Omaha Daily Bee Newspaper, July 3, 1910, Page 27

eliring general pas- senger ugent of the Union Pa- cific rallroad, who goes to the Western Pacti to take the more responsible position of raffic manager, did not sell % On the streets when he was & boy, neither 4id he whine shoes or run errands. His life story is devoid of the romantic color that forms the cornerstone of fiction. e was just & well-bred Vir- &inla lad--born at Fredericksburg, Febru- ary %, iSi2—and his father, who was & prosperous Virginia gentleman, gave the boy all of the educational advantages that were avallable o moneyed folk in that day. The younger Lomax was not pampered, but he was well reared. In 1857 the Lomax family removed from Virginia to Keokuk, Ia. At that time the future rallroad man was five years of #ge and his rudimentary education was ac- Quired In the pudblic =thools of Keokuk. A lttle later he was sent to Coleman institute, near Fredericksburg, Va., pleted a colleglate course, including civil and mining engineering. In 1969 he returned to Keokwk and entered the United States engineering corps under General James H. Wilson, then in command of the Depart ment of the Northwest. His first engl- neering work was with the surveying party assigned 10 Survey a route for a canal from Lake Michigan to the Ilinois river, ultimately to connect with the Miss issippl. He had fitied bimself for engineer- ing, and was making satistactory progress in that technical undertaking—and yet He was not satistied. He longed for another kind of work. He wasa't clearly deter- mined just what kind of work-just so it was something to give free to his predilection for taking the initiative. Wille casting restlessly about for a groove fnto which he might fit himeelf more satistactorily, the young man became impressed with the possibllities of the raiflroad service. A. E. Touzalin, then gen- eral ticket agent of the Burlington & Miss- ourl River rallroad with headquarters at Burlington, la., foresaw the making of a traffic man in the then undeveloped youth, “Come over to Burlington and work for me,” sald Mr. Touzalin, “All right,” sald Lomas. The negotiation was brief, but it marked an epoch iIn the career of E. L. Lomax, for it was the turning of fate's pivot, and the turn of that pivot made him a general passenger agent. Right then? Hardly. Géneral passenger agents are not incubated in three weeks like Buff Cochina, Years and years of ex- where he com- rein (Copyright, 1910, by Bobbs-Merrill Co.) CHAPTER 11 A HOSPITABLE BANDIT. The helicopter commanded the attention of Captain Harrod: his bare toes buried in the sand, he stood gazing after it, as aiter having brought Virginia Suares, it had risen as by some sort ol negative gravity, and shot out to sea with its engines firing like & gatling; whither it was now disap- pearing from the watcher's sight after the manner of a lost toy balloon. Theodore Carson, being young. ignored the machine. He stared for a moment in amazement at the prostrate girl, then took her tenderly in his arms, carryiug her to- ward the hidden cabin. At the steepest spot Captain Harrod overtook him, but the young man paid no heed to offers of aid, wading steadily on to the door, which the captain unlocked and opened, standing aside for on and his interesting, burs den. Theodore took her into the lasge sin- glo room, Iid her softly on & clean iook- ng bed covered with & Navajo blaniet, smoothed the white skirt dowa decorousiy, temoved the long pin and lald aside tho red hai, seeming scarcely to know whet he doing. There she lay like a dead bird, her plumage unrufflied; for the white sand had shaken from her dress and she looked unsolled and pure, and hopelessly still. She is dead!’ voiee. “Oh, A réckon ot t ewounded!” “What can I do?" A ehlld asked to put 1o rights & powner loom. a perfecuns press. & telautog: or any other complex and delicate ¢ trivance, might have usad the same The captain approached, put his hands be- bim, and looked, hat in hand “Is her heart beatin'”' he inq “1 dom't know!" cried Carsom, his tingers. “T don't know!" “Ah reckon” said the capiain, in an awed whisper, she wonldn't keer— seein’ how things is—if you'd listen an’ sce, Miste' Theodo'! Carson laid his car lightly to the white blouse. Some fluttering he seemed to feel but he could not be certain. Harrod rought water in a watering pot, which seemed to have plunned to use as upon a Uiy or rose. Do it beat?" he asked “1 can't tell,”” said Carson, it's my pulse or hers that beats. what do they generally do, said Theodore ir a hushed not," replied the cuntain. ao ! “You mething! Sae tone twist ng or whether on, I Cap- that they frock aln't they?' some paht © has to be unrove quired the captain anxiovsly, ‘Captain,” sald Carson, the sanding on his “I'm goin the gallery for air. You do What be done, Captaln shie may die!” “Put 8 watali