Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 1, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 5 February 1886 — The Sex of the Locomotive. [ARTICLE]

The Sex of the Locomotive.

“Why,” asked the fat passenger, “does an engineer always call his engine ‘she?’” There was a moment of embarrassing silence, when the man on the wood box said something about “her headlight,” which was followed by a hollow groan all along the line. “Because, ” ventured the tall, thin passenger, “the more you throttle her the faster she goes.” But this was barred out under the rules. The man with the sample case suggested “because she runs the mail, ” but everybody said “ah, there l” so sarcastically that he apologized. The cross passenger said ‘fbecause there was so much bustle and bang about her, ” and he was fined cigars for the crowd on the spot. The bashful passenger said maybe it was because she “pulled the smoker,” and he was hissed off the stage. And longer had they sung, but the woman who 'talks bass closed the lodge by croaking; “Because we couldn’t get along without her.”— Burdette, in Pathfinder Guide.