ntlemen vied with each other in their thanks and heartfelt gratitude
towards Mrs. Graff and her children, and assured her that they would
never, never forget her, and before the widow left the train she was
presented with a purse of four hundred and sixty dollars, the voluntary
offering of a whole train of grateful passengers. She refused the
proffered gift for some time, and said she had only done her duty, and
the knowledge of having done so was all the reward she asked. However,
she finally accepted the money, and said it should go to educate her
children.
The railway company built her a new house, gave her and her children a
life pass over the road, and ordered all trains to stop and let her get
off at home when she wished, but the employes needed no such orders, they
can appreciate all such kindness--more so than the directors themselves.
The old lady frequently visits my home at H-- and she is at all times a
welcome visitor at my fireside. Two of the children are attending school
at the same place.
--_Appleton's American Railway Anecdote Book_.
A COUNTY COURT JUDGE'S FEELING AGAINST RAILWAYS.
In a County Court case at Carlisle, reported in the _Carlisle Journal_,
of October 31st, 1851, the judge (J. K. Knowles, Esq.) is represented to
have said:--"You may depend upon it, if I could do anything for you, I
would, for I detest all railways. If they get a verdict in this case it
will be the first, and I hope it will be the last."
RAILWAY TICKETS.
A writer in that valuable miscellany _Household Words_, remarks:--"About
thirteen years ago, a Quaker was walking in a field in Northumberland,
when a thought struck him. The man who was walking was named Thomas
Edmonson. He had been, though a Friend, not a very successful man in
life. He was a man of integrity and honour, as he afterwards abundantly
proved, but he had been a bankrupt, and was maintaining himself as a
clerk at a small station on the Newcastle and Carlisle line. In the
course of his duties in this situation, he found it irksome to have to
write on every railway ticket that he delivered. He saw the clumsiness
of the method of tearing the bit of paper off the printed sheet as it was
wanted, and filling it up with pen and ink. He perceived how much time,
trouble, and error might be saved by the process being done in a
mechanical way; and it was when he set his foot down on a particular spot
on th
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