on huh face. sub." sald the captain, i judicious avoidance of extreme me es. “Ah dom't reckon this hyah's a case fo' vilent o' oconse'vative remedics. I'll oncork that ha'tsho'n bot- tle!” son pressed the face; the cuptain “ammonia” to her piration out bas to = on me wet towel to the girl's held & bottle labeled nostrils: she gasped, arew a quivering sigh, opened her eves, and w over her head a sloping roof on which the mud wasps were plving Uhelr masonry, rude walls'of roughboards, a rack of guns, some instruments nautical looking to her unschooled eyes: @ tall. rough looking, sailor-like man Stuffing the cork In & bot- tle of pungent emanation. and § voung fuce which would have been girlish had it not been for the little blaok mustache and the deep coat of tan. The older n was & ot hey a fatherly way, and the oi¢ Was BPORsing her foreliead. his perience must intervene. ment with Mr But the engage- Tousalln was the starting point of the Lomax rallroad career. Mr Tousalin simply gave the boy & chauce— and the boy made the most of that chance Mr. Lomax remairied with the Tousalin adminietration in various capacities for two years or 50, and was serving as chief clerk in 1872, when he resigned to accept the position of chief clerk fn the office of Amos Russell, general passenger agent of the Towa Central raliroad, hesdquarters at Marshalltown. In 1874 he went to Kt Louls as clerk to John W. Mass, general frelght and passenger agent of the St Loule & Southeastern railroad, Jater becom- ing assistant gemeral passenger agent of the same road. In 157 he was appointed assistant general passonger agent of the St. Louls, Iron Mountain & Southern rail road, under O. W. Ruggles, now of the Michigan Central, but then general pas- senger agent of the Iron Mountain. The year 1581 brought another change—a promotion to the position of general pas senger agent of the Toledo, Clncinnati & St. Louls raliroad, now the ‘Clover Leat." While ocgupying that position Mr. Lomax had his headquarters at Toledo. The “Clover Leaf’ was a comparatively small road then, and after a few months, Mr. Lomax again accepted service with the Burlington, taking the position as chief clerk to Percival Lowell in Chicago, where in 1884, he was appointed asslstant general passenger agent, which place he filled until August 187, when he appointed first assiytant to J. 8. Tebbets, then general passenger and ticket agent of the Union Pacific. On March 1, 188, he received his appointment as general passenger agent of the Unlon Pacific with headquarters in Omaha, and In that position he has re- mained up to the present time Twenty-one years a general passenger ent, same road, same headquarters same office building—that s a re rallway service. As a rule, passenger of- ficlals make frequent changes. A generaj passenger agent's sense of distance is nulli- fled by the fact that his work gives him free access to the rall at all times. He becomes cosmopolitan. He is equally as much at home in San Francisco as in Bos- ton, and whether swinging through Nicolet avenue, Minneapolis, or Alamo Plaza, Sen Antonio, it makes no difference which, the world's area is minimised from his foous point, for inside his pocket is & book of “annuals,” and as eliminants of distance there is nothing quite so effective as un- limited passport over rallways of the TUnited States. Thus trained as to getting about over the map, and with the wide fuce near hers, her coltfure, and hat. You have had a fall, madam, seid Car- =on, “and are shaken up a little; but you are safe and among friends.” ‘O, thank you," she said, in a tone of the most correct formality. “It's ever kind of you, sir—I—I—I—Oh, I.thought I was lost! 1 thought I— Oh! Oh! Oh! Oh! 0-0-0-h!" Suddenly, from the polite commonplaces of speech, she broke into hysterical scream- Ing. Then she bowed her face in her hands as it to shut out some terrifying sight. and moaned ‘and shivered piteously, asking them to pardon her, promising to be calm preseatly, sometimes looking up for a mo- ment with a smile forced through the horror stamped on her facc by memory of the ordeal through which she had passed. and then breaking down into hysterical erviug sgain. Captaln Harrod poured o sUff glass of red lquid fiom a bottle, diluzed it, and ook it to the shuddering girl Who looked pathetically up into face for a moment awaliowed obedlently, and coughed as if suangled by it “And now." said Mr. Carson, “we will leave you, it you will excuse us. Please feel at ease You are quite safe, and the cabin is yours. We are in all ways at yo service. The captain here is my friend. &nd we belong to a race that sees & slster In every helpless lady, I think you will de- 20 to slosp: and I hope you may awake refreshed: after wiich we shall place ol selves mo' definitely under your commend.” She looked at him questioningly. The softness