Part 9

Aye Reuben lad, ye missed a treat Last Friday when you failed to meet One hundred transportation men Convened from city, burg and glen, For the second yearly dinnerfest Of fish and fowl and sparkling jest. They sought the board from moor and fen: Hoot mon! they were blythe, merry men. From out the dome peered twinkling stars Which shone on knights of boats and cars: Within host Dunning’s spacious halls The KING and ENSIGN graced the walls; Beneath them ranged with D. O. WOOD The BLACK PRINCE, LORNE and stalwart HOOD. HOTRUM, STACKPOLE, SOMERVILLE, And scouts who answered to “just plain BILL.” Duke TERRY then inspects the guards And straightway signals all his pards: He trained his optics down the line, Then to the chaplain gave a sign. With smirk and quip the fray began, Ye gods! they’re at it to a man. The chef was new, his viands fine, My word! how they did sup and dine. Each clansman cracked his jest and pun, Warm hearts, good cheer made all the fun. With merry clink the MAC’S and O’S Attacked until their WILD IRISH ROSE. When MARSHALL diagnosed their case And cried “Enough,” they slackened pace. Just here the warblers oiled their throats, Producing full BRAZILLIAN notes, The smokers puffed and songs were sung, A gem was that from RILEY YOUNG. Will McIlroy and NANCY’S choir, With JULES did stud sweet music’s lyre. At half past ten the screen began To picture LARRY, HANK and DAN; Why Scots had thews instead of fat And differed from St. George and Pat.

Reuben acushla! I wish you saw Dear BERTHA’S curves and WOLFE’S smooth jaw. EDDIE was flashed de-HORNING a cow, Alas, poor Yoric! view him now. Admiral HARRY sailed to sea With skippers primed in drams of Tea, Hector BENNETTO--Benn. C.B.-- THORPE, FITZ--MORICE, Murdo Mac D-- SARGENT, THOMAS, Frank C. FOY Roared with unction and rocked with joy At JACK the Moor in the bear’s cage And CALLAGHAN was all the rage. The cartoons ceased in quite a breeze With Cupid DICK in his B.V.D’s. WILL. JACKSON, wise from Spotless Town, Sate cheek by jowl with soldier BROWN, While GRAY and GREEN and singing PINK Rehearsed “The toothbrush in the sink.” And “Young DICK TINNING haint no style, Deed he am boss, all de while.” RICHARD sang “Maxwellton’s Braes” Performing as in other days. Oh you beautiful doll was there With bells on her toes, and lard in her hair. The C.N.R. and G.T.P. The CORNBELT Route and N. Y. C. Hob-nobbed with he of the C. B. Q. Beside the banks of the winding SOO. MULKERN, entranced beheld the throng, Impressed was he with the ’cello song. Saintly McCRAW shed one large tear O’er wee Baptiste on his truckle bier. The joke on MURPHY was a scream Beyond the Company’s fondest dream. FALSTAFF sampled some nut-brown ale, Requested a schooner and then a pail: ANGUS TORY and WELLAND STRONG Thought they too would ride along, But ALEC. BOYD said “Have a heart, Does ‘G. & W.’ take no part?”

With pretense only, Jimmie S-- Pitched the tent of the Royal Mess, At this the owls flew off their perch To safety in a nearby church, But the lion cubs drank LION brew, Avoiding HENNESSY’S Mountain Dew, Yet so discreet, no man did mar By deep libations from the jar. TIMOTHY--HEALEY and CARSON too, Prayed that night in the self-same pew, And harked to MULLIN’S vocal gem, Which touched the crew from stern to stem. Most of the men were born quite young, And some before had never sung, So you may guess the bars and chords Issuing from that House of Lords. Colonel NELLES and Major TIM, True, bold Britons, were in the swim. A “GLOOM” complained to JOLLY JACK DONALDSON, FAIRHEAD--ANDREW MACK. That Woolworth’s chiel was not a SCOT And the good old days had gone to pot, But HOWARD, HICKSON and Harvey Lloyd, Wreathed in smiles the fun enjoyed. By “Cobalt Special” SHERIDAN came. Likewise a list too long to name: COLLINS, FERNLEY, CALDWELL, GOULD, With PERNFUSS sleek, massaged, bejeweled, Like “two-year-olds” cut up old Nick And introduced a brand new trick. They hopped about from lid to lid, And each did everything Katy-did. The N. P. R. and PHOEBE SNOW Both regretted they could’nt go. Nobody threw the harpoon sharp, Nobody prayed or played the harp, But men of baggage, boats and cars, In har-mon-ee smoked long cigars. They lent their brilliance to the scene And polished platters slick and clean. After the sun had gone to rest, When birds and beasts were all undressed, The hours sped fast on wheels of time And the flock took flight ere midnight chime, Resolved to meet ’bout next July To trap that badger fierce and sly, Or cage the kangarooster.

