Portland, Oregon, A.D. 1999, and other sketchesHayes, J. W. (Jeff W.)
Science
Portland, Oregon, A.D. 1999, and other sketches
Hayes, J. W. (Jeff W.)
American fiction -- 20th century; Portland (Or.) -- Fiction; Short stories, American
Hawkeye soon took her notice, and after scanning him critically, she
cried out, "Oh, see, papa, the noble redman of the woods. How grand he
does look! What nobility is expressed in his countenance and what
grandeur there is in his mein. What a life of adventure has been his
and how, if he could but talk, how he could tell us of the enemies he
slew in battle and how he chased the grizzly bear to his den and the
panther to his lair."
The Indian was taking in all this flowery oratory, and expectorating a
huge mouthful of tobacco juice, he ejaculated, "Ugh, if white squaw give
Hawkeye four bits, Hawkeye will sing 'Everybody's Doing It.'"
"THE GENTLEMAN OF HAVRE."
The little city of Bodie, California, was known during its ephemeral
existence as being one of the most lawless and riotous places in the
country; but James J. Hill, erstwhile president of the Great Northern
Railroad is alleged to have declared that the town of Havre, Montana,
on his line of road, was the toughest, wildest and the least law-abiding
place in the whole country and there was not a person in the town who
was possessed of any higher ambition than to carouse and indulge in all
kinds of forbidden vice.
It was to this place that Eddie F. Wach, then 17 years old, was sent to
fill the position of night operator for the Great Northern road.
Eddie had been messenger in the Chicago office and had readily acquired
a practical knowledge of the business and it was a great day in his
existence when he secured the position as night operator at Havre.
The boy's introduction to this delectable office was not such an one as
to enthuse a good young man.
Beer bottles, whiskey bottles, cigarette and cigar butts, stale tobacco
smoke and other equally demoralizing objects met young Wach's attention
on his arrival at the Havre office, and he was besought on all sides to
"join the club." The young man's refusal to partake of any of these
alleged "refreshments" startled all and he became a target for all the
jibes and jeers of the depot habitues and the rounders about the little
city.
Young Wach took all this unpleasant demonstration in a kindly and good
humored manner, never saying or doing anything to antagonize the men
around him. He selected a respectable and quiet boarding place where he
would retire when off duty. When pay day arrived he would figure out his
monthly expenses, sending all the money left over to his parents in
Chicago. By his unobtrusive kindness, and genial disposition, he found
favor in the eyes of the men of whom it had been so frequently said that
there was no good in them.
Promotion came to young Wach and a few months later he was appointed
manager of the office. A new spirit was soon made manifest in the Havre
office and all the evidences of riotousness speedily disappeared and the
room assumed a businesslike air.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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