of his voice, his little inconasistent leps into dlalect as uttered the 4'A- fashioned clivalric sentiments wom her trust Virginia lay back and closed her eves but the potior brought ne drowsiness. Her face grew hot. and she knew that her ey would shine If she opened them, with a brillianey quite fascinating to the young mun with the little black mustache. The fact that she thought of this startled her. Was she growing flighty with fever? Why this abnormal hilarity of spirits, in the ex- aitation of which all anxlety departcd? She was unable to dwell long in- thought on the uncertointy ond grief of ner aunt at %0 losing her, first Into the sky, and then, supposedly, into the gulf. What difference Qid it make? The world grew unaccounta- bly roseate with hope; more joyous be- cause she could not tell why. The one In- sistent impulse of the moment was to burst forth into song-restrained with dif- ficulty by dwelling on the bad form of vocallzation. She was sure. however, that she was about to do something shockingly unladylike. Perhaps it was the ozone of the immense altitude of the helicopter. The room seemed afloat on the waves that roured outside, but this struek her as ox- tremely jolly. Really, it appeared selfish to enjoy this funny aberration of the Bervous system alone. Her old, old friends outside—the young man with the girl's face, and his bewhiskered eompauion, the rela- tiors of both of whom to her past life seemed vague just now, though they were undoubtedly old and dear friends—she would hunt them up and talk with them. She rose and walked out unsteadily upon the veranda, and saw Mr. Carson and the captain sitting idly just beyond hot of the eabin. They came to her respectfully “1 came out to thank you, sir.” sald V #inla flightlly, “for your herole behavior berole, romantic, mediaeval behavior! Don't my eyes look funny?" She turned up her face to his appeal- ingly, here cheeks flushed, Ler puplls ai- lated I beg of you noi to ntion It, ed Mr. Carson, with infi “But may I net insist upon She sat up suddenly, felt looked about for her his THE OMAHA SUNDAY BEE olonization Work the Keynote of Success in C oquaintance in railway circles that comes natural sequence, it is easily understood how the pasenger agent is inclined to shift trom road to road, place to place. Ten vears In ons offics is perhaps about the average tenure of a -assenger man, but me to escort you back to your room?” Virginia took his arm, leaning upon it with much of her not inconsiderable weight, and as they paced across the veranda, with & mischievous expression in her face, she whirled him off into a few turns of & waltz Suddenly grave, she then resumed the march i5to the cabin, exhibiting every sign of weakness in the knees. Carson was pale with anxiety at these symptoms, ®0 at variance with those expected. Lovely dance,” she said, “lovely! So deur of you! I could walts forever—with you!" “Thatk you," sald Theodore gravely. "It would be an honah beyond estimation—" “But just a little teeney bit pokey after & few centuries?” queried coquettishly. Not in the least!” he exclalmed reas- suringly. “Quite the contrary. And now, may T beg you to lle down until you are quite restored?" Virginia sat upon the bed, reached down to Ift her skirts with the upward swing of her feet into the position for reclining, and tumbled into the young man's arms with & Jaugh. She knew she was doing ex- traordinary things, but did not care a jot. So awkward of me!" she said. “But you'll forgive me:" “I feel sure” said Carson, looking down sravely, “that if you would compose vour- self and try to sleep—" *If ‘some one would sit by m “I'm pertectly sure—sit by my hand—" “Just close yo' eves,” he replied, “and if you don't drop asleep, I'll, I'll— At present 1 think I'd better read to you." 50 good of vou,” sald ehe. “Intellectual soporific. That looks like a sleepy book.” “It 15, sald Carson, taiing up a great quarto volume et me read on from where 1 stopped, chapter four. “In most dynamos—’ My hand—, blanket. s cold.” Theodore took the covered it with a blanket. “That doesn’t varm it mue “I think you're funny *‘In moet dypamps’ " read the young man hastily, “the principle of reduplication is involved: thht is, commencing with a very small amount of residual magnetism in the field magnets, the inductive action between them and the revolving armature Tesults in the production of a feeble cur- rent—' " Feeble magnetism.” said the girl, open- ing her eves and looking with him with opy reproach.. “Quite so!” ‘—a feeble current in the coils,’ " Theodoro wtolidly. ** “The eurreat ma made to pass through—'" And i on and on. never lifting his eves, 1e compound-wound, wound dynumos, toeing in, found awey the book Theodore rose in relief at this respite from the problem of the sky maiden, dark- ened the windows &nd went out. “Have you any