A Protean Station Agent

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A Protean Station Agent By Frank R. Arnold, of the Utah Agricultural College

One of the world's best thrift stories, better than anything the war has produced in America, and equal to anything that the woolen-stockinged French peasants have done, is that of a station agent on a branch line in the State of Utah. He has been rail- roading for twenty-seven years, having started as a messenger boy at the age of twelve, and he has been in his present position about twelve years. His station serves a town of 600 inhabitants, situated in the midst of dry farms of wheat and irrigated fields of sugar beets. A quarter of a mile to the side of the town are sloughs and river bottoms and the agent keeps his gun over his ticket window, not to use on western highwaymen, but to have it handy for an hour's duck shooting on the early autumn morn- ings before trains start running. Four passenger and two freight trains pass the station daily, and the station master has his regular work connected with telegraph, tickets, express and freight. With his family of six he lives in the station and has rent, coal and kerosene free. Such is the setting of our model thrift magnate. Now for his versatility in seeing chances to add to his income. First there is land, for the railroad right-of-way has a generous west- ern breadth. From the railroad company he leases at $3 per year four-fifths of an acre on which this year he grew 76 bushels of white flint corn. The irrigating water came from the over- flow of an accommodating farmer on the other side of the fence from whom for $5 he rented a quarter of an acre on which he grew the vegetables for his family. Part of the corn went to feed his flock of 135 white Leghorn hens, and he got wheat also to feed his hens by chopping up old railroad waste wood and ex- changing it for some of the threshing floors that abound in that country. The only outlay in cash for his hens was the expendi- ture of $1.75 for 100 pounds of oyster shells and $3.75 for a like amount of beef scraps. Thus in land rent and food his hens cost him in cash outlay $8.50 and his returns for eggs for the first six months of 1918 were $243.95. Some profit there, for a station agent's lonely moments All the rest of the corn land should not be charged to the hens, for much of the corn went this year to feed twelve hogs, two of which he kept to feed the family and the other ten sold for $27 apiece. The young pigs had cost him $3 each, and he

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had bought 1000 pounds of shorts on which to fatten them. These cost $17, so that his total expense for hogs was $53, leav- ing him a large margin of profit. Sugar beets were also used to fatten the hogs, and although their price at the sugar factory this year was one-half a cent a pound the station master got them for nothing by the simple expedient of picking up those that rolled off from passing freight cars, and in that country the sugar beet trains pass in a steady stream from October to Jan- uary. Another source of income is chopped kindling wood, of which he sold four cords to the town schools at $9 a cord. But what the station master is proudest of, however, is the fact that in the twelve years of his incumbency he has taught himself the trade of a cabinet maker. "If it wasn't for my monthly check from the railroad," he often says, "I'd like to quit and be nothing but a cabinet maker. I do love to use tools. But a family man has to have a sure thing." Behind the station is his carpenter shop, built with the permission of the railroad author- ities, and costing him $40. It contains over $250 worth of his tools, and he calls the place his "thinkbox," for there is where he evolves new schemes for making money, and there is where he serenades his soul with his beloved tools, although he may be called to duty at any minute by a key connecting him with the telegraph office. Of course, his tools earn him money. They have made toys for his children, a kitchen cabinet for his wife, and kitchen cabinets for the housewives of the town. He has made ten of them already, and they sell for $50 apiece. He has become the general cabinet maker and repair man for the town, and anyone who gets any furniture broken takes it down to him for repairs. In his ticket office he made his own telegraph desk and filing cabinet. The latter is made of yellow pine wood, and has nine pigeon holes, two cupboards and twelve drawers. It stands 27 inches high, and is 40 inches long by 14 inches wide. His "thinkbox" also serves as a playroom for his children and, though his tools are hanging all over the walls, the children respect them, for he has made a toolbox for his oldest boy. It is a good principle in bringing up children to give them things of their own, and then they don't borrow yours. Some people may wonder how a farmer, poultry man, stock man, cabinet maker, can have any time for railroading. And vet twelve years in one position means that a man is trustworthy, and he has, besides, constantly been commended for efficiency, and three years he has received a gold medal for a perfct sta- tion. The annual inspection found him perfect in upkeep, in neat surroundings and in cleanliness. One year he was ranked only 99.9. He never has been able to find out on what they caught him on for that missing one-tenth, and he would like to

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know. All summer the station is surrounded with flowers which he plants and cultivates at his own expense. Sweet peas, asters, carnations, geraniums, and sweet Williams, it is a lovely mass of flowers all summer and you can get lessons in floriculture as well as economy by stopping over a train at the station. In winter some of the flowers move inside. Every window of the waiting room and office is full of plants in tin cans painted an olive green, so clean and discreet that you would never suspect the lowly origin of the flower pots. The waiting room is as attrac- tive as a club house. There are some saloons and barbershops that have an artistic, home-like air, but this is the first country station to give a homelike welcome to the passenger. The windows are hung with white muslin curtains. The walls are covered with pictures, many of them framed by the station agent himself, with wood taken from an old cedar post by the railroad. There are pictures of all the presidents, San Fran- cisco in ruins, Roman chariot races, and of flowers, as well as a map of the trail followed by the Utah pioneers in 1847. The most remarkable thing in the room, however, is a mirror with brush and comb, all kept clean for the use of the traveling public. This station is a delight to the traveler, and the man who has charge of it is a true American of the best Benjamin Frank- lin pattern. He is resourceful and ingenious, and thus increases his income each year by from $800 to $1,000 beyond his regular salary. He has no expenses for his family except clothes and groceries. He is a master workman as a station agent, and a master artist in the" use of spare moments. Logan, Utah.