ANDREW J. TAYLOR

Lines to the memory of a good friend and business associate

If inscrutable destiny or the influence of circumstance had not planned for Andrew J. Taylor the career of a widely known railway man, it may be stated without relying on too elastic imagination that he could have qualified to an advance degree as a beloved Presbyteriann “dominie” or Catholic priest. His admirable character attracted unusual and unsolicited confidences, to human anxieties his sound sympathetic counsel applied the encouragement and comfort of a confessor and he was never without a loose shilling for the needy. Coupled with these attributes he possessed a moral and superior mental fabric and when you learn that his forebears came from a canny nook in Scotland it will explain and account for his quiet appreciation of honor and duty.

Lesmahagow or Abbey Green, on the River Nethan, Lanarkshire, was the birthplace of his father, James Mitchell Taylor, who brought his ruddy cheeked bride from the English-speaking settlement of L’Original to Ottawa. Her father succumbed to wounds received in the battle of the Wind Mill and both her military grandfathers were killed in the battle of Waterloo. In Bytown the subject of this sketch was born June 24th, 1858, and spent his childhood with four brothers and four sisters, securing his education in the private schools which predominated in those days and in the world of experience and travel.

As a boy he caused his mother more trouble than any of her other sons owing to the fact that he was always “Fighting the other fellows’ battles”, could not condone bullying and was the staunch friend and champion of a deaf and dumb playmate whom children chased and tantalized. He was fond of animals and during his life in Ottawa, mill slabs and water were delivered in the neighborhood of the river and often the horses drawing these necessities were neglected and ill treated. Invariable his gorge would rise at such treatment and he waded in causing no end of trouble.

As a boy Andy Taylor playing a hymn on the organ, selling ribbon over the counter in Elliott & Hamilton’s Ottawa store, or juggling with rolls of carpet in McIlwraith & Egan’s at Hamilton, would seem to those who knew him later, as an uncongenial occupation for the putter of the heavy shot and athletic participator in Caledonian games, but such was the case with him, and many another youth did likewise in their experimental quest for the right thing amid a variety of business pursuits.

When his father resigned the position of General Freight Agent of the St. Lawrence & Ottawa Railway he assumed charge of the passenger interests of the Chicago, Milwaukee & St. Paul Railway, and came to Toronto to represent that company--until his transfer to Pittsburg, creating in 1878 the permanent agency which was withdrawn only last December. A. J. Taylor entered his father’s employ as a clerk at Toronto in the spring of 1879, covered the territory as traveling passenger agent under his direction, succeeded him, became “C.F. & P.A.”, in 1900, and as a respected and trustworthy officer his name remained on that company’s pay roll continuously for thirty-six years.

Although his agreeable disposition and the nature of his duties in early manhood, secured him throughout Ontario and Quebec an extensive acquaintance with which he was _persona grata_, Mr. Taylor did not eagerly seek new companionship and he clearly recognized the line of demarkation existing between personal and business friends. However, many men whom he met through the medium of commercial connections, soon became more intimate and it was only a “casual” or extra-sensitive person that misinterpreted a certain aloofness or transient preoccupation which some thought he appeared to sometimes display.