game in the larder?” asked “All them partridges you shot last night, suh," replied the captain. The “‘partridges’ were plump little bob- whites of the rosemary scrub, fat by feed- ing on the small, oily, yellow berries. The two men dressed them in silence. “Ehe’ll be shipshape when she wakes up,” €ald the captain, at last “l hope and pray she may. Bhe was quite flighty, I'm much concerned for her,” ssld Carso; Tho captaln for some time maintained & pregnant silence, I'You don't allow, suh," ssid he at last, “that it's the redeye that ails huh?" aptain,” sald Theodare sternly, gentleman can wee that this young girl Is o lady! 1 beg to remind you that & aldy does pot take any more liquor under ary cireumstances than What may be necessary gently to restore the weakened facultier— and I hope you will forgive & young man for saying so much to an older one “Ah reckon ¥o' right. sub,” said the cop tain. “An' please excuse me!" Their cookery was an operation in pro- gressive bioth making. Theodore made Dbroth of one quail, peeped in to sce if his suest were awale, served the broth to the captain, and made more. The sun wore to the west, the lyst quail was cooked, t captain was providently gorged with alter- nate courses of bird and broth. when V @inie. very stately and very reserved, opened the door ard walked uut upon the sallery, Carson shrank back into the Kitchen and shoved the captaln into the breach. “How do you do, solicliously, “Ah wftalh yo' sleep “Much Yetter, thank vou,” she repiid “We have some pabtridge broth, ma'as aid she. and hold me, said she, dropping it ou the hand a moment—and said he “any ma'sam™ sho' hope he inquired bette' e U JULY this does not mean that he quits the busl- ness. He may engage with some other road at higher salary, or he may be moved to another headquarters of his own road, or he may bagome a traffic manager. Many different reasons may enter Into the he went on, “with rice; and a baled and a planked green trout from the back hyah; and some coffee. Sit down, ma'am, and AN'll suhve it The little table was spread on the zal- lery, its top made of a derelict cask. its legs of barnacled sections of a boom. Vir- ginia's head ached in dreadful similitude to the traditional feeling of the morning after; and the coffee fragrance was pleas- ant “You are too good.” waid she, accepting the chair. “I shall be glad to eat # little. Where i your—your friend?" He's som'eres about,” replied taln. “Ah really dom't know, Won't you please take yo' coffee?” The coffes was black and stron broth was a temptation, and she with increasing appetite. Buttered yam and planked trout brought the meal to a triumphant end, with:the world not such & chamber of wild horrors as it had seemed when she bad awakened. Yet where was she, and how should she depart? Where was the Roc? Who were these men? The guns, the brass instruments that looked as it they pertained to navigation, the big windowless shed, all suggested things nautical, bold and nefarfods. The kindness and courtesy of the rough looking fellow reassured her as to her personal Yet if they were smugglers or freebooters, how could they safely return her to the civilization of coast-guards and constables? 1t was deliclously romantic—but how creepy! There was a horde of them; and this pretty boy was too young to control their turbulence. The blackavised captain with the red sash—necessary to the color scheme—would be less deferential than this girl-faced leutenant (he must be lieutenant) with his meticulously proper attitude. Far less! The red-faced captain was ' habitually “maddened with drink” and always roared 1o the pretty girl captive, “‘Come 'ere, my pretty and give us a kiss!” §flly, but it made her heart tiutter to imagine the motley sea rovers with blunder- busses at the right shoulder shift, filing toward the cablu. The lieutenant must ar- vange her departure at once. In the midst of her panic, she recalled vaguely the in- fluence of the medicine, her waltz with the lieutenant, the holding of her hand, and the shunt-wound dynamos. Were these things true, or fragments of a wild dream? Now it there ba adled to vislons of leer- ing pirate captatns, & hot and cpld and shivery foeling arlsing from the convletion that one has done something horrid, Virgin- iw's impulse to sea the young robber and idyl for ever way be accounted uracd to Captaln Harrod with an reselon so agitaled that he was some- the cap- ma'am. I you would say w the lieutenan said she, “that i musl see him ai once i posaib The fisherman analysed tiis speech perhaps a minuts, in sbsolute silence. ‘Lie he sald, “Yes, ma'am.” and instantly pro- duced Carson, who, so far as Virginia could judge, had been within the captain's sight when she had been assured that hia whereabouts were unknown. This was tel- onjous and covert-looking. 