er hit a man than a hog,
for a hog is very apt to wreck the train; a hog is worse than a horse,
whereas a man makes no trouble; he simply gets killed.

Near the roaring round-house at Mott Haven is another interesting
place--the "Young Men's Christian Association Car," which is not a car
at all, but a dingy shed built of four cars, and serving as lunch-room,
wash-room, reading-room, and sleeping-room for men of the trains. This
is a homely refuge spot, where any morning we may meet engineers resting
after a hard night's run or making ready to go out again. Let us drop in
and join one of the groups.

Here is a man telling about the mad run "Big Arthur" made the other
night down from Albany. We get just the tail of the story: "So the
superintendent he ripped around about how they were twenty-seven minutes
late, and Big Arthur he sat in the cab and never said a word. 'Now,'
says the superintendent, rather sarcastic, 'I suppose you know this is
the Empire State Express you're running?' 'Yep,' says Big Arthur. 'Well,
do you know what time she's supposed to pull into the Grand Central?'
'Yep,' says Big Arthur again, and that's all he did say; but, holy
smoke! how they went! Had those porters on the private car scared green!
A hundred miles an hour some o' the way, and they came in on time to the
dot. Oh, you can't beat these new engines with the fire-box over the
trailer; but say, wasn't that great when Big Arthur snapped out 'Yep' to
the old man?"

I asked if I might see Big Arthur, and one of the engineers said he'd be
along pretty soon, and in the meantime he told me about the
individuality of locomotives: how one is good-tempered and willing,
while another is cranky; how the same locomotive will act differently at
different times, just as people have whims, and how some locomotives are
fated to ill luck, so that nobody wants to drive them.

"Take these ten new engines the company's just put on. They're the
finest and strongest made, a whole lot better than the ones we've
thought were wonders on the Empire State. They're beauties, and all
exactly alike, measurements all the same; but every one of 'em has its
own points, good and bad. One will go faster than another with just the
same steam. One will pull a heavier load with less coal. And very likely
there'll be some kind of a hoodoo on one of 'em. Takes time, though, to
find out these things. It's like getting acquainted with a man."

Other men came in now, and the t