubtless correct, so far as passengers are concerned, the rule does not apply to
railroad employes, and those who by their never-wavering care and energy protect the life and limbs of
passengers, and make railroad traveling safe as well as comfortable.
A celebrated divine, when preaching on the subject of faith, once took a railroad journey for an
illustration. As he pointed out, with much eloquence and force, there could be no more realistic
personification of faith than the man who peacefully lay down to sleep at night in his berth of a Pullman
car, relying implicitly upon the railroad men to avert the thousands of dangers which had to be
encountered during the still hours of the night.
Whenever there is a strike, a great deal is written about the men employed in various capacities by
railroads, and every misdeed is exaggerated, and every indiscretion magnified into a crime. But very little
is said on the other side of the question. The men to whom railroad travelers, and especially those who
ride at night, commend their safety, are worked to the full extent of their powers, and are paid very small
wages, when the nature of their duties and the hours they have to make are taken into consideration.
The commendation of these men takes the form of deeds, rather than words, and while so few have ever
stopped to consider the loyalty and devotion of the poorly paid and hard-worked railroad man, every
traveler who enters a railroad car pays silent tribute to their reliability. The passenger, as he lounges
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