8he must (ly this lonely shore. “You are,”” sald the young man, ing any reference to her rccovery, “dount less wondering where your companions may be, and thinking It strange that they have not returned? “It is strange said she. “Something must have happened tg the engines.” 0" sald Theodore, ‘not that. They il but blew out to sea. They simply had to fight thelr way off toward Pensacola where they must have made harbor. It was almost half & gale nd so—they we hey really couldn’ young man It shows the sort of man she cried hotly, “and- “Quite 50, assented Theodore in the present state of the art. the aeronst will not sllow you 1o do quite as you would, especially on a lee shore off a thousahd miled of open sea, you Know, with & good deal more than a capful of wind. They really could not be expected—" Virglinia silenced him with & gesture in which dissent was mingled with emphatic dismissal of the subject “And now,' sald she, “perhaps you will be 50 good @s to help me to some con- veyance to Moblle?" “I have & boat on the lake,” sald Cargon, “half & mile Inland. There is & channel Lo Palmetto Beach. The boat and crew are at your service.” *1 #hould prefer to walk, If you please, sald she. “Unless you Lave & day or two to apend avold- and left me?" elp it," urged the Silberg ‘And yer, 3, 1910. | Thus, E. L. Lomax with his one years of continuous service, same office, same road, same headquarters building, has established & record which catalogues him along with an older genera- tion of traffic masters such as H. C. il In the journey, the attempt.” “I know some people,” said she, “at the Yupon Hedge Inn at Palmetto Beach. Can b ch 1 should not fecommend f we go at once, be there for dinner. “I am ready,” said she. §0. please immediately.” There were fow preparations to mal aptain Harrod led the way, easte:ly alongshore to @ spot where the scrub grew well down toward the beaten beach. A long square-hewn timber lay half-rotted and sunk in the sand; and on this, like persons striving to conceal their trail, they walked back between clumps of dark-grecn rosemary, over a low place in the dunes. down to the dry, hard bottom of & former pool, under a thicket of scrub-oaks o dense that the Roc or any of her tribe might have scouted for them in vain, among black ponds fringed with wiry bent. grass, past ghostly clumps of tall pines, 4, tinally, through a dense tangle of persimmon, palmetto, thorny “‘hack-and-ve- damned” and low-growing cedar, they emerged upon a little north-looking hilloc’s crowned with magnolias, cedars, hickories and ifve caks. and looked forth upon & strange tarn of inky water, ridging som- berly In the north wind, its black waves crested with foam, like white plumes on funeral crepe. The shores of this sinister lake were densely wooded hy sullen ranks of pines and cypresses standing like sour- faced soldiery knee-deep in swamp. Vir- ginla gasped at sight of the somber mere— it scemed such an eery spot in which to be cast away with thesc strange men who lived behind closed doors and walked the sands so as to leave no footprints. Burely, her worst suspicione * * ¢ lie replied, “‘you may rising. “Let us “Haul out the launch, captain.” Why was the trim, speedy-looking launc.i a0 complelely lldden o the tall cane? The puldoos puddling in the reeds made sounds I'ke prowling accomplices. Virginia wae trembling to be off as Carson wen: oboard and inspected the engines with tue alr of an expert “And now, madam,” said he, “if you will me the honor to step aboard—"" She turned to the captain, who, holding the painter, stood with one bare foot in the water, the other planted hardily among the gharp shells on shore. “I want to thank you,” said she, offering him ber band, “for your dellc cookery ~¢nd all your kindness to me. “Yo kindly welcome,” veturned the cap- tain, bowiug over her hand. “It's been a picasu' an' a privilege to suhve you, ma'am; but cookin' wasn't mine, ma'am.” de the It wae delicipus 4, thiowing & n. Ah'm sorrs esumed about that ‘ere medicine leatle tov ptrong ¢ * ¢ Miss Suares, remembering the walls, #wept haughtily to her place in the boat. arson with his eve steadfastly fixed on his engine, quickly shoved off. “Evenin' to yeh,' said the captain, still with one foot in the water, like a heron. “Good evening," responded the young man. Virginia sald nothing. Carson, stealing a look at her, saw the flush dying out upon her face and & smile taking its placa-a dimpling, spasmodic smile, nccompanied by little quick dllations of the nostrils, as if Miss Buarez was desirous of Indulging in u 1augh. but saw citable reason for fo doing, 8 d her handkerchief at the captain “Do you see,” sald Carson, pointing to the receding shore. “that the little hill at the landing is just & mass of shells?" “Why so It is, | bellev e exclaimed. “How came s0 many there?” “It's & prehistorlc kitehen-midden,” waid this most extraordinary