the solemn procession.]

My life as a telegraph messenger was in every respect a happy one,
and it was while in this position that I laid the foundation of my
closest friendships. The senior messenger boy being promoted, a new
boy was needed, and he came in the person of David McCargo, afterwards
the well-known superintendent of the Allegheny Valley Railway. He was
made my companion and we had to deliver all the messages from the
Eastern line, while two other boys delivered the messages from the
West. The Eastern and Western Telegraph Companies were then separate,
although occupying the same building. "Davy" and I became firm friends
at once, one great bond being that he was Scotch; for, although "Davy"
was born in America, his father was quite as much a Scotsman, even in
speech, as my own father.

A short time after "Davy's" appointment a third boy was required, and
this time I was asked if I could find a suitable one. This I had no
difficulty in doing in my chum, Robert Pitcairn, later on my successor
as superintendent and general agent at Pittsburgh of the Pennsylvania
Railroad. Robert, like myself, was not only Scotch, but Scotch-born,
so that "Davy," "Bob," and "Andy" became the three Scotch boys who
delivered all the messages of the Eastern Telegraph Line in
Pittsburgh, for the then magnificent salary of two and a half dollars
per week. It was the duty of the boys to sweep the office each
morning, and this we did in turn, so it will be seen that we all began
at the bottom. Hon. H.W. Oliver,[13] head of the great manufacturing
firm of Oliver Brothers, and W.C. Morland,[14] City Solicitor,
subsequently joined the corps and started in the same fashion. It is
not the rich man's son that the young struggler for advancement has to
fear in the race of life, nor his nephew, nor his cousin. Let him look
out for the "dark horse" in the boy who begins by sweeping out the
office.

[Footnote 13: Died 1904.]

[Footnote 14: Died 1889.]

[Illustration: ROBERT PITCAIRN]

A messenger boy in those days had many pleasures. There were wholesale
fruit stores, where a pocketful of apples was sometimes to be had for
the prompt delivery of a message; bakers' and confectioners' shops,
where sweet cakes were sometimes given to him. He met with very kind
men, to whom he looked up with respect; they spoke a pleasant word and
complimented him on his promptness, perhaps asked him to deliver a
message on the way back to the office. I do