The Young Train Master

NESTLING among the hills of the Scioto valley, in the south-central portion of the state of Ohio, lies the little town of Wadsworth. Venerable in its age, proud of its history,...

TWO days later, Allan West entered regularly upon his new duties as chief dispatcher of the Ohio Division of the P. & O. railway. Meantime, news of his promotion had got about,...

MEANWHILE, back in his private car, the great man, as was his custom in any circumstance, had made himself as comfortable as might be. It was a luxurious car, eighty feet in len...

SHOULD Allan West live for a hundred years, he will never forget that instant in which he closed his eyes and braced himself for the terrific shock he knew must come. There was...

SO, day by day, the work at the dispatchers’ office went on in its accustomed routine. Always there was the clatter of the keys, always the trains pulling in and out of the yard...

THE installing of a new time-card is not so simple a thing as one might imagine. For that one night, every engineer and conductor has to bear in mind two schedules, the old one...

THE storm was not long in bursting. Again there was a special meeting of the lodge; again a grievance committee waited on Mr. Plumfield, but it met a very different reception fr...

AND so it happened that Allan arose next morning about two hours earlier than usual, in order to catch the five o’clock train for Cincinnati. It reminded him of the far-off days...

“It isn’t altogether on high moral grounds I’m deciding this way,” he said. “It’s because I don’t think a strike, starting from such a fool cause, will hurt us. I think it will...

WITHOUT pausing at the museum, Allan boarded a car back to the city. After all, he reflected, Betty Heywood was right—train-dispatching had little to do with art and artists. He...

THE return trip to Wadsworth was accomplished without incident, and, bidding Mr. Schofield good-bye, Allan ran up to his office to assure himself that everything was all right,...

SUPERINTENDENT SCHOFIELD was at his desk bright and early next morning, for the purpose of getting out of the way the thirty-six hours’ accumulation of routine business, before...

THE meeting room of Scioto lodge, B. of L. E., was jammed to the doors. Every member who was off duty and who could by any possibility attend, was present. Many of them had come...

FOR a moment, it looked as though summary vengeance would be taken upon the special delegate. But the detectives were equal to the occasion. One of them snapped a pair of handcu...

THE P. & O. freight-house at Wadsworth is a long, low, one-storied brick building which stands just across the yards from the station. Like the station, it is dingy and grimy an...

THE first day of the strike dawned much as any winter day might—cold and blustery, with a threat of snow in the air. It can not be denied that Allan was exceedingly nervous as h...

“I want you men to understand,” he said, “that you are in no sense confined here. You’re free to go at any time. But if you do go, you can’t come back. And I think all of you wi...

DRIFTING along the ocean currents of the world are scores of abandoned, water-logged ships, washed by the waves and buffeted by the winds, yet still, by some miracle, keeping af...

IT is doubtful if any sensation had ever stirred the staid little town of Wadsworth from centre to circumference as did the news to which it awoke next morning. The story of the...

AT Wadsworth, the day had passed quietly enough, so far, at least, as appearances went. The strikers gathered in groups in the neighbourhood of the station, and watched the trai...

IN the gray dawn of the winter morning, Mamie Welsh started wide awake from the restless doze into which she had fallen. She sat up in bed, her head to one side as though listen...

THEY tell the story yet on the P. & O., and, indeed, everywhere that railroad men foregather—they tell it with shining eyes and fast-beating hearts—how Jack Welsh, grasping in a...

“WELL, well; wonders will niver cease!” remarked Reddy Magraw, contemplating the newspaper he held in his hand—Reddy safe once more in the bosom of his family, a hero if there e...

FOR an instant, Mamie bent above him, gazing down at him, her face very tender; then she made as though to draw away, but Allan threw his arm about her and held her tight.

SINCE the beginning of the strike, the engineers’ headquarters had remained open continually, and, in addition to the informal meetings during the day, a formal meeting was held...

THE place which Bassett had entered was a squalid little enclosure, eight or nine feet square, with the floor of the slaughter-house for a roof, rough slabs for walls, and the e...

THE watchman in the upper yards, passing wearily on his rounds at eleven o’clock of that windy February night, and deeply thankful that his trick would end in half an hour, stop...

ALLAN, as he turned into the street before the house, was caught by a fierce gust of wind, whirled against a tree at the edge of the pavement, and would have fallen, had not a s...

MARY WELSH and Mamie, hurrying with anxious hearts and pallid cheeks, not daring to think of what awaited them, toward Chestnut’s drugstore, in answer to Jack’s summons, were me...