the joke (we were in for fun), but I found I
was too exhausted with fatigue to attempt it. I had never before come
so near occupying a pulpit.

My investments now began to require so much of my personal attention
that I resolved to leave the service of the railway company and devote
myself exclusively to my own affairs. I had been honored a short time
before this decision by being called by President Thomson to
Philadelphia. He desired to promote me to the office of assistant
general superintendent with headquarters at Altoona under Mr. Lewis. I
declined, telling him that I had decided to give up the railroad
service altogether, that I was determined to make a fortune and I saw
no means of doing this honestly at any salary the railroad company
could afford to give, and I would not do it by indirection. When I lay
down at night I was going to get a verdict of approval from the
highest of all tribunals, the judge within.

I repeated this in my parting letter to President Thomson, who warmly
congratulated me upon it in his letter of reply. I resigned my
position March 28, 1865, and received from the men on the railway a
gold watch. This and Mr. Thomson's letter I treasure among my most
precious mementos.

The following letter was written to the men on the Division:

PENNSYLVANIA RAILROAD COMPANY
SUPERINTENDENT'S OFFICE, PITTSBURGH DIVISION
PITTSBURGH, _March 28, 1865_

To the Officers and Employees of the Pittsburgh Division

GENTLEMEN:

I cannot allow my connection with you to cease without some
expression of the deep regret felt at parting.

Twelve years of pleasant intercourse have served to inspire
feelings of personal regard for those who have so faithfully
labored with me in the service of the Company. The coming
change is painful only as I reflect that in consequence
thereof I am not to be in the future, as in the past,
intimately associated with you and with many others in the
various departments, who have through business intercourse,
become my personal friends. I assure you although the
official relations hitherto existing between us must soon
close, I can never fail to feel and evince the liveliest
interest in the welfare of such as have been identified with
the Pittsburgh Division in times past, and who are, I trust,
for many years to come to contribute to the success of the
Pennsylvania Railroad