C. Litlebrown, a tall,
meditative, philosophic man whom Eugene found two days later in the
division offices at Yonkers, who in turn wrote a letter to Mr. Joseph
Brooks, Superintendent of Buildings, at Mott Haven, whose secretary
finally gave Eugene a letter to Mr. Jack Stix, foreman carpenter at
Speonk. This letter, when presented on a bright Friday afternoon,
brought him the advice to come Monday at seven A. M., and so Eugene saw
a career as a day laborer stretching very conspicuously before him.

The "little shop" in question was located in the most charming manner
possible. If it had been set as a stage scene for his especial artistic
benefit it could not have been better. On a point of land between the
river and the main line of the railroad and a little creek, which was
east of the railroad and which the latter crossed on a trestle to get
back to the mainland again, it stood, a long, low two-storey structure,
green as to its roof, red as to its body, full of windows which
commanded picturesque views of passing yachts and steamers and little
launches and row-boats anchored safely in the waters of the cove which
the creek formed. There was a veritable song of labor which arose from
this shop, for it was filled with planes, lathes and wood-turning
instruments of various kinds, to say nothing of a great group of
carpenters who could make desks, chairs, tables, in short, office
furniture of various kinds, and who kept the company's needs of these
fittings for its depots and offices well supplied. Each carpenter had a
bench before a window on the second floor, and in the centre were the
few necessary machines they were always using, small jig, cross cut,
band and rip saws, a plane, and four or five lathes. On the ground floor
was the engine room, the blacksmith's shop, the giant plane, the great
jig and cross cut saws, and the store room and supply closets. Out in
the yard were piles of lumber, with tracks in between, and twice every
day a local freight called "The Dinky" stopped to switch in or take out
loaded cars of lumber or finished furniture and supplies. Eugene, as he
approached on the day he presented his letter, stopped to admire the
neatness of the low board fence which surrounded it all, the beauty of
the water, the droning sweetness of the saws.

"Why, the work here couldn't be very hard," he thought. He saw
carpenters looking out of the upper windows, and a couple of men in
brown overalls and jumpers unload