"
"Well, I ain't given to blowing, as a rule," began the Pittsburgh
Consolidation.
"No? You was sent in here because you grunted on the grade," Poney
interrupted.
"Where I grunt, you'd lie down, Poney: but, as I was saying, I don't
blow much. Notwithstandin', if you want to see freight that is
freight moved lively, you should see me warbling through the
Alleghanies with thirty-seven ore-cars behind me, and my brakemen
fightin' tramps so's they can't attend to my tooter. I have to do
all the holdin' back then, and, though I say it, I've never had a
load get away from me yet. No, sir. Haulin's's one thing, but
judgment and discretion's another. You want judgment in my
business."
"Ah! But - but are you not paralysed by a sense of your overwhelming
responsibilities?" said a curious, husky voice from a corner.
"Who's that?" .007 whispered to the Jersey commuter.
"Compound-experiment-N.G. She's bin switchin' in the B. & A. yards
for six months, when she wasn't in the shops. She's economical (I
call it mean) in her coal, but she takes it out in repairs. Ahem!
I presume you found Boston somewhat isolated, madam, after your New
York season?"
"I am never so well occupied as when I am alone.
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