young pirate. “So many, people lived there that they literaily made' & hill of the shells of the mollusks they ate. “Indeed!” e whosever litle smile L was N sne Care the captan, if it seemed a culated Virgin'a, and aiter a long pause she added, “how odd!" Mentally, her speech was: “How odd that this young outcast should know about archaeology—or s it palacontology? It was easy to study him, he looked 8o religiously away from het, He was rather interesting It she really had said those things to him, and waltzed with him, what a dreadful thing it was! But how much more fine and ehivalrous he had been, in view of ner own behavior. Of course, If he was & criminal—one owed a duty to soclety; but ought she to allow him to enter the ragius of action of the suthorities? He must be more sinned against by soclety than min- nin his profile was so perfect—and now fine and soft his mustache looked! How Townsend, late ganeral passenger agent of the Missourl Pacific; George H. Dantel late of the New Y. Central; O, W. Rug- &les of the Michigan Central and MaJ. 8. K Hooper of the Denver & Rio Grande. The long service of Mr. Lomax in Omaba caused bim o be looked upon as & lifetime fixture in Unlon Pacific circles, and his decision to change to the Western Pacific, With headquarters in San Francleco, there- fore, came as & general surprise. Mildred, a young woman, and E. L. Jr, are children of the Lomax family. Miss Mildred. with her mother, i at present on & European tour. E. L. jr. who bide fair to be a ‘“chip off of the old block,” has not yet completed the collegiate course his father has marked out for him. The Lomax family has apartments in the Hamilton, Twenty-fo and Farnam streets In view of the long continued service of E. L Lomax as general passenger agent of the Union Pacific there comes the dedue- tion that his service must have boen espe elally satisfactory, for it is obvious without further insight that raliroad corporations do not retain offjcials for reasons senti- mental. Stating it In brusque, everyday pariance, Mr. Lomax must have ‘‘delivered the goods” or he would not have been able t0 round out & twenty-one-year period with- out change of positfon, It therefore be- comos pertinent to look further into the technical side of this man's work in order that the winaing features of his capability may be brought forward for review He wsucceeded in more than ordinry measure—but what particular merit score dominated that succee There must have been strong point The general public has but slight coneep< tlon of what constitutes the work of & gon- eral passenger ogent. There was a time when it was popuiarly supposed that one of his chiet dutles was the distribution of free passes, but along came the Interstate Commerce commission with & ruling which makes the passenger man's “no” not only easy of articulation, but legally imperative as well. But even though he no longer contracts writer's cramp affixing official slgnature to free transportation, theve is still plenty of work for the general pas- senger agent. Omitiing mention of reutine tratfic features, such as enter into the daily grist in any railroad office, there comes upvelling of the chiet strong point that made E. L. Lomax exceptionally valn- able to the Union Pacific railroad. Here it is: Ask any well informed rallroad official who has studied the Lomax administration and he will tell you that the one thing in which E. L. Lomax excelled was his re some positively areer of E. L. Lomax markable strength as & colonization ag 1t i something more than mere patriotie ve of country that prompts a raflroad company to compile and publish ton after ton of descriptive setting forth the alluring advantages of this or that sec tion of country as a mecca for homeseek ers. The rallroad wants the country it traverses to be settled—and It wants it settled as quickly as possible. Of course there is revenue In the tickets that trans- port the seitlers to their new homes, but that {sn't the paramount lssue. Far above the sale of tickets 1s the new business and the permanent business that comes to the road coincident with settiement and de- velopment. It is a compound Interest propo. sition Settlers in & new country as well a the old, must consume imported merchan dise. Likewise, following the production of their farms or their factories, they must export. So there is a mixture of imports and exports that sends freight trains in both directions and brings oy to the stock- holder \ While it fs no part of the general pas- senger agent's duty to go out into the open and direetly solicit treight shpments it Is a part of his duty to induce an in- direct factor in the freight earnings of bis road—and it is the freight revenue that piles up the dividends. A veritable encyclopedia of information concerning the resources of the country from the Missouri river