Prior to 1885, the year when the Canadian Pacific Railway threw open a new gateway to Winnipeg, Andy Taylor was one of a lively United States railroading coterie who sought a share of that growing and intensely competitive passenger business then moving only via St. Paul to the Dakotas and Canadian Northwest. He proved his worth, building a reputation which sustained him long after, thus gaining for his employers a percentage of traffic based on good-will towards “Andy” which the road would have otherwise been denied.

More or less dogmatic, and always deliberate, in argument he was convincing and his personal prestige and lucid exposition of routes, rates and accommodation ensured regular renewal of patronage from individual travelers and professional ticketing agents from Halifax to the Detroit River. When he was in his prime--genial, popular and as strong as a gladiator--he participated in many exciting episodes of personal character and incidents arising out of the unsettled conditions governing travel, ticket scalping, rate cutting and commissions on sales. He described to me how, on one occasion the “Wabash”, “C.B. & Q.R.”, “C. & N.W.R.” and “C.R.I. & P.” made an agreement lasting for a limited period, whereby they pooled their entire passenger business ticketed through Chicago, Omaha and westward, each receiving an equal monthly division irrespective of the percentage handled individually. While this understanding was extant his employers, the “C.M. & St. P.R.”, opened their line from Chicago to Council Bluffs, Nebraska, and requested admission to the charmed circle. The quartette black-balled the new candidate and he, through the medium of increased commissions broke the cabal and the status quo shot as high as a captive balloon with feverish excitement. In 1885 one Quebec agent received for commissions on passenger business from the incoming ships destined the west, a cheque for one month’s bookings amounting to $750.00.

Like the late Robert Lewis, long connected with the Lehigh Valley Railroad, who years ago fished in the wilds of Northern Muskoka and beyond, Andrew Taylor was a devoted follower of the sport of Isaac Walton. His regular journeys and explorations in the regions of fish and game were to him anticipated fixtures and the source of much pleasure and benefit. He visited many haunts in his time, was considered an authority on ways and means to fill a creel and color a “meerchaum”. Like Theodore Roosevelt, he “dee-lighted” to handle a gun and was better than the average as a wing shot.

Passionately fond of outdoor life, with him originated the plan for a permanent headquarters in the woods, and aided by his associates Messrs. B. H. Bennett, J. J. Rose, P. G. Van Vleet and Jack Goodsell, the well equipped lodge of the incorporated Red Chalk Fishing and Game Club, six miles south of Bigwin Island in Lake of Bays, was established in Northern Muskoka, with Andrew Taylor charter president, honorary life member and pater familias of a sociable brood of thirty sportsmen.

Having been an ex-president of the Victoria Lawn Bowling & Skating Club and the Western Bowling Association, London, his office was the rendezvous of curlers and bowling committees as well as fellow members of the Toronto Lacrosse & Athletic Club.

Few of his friends had more intimate opportunities to realize his characteristics than myself and one must labor beside a person to obtain the true perspective. The antithesis of what men describe as a “fourflusher”, he could not stoop to conquer by unfair means, but was punctilious in observing the code, in the propriety of personal behaviour, in the composition of a sentence. Although endowed with Scottish caution, in many ways he was not secretive but almost boyishly candid and uniformly courteous, patient and generous to a fault. The confidante of his father, the adviser to a score of relatives, idolized by his family, A. J. Taylor’s confreres valued his friendship and regarded their intimacy with him as a golden opportunity.

* * * * *

BY-WATER MAGAZINE

Business Getter’s Competition Prize Winning Essay

Eighty per cent. of new business secured--after eliminating the advantageous influence of good advertising well placed--results not from unusual happenings or quasi-romantic incidents. It originates in pressing industrial expansion and broad education, it flows through modern channels, and along those thorny, old-fashioned highways of endeavor such as persistent, methodical solicitation of passenger and freight traffic, a conscientious interest in its handling and disposition after acceptance, and above all depends upon the good will and very essential aid of each one of that many sided army employed by the transportation corporations whose arteries provide the means for commercial life’s activities.

Assuming that you desire to introduce or further exploit a worthy service and route, publicity should be the first vital consideration. In this propaganda who can better assist you to reach the world and his wife than the rank and file, than those men and youths of high and low degree whom you meet when you occasionally call and who, during your absence, are always in immediate contact with buyers and the stream of enquiring public, alert and receptive, like a big league star playing close to the third sack.

