118 , THE COUNTRY BOY 



cars at forty miles an hour and never broke a 

 draw head, though he did break a few hnks. 

 There was nothing for the other four engines 

 to do, so they laid them off and the news went 

 all over the country. The officials of the 

 road came and saw from the high bluffs the 

 work of this phenomenon below. The yard 

 master complained and the officials said he 

 hadn't hurt anything. "Keep out of the way 

 and let him run. He is doing the work of 

 four engines and crews." It was true he used 

 up a car load of sand each day on the track 

 as he approached cars, but cars were never 

 kicked as he was kicking them. Combination- 

 fly switches had never been invented in other 

 yards that he was using. The oldest and 

 toughest freight brakeman jumped out of his 

 cab every day though he never cracked a 

 bumper. In fact, children could have coupled 

 them for him. He made combination switches 

 that curled some people's hair, but his staj^ed 

 straight. Papers wrote editorials about him 

 and cheap actors made puns on him at the 

 vaudeville shows. When Mr. Palmer heard 

 of Jap's popularity he said, "Just wait and 

 give him time." AVhen my vacation came I 