west to Puget sound and San Diego. Mr. Lomax proved especially efficlent in executing colonization work. That one faculty, so well developed and 80 thoroughly exercised, so raliroad men declare, tells the why of Mr. Lomax's suc- cess as a passenger agent. The Western Pucifio, of which road Mr. Lomax is to become traffic manager, Is & Gould property, running between San Franclsco and Salt Lake City, The Loma headquarters are to be in San Francisco Note the significance of “traffic manags and dwell upon the fact that it means eneral supervision over freight as well s passenger business, Take further con- sideration that the country traversed by the Western Pacific has room for thou- sands upon thousands of settlers. It is for most of the way a country undeveloped. Trye. there is a city at esither end of the line, but the middle needs filling out. Now you see why the Western Pacific came to Omahs and carrled away the man who has played a prominent part in shipping farmers and farm implements fo newly painted station houses all along the line from Omaha west. brochure in e e S a—————————— different from Silberberg he was in everv . especially in his attitude toward giris. Society be plagued! She would be per- fectly silent as to the cabin in the dunes, and she would never, never, give evidence against these people. She would refuse to know their names, and refuse to testify. ‘There! She was In a fine {lush of defiance as she heard Carson finishing #ome further observation about the shell-mounds. “Down along the lagoon,” he said, “the shells are thoss of oysters, prehistoric lke these, At Strong's Bayou they are twenty feet deep. What hosts of inhabitants!" “Tremendous hosts,” assented Virginia, who hid just defied the courts, “L0 De 80 decy “I mean the savages,” he explained. “To be sure” she ejaculated. “What dreadfully deep creatuves they are! One learns that from Coope: “But back where we started,” hLe went on, hoping for a painless adjustment of her ideas to his—'back where we started, they were clame. “The—the people?” ehe inquired hesitanily, “or—or wha “I was referring to the shell-tish,’" said he with a little stiffness, arising from doubts as to whetner she might not be making game of him. “But in this little sea, it Is kard to talk connectedly and man- age the launch.” “That isn't it at all”’ she replied. “Your class wasn't paying the slightest attention. Pardon me."” He threw over the tiller to vound into a little reedy cove; but instead of running ashore he entercd a narrow creak which he followed through such amazing tor- tuosities that the sun, low in the west, was W on the right, now on the left, some- times astern, and again dead ahead. An indolent current flowed with their course, its water ruddy and clear like wine, and beautifully placid save where touched by the dying wind. Tasseled reeds cut off the horizon, and at no time was anything to bé seen but the reeds, the water, the aquatic birds that flaw off like tigures from a Japanese sereen, the silent little launch, and the voung and intevesting out- law with whom she med to have entered into & new world consisting of a labyrinth complex as that of Crete, from whish, 80 far as she could ece, there was no cape. The reeds beside the lasy stream shive with the motion of scampering fish; and when the boat entered the still ponds, strucg on the tiny waterway, lke beads on a cord, the glassy surface would sud. denly bulge up into swift, shining swells, as the finny glanty took flizht. Tlow bean- tiful it was, she thought. the perfectior ot marshy lovelines “I'm hav " id phe, lightful time I am very, very glad,” said le Lily pads now rose and fell in the wakes of fish and boat—great green disks with no notch in their sides for the stem, but only & slit, as if nature had used a pair of scissors and made but one snip at it Negotlating & passage %0 narrow that the strakes of the launch softly scraped both rooty shores, they smerged into a lakelet not much larger then & good sized theater, which was quite green with the floating leaves, like a rich, flat meadow. And over there were ore, two, three, a dosen hlooms ~—waxy, creamy, pure, and sedately beauti- ful, “Oh!" cried Virginia. “How exquisite!” Carson cruised about and piratically rob- bed the pond of every blossom. “They are smaller than the northern lilles,” said he, “and they have little frag- rance; but I.love them all the better.” “They are dainter,” she eaid, “and %0 pronounced.’ “Like the southern girls,” “I'm|a southern girl" & northern tourist “1 knew that," he replied mind." This talk was verging npon the personal d therefore to be discoursgel. How keenly observing he must bs to detcet in her cosmopolitan Fngllsh the old Alabama accent! She supposed nerself to be quite rid of It. His own oceasional and incon tent lapses into ultra-softness of intonation seemed quite like dialect to her. He waxed more and more interesting. Surely, surely he was not so very much worse, at hear with his love of flowers and his chivalrous delicacy, than some people In—in other walks of life. She was quits recoversd from her alarm, quite In control of the situation now, snuggling bewitehingly down ard looking at her lles. as they emerged from the nerrows and shot out into the lagoon, the blue waves of which had sub- sided Into round-rolliug short swells. “Good-by," eried Virginia. looking hack into the enchanted marsh. “Good-hy! This a peifectly de- not said he #aid she, “If 1 aw T had that in e m———— is the world again!” Carson was looking the other way with less perajstence now. There was something mysterious in the charm of this girl's manner. Her good-by to the narrows seemed a subtle rapprochement to him. They were in the world, and therefore~figuratively— she lot him come olof The lights of the hotels and villas along the north shore swept by them in a pan- orama of fairy illuminations. A great tow- boat slowly pushed its two acres of barges toward Mobile from the Perdido bay inver passage. The lagoon was filled with launches. The eveniug had so far grown quiet that the air-ships had come out, sweeping the skies like enormous phos- phorescent insects. From a hundred yards overhead fell the twangling of & banjo and the volce of a tenor in full song. Virginia, whose glances at her robber had been extra hasardous recently, because move likely to meet his, could safely Jook at him again, absorbed as he was in the manage- went of his craft. He stood up once, lithe and greceful as a leopard, and, after scrutinising &n approaching sloop, sheered off, saying that there was better water to port. He was . evading detection, she thought; and she felt compenionably fur- tive and guilty. “We have been very imparsonal’ said he. ay 1 Introduce myself? My name is Oh, please don't!” she exclaimed. give me, but I'd rather not know. “It is mo’ interesting,” said he, with a slow smile, “not to know. I shall always thik of you as—" (To Be Continued.) “Fore Ghost Lakes and Lost River George 8. Myers of Sale Lake City, Utah, in speaking of the lakes of his country said that In the great besin between the Rockies and the Sierra Nevadas lie (ne ghosts of many dead lakes. “Rivers wil flow down to the dry edges and are licked up by evaporstion and the chinook winds, Of all the lakes that once lay there, only Salt lake, Lake Tahoe and Bear lake are left. The Bouthern Pacific rolls for 16 miles across the bed of whai was once Lake Lahontan, and passengers gasing idly from the windows may see the terraces and wrinkles In the crust of the fossil lake which nature destroyed years ago. “Akin to theee ghost lakes are the lost rivers of the southwest,” continued Mr Myers. “Rivers that flow with all the ewiftnese and clearness of other streams near by, then disappear into the earth as mysteriously as If they were spirit drean In the valley of the Rio Grande there are many little rivers of this kind. Just souus of Santa Fe s, the River Hondo, which tluws broad and deep for many miles, them suddenly spreads oul over a sandy plaiu and disappears. - \uaR ‘A few hundred feel from where it goes out of sight there is only sand, as dry as dust itself. Some of these streams end ia tiny brackish lakes, but most of them dis- sppear in the sand beds. On the coast of Mexico there are clear water streams that discharge Into the gulf from underground channels many feet below the level of the thought to be the same waters that diseppear farther up In the states. In the valley between Pecos and the Rio Grande, beginning near Sandla mountains, (s the head of an old river, with all its tributaries, its falls, its shallows, and its fascinating berds. It is 200 miles long and many feet wide, but it s only the ghost of a river, for there |8 no water there. It passes by the rulns of Gran Quivaria, its bed is strewn w:th broken lava, and it terminates {n & salt marsh. The Indians have @ legend that long ago the waters were deep and swift there, until one day & great fire swept duwn the valley, lapping up the waters, leaving the bed emply, the banks barren, and the valley depleted forevermore.'— Washington Post. The Professor's Pearls. When 1 was & pupll at one of the big schools here'' mays Ernest Waugh of Denver, “‘we had a professor who inters polated his lecture notes with jokes that he had remembered, “One day he was talking about ‘fool's ®old.' This was the signal to us that joke No. 2 was duc. “* ‘Gentlemen.' he said, ‘you fail to under. nd me. This means that all is not gold that glitters. This Is ‘fool's go'd.' This, my young gentlemen, is—'" “‘Joke No. 29' some young man inter. od. The class Is excused' sald our profes- #or. 'l have cust my pearls before swine, with the proverblal result.’ "—Cleveland Leader.