Evening Republican, Volume 16, Number 124, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 May 1912 — WANTED TO KNOW TOO MUCH [ARTICLE]

WANTED TO KNOW TOO MUCH

Others than Thin Veteran EngineerHave Been Annoyed In the Same Way by Listeners, fc . • - -. . ..L- >- ' --* :v ■— » ' ijinii II I 'll ~|-' iff* 1 —i * **r*r?r , ' *•• . Old Mr. McClelland was engineer on the. train that ran from Summerville, S. C., to Charleston over one of the first railroad tracks laid in that country. And as he grew old and childish hds mind, unable to distinguish what he imagined from what really happened, went back constantly to his engine and the wonderful feats he could perform with it. One hot afternoon in the shade of a live oak befores a country Btore, he sat telling his stories of former greatness to Jerry, a simple fellow. “Yes, sir,” declared the old man, “I ran the first engine ever run. It was a engine, too, an' I knowed how to run it. Why, see here, Jerry, whenever' a tree blew down across the track I never waited to chop it away. No, sir, not me—l just histed the air valves . an’ pitched the engine over —that's what I done!” ' “But, Mr. McClelland,'’ mildly expostulated the credulous Jerry, “after you had got the'enjine over, how did you git, the cars over?” The old man leaned back and looked at his questioner with great scorn. “Go to the devil, Jerry,” he cried. “You ask such foolish questions!”—Kansas City Star.