It has been, let us suppose, a regrettable necessity that prevented officials from organizing the present desultory practice into a system of at least three meetings a year when separated railway employees and their superiors could meet and discuss subjects pertaining to the relations existing between the company and its patrons. At such anticipated and informal conventions every one present is urged to express opinions. Traffic matters are viewed from different angles, the solitary agent who thinks himself and agency discriminated against, learns the larger reason for local inconvenience, outside representatives obtain a “close up” inspection of the chiefs in action and the plan, as a fixture, would become a sound, progressive measure as well as a distinctive advantage to the _esprit de corps_ of any transportation company’s staff.

Man is a gregarious, sociable “critter”, fond of exchanging “idears”, an impressionable, flesh and blood individual quite like yourself, who easily responds to straightforward, properly timed overtures of the railway and steamship traveling fraternity, ever willing to concede you an “even break”, or better, if merited. Collectively they are the Central News Bureau in your line, diplomatically safeguarding your reasonable expectations. More prospects come to light, more new business is secured and resolved into renewals through the agency of ticket sellers and traffic men by the gradual ingratiating of personality than via any of the other mediums. An indiscreet, pugnacious official who, for instance, soberly declares that only his company’s wall map embodies all the virtues invites ridicule and gets it.

Collaborate and hobnob with the nabob in the inner railway or warehouse sanctum sanctorum, and the next man down, if you will: they deserve that deference and “were poor once themselves”, but do not always flock with the headquarters staff and entirely overlook the other boys, nor the understudy to the traffic manager of those firms controlling ten cars per week or ten cases a month. They see and hear unthought of items of interest and possess long memories. Cultivate your recollection of faces and names, for to-morrow or next season a clerk may gravitate to “Depot or City Ticket Agent” and opportunity, with passengers leaving to his guidance and judgment “What route should we take” and it is to his address that advertising points the finger.

A few companies endeavor to arrange the time and transportation which enables certain city ticket agents to journey over the main line of their property for educative reasons, but the experienced assistants are too infrequently included, are seldom sent on an excursion into outside territory, and never attend a ticket agents’ association meeting, and yet, the nature of their duties implies ability to promptly and accurately answer innumerable questions regarding junction connections, baggage transfer, location of foreign line depots, dining and sleeping facilities as well as geographical peculiarities. Books there are that print some of this information, but often the enquirer departs disappointed without exact details, but to the men who have been over the ground with eyes open, it is decidedly satisfying to be able to intelligently submit the facts and note how your statements carry conviction and impress the recipient. Of all people needing the experience of travel, the ticketing agent who directs others on their journeys should be first to possess that advantage.

Dispensing to these gentlemen few promises and religiously observing those is a strong undercurrent in shaping your course. Unfailing attention to reservation requests, prompt news of the whereabouts of specific shipments, and early notification of upward tariff revisals, &c., &c., are assets that help forge a friendship out of which springs new business, which a “fourflusher” or thoughtless one is prone to overlook after his final handshake. “O consistency, thou art a jewel.”

In circles where the weed is so popular, the “eternal cigar” is good-naturedly accepted only as a lubricant to the wheels of conversation, but in the name of all that is gloomy and peculiar do not insult the intelligence of some captain of industry, or “regular fellow”, by flashing on him the moment you enter The Presence, what seems like a transparent bribe in the form of a cheroot a few degrees better than the “Bartender’s Revenge”. Many of them indulge a weakness for more delicate fragrance at Half a Dollar for three or two. Because such a contretemps was studiously avoided by the writer several years ago, a prominent Hamilton, Canada, merchant--then patronizing a competitor--gave “our route” a dozen cars of eastbound California fruit and explained why.

Few transportation people are so sinuous and adept as to be “all things to all men” without “trimming” and loss of self-respect, where one representative is quite _au fait_ with the powers that be, another will make indifferent headway, but you may note in your log book that these observations outline some practices which will retain old acquaintances and secure a fair measure of new business.

LINES TO QUEEN QUINTE