rew a train off the track
and killed several people. Citizens came in a passion to urge the man's
dismissal, but the superintendent said:

'No, you are wrong. He has learned his lesson, he will throw no more
trains off the track. He is twice as valuable as he was before. I shall
keep him.'

We had only one more adventure on the train. Between Hartford and
Springfield the train-boy came shouting with an armful of literature,
and dropped a sample into a slumbering gentleman's lap, and the man
woke up with a start. He was very angry, and he and a couple of friends
discussed the outrage with much heat. They sent for the parlour-car
conductor and described the matter, and were determined to have the boy
expelled from his situation. The three complainants were wealthy Holyoke
merchants, and it was evident that the conductor stood in some awe of
them. He tried to pacify them, and explained that the boy was not under
his authority, but under that of one of the news companies; but he
accomplished nothing.

Then the Major volunteered some testimony for the defence. He said:

'I saw it all. You gentlemen have not meant to exaggerate the
circumstances, but still that is what you have done. The boy has
done nothing more than all train-boys do. If you want to get his ways
softened down and his manners reformed, I am with you and ready to help,
but it isn't fair to get him discharged without giving him a chance.'

But they were angry, and would hear of no compromise. They were well
acquainted with the President of the Boston and Albany, they said, and
would put everything aside next day and go up to Boston and fix that
boy.

The Major said he would be on hand too, and would do what he could to
save the boy. One of the gentlemen looked him over and said:

'Apparently it is going to be a matter of who can wield the most
influence with the President. Do you know Mr. Bliss personally?'

The Major said, with composure:

'Yes; he is my uncle.'

The effect was satisfactory. There was an awkward silence for a minute
or more; then the hedging and the half-confessions of over-haste
and exaggerated resentment began, and soon everything was smooth and
friendly and sociable, and it was resolved to drop the matter and leave
the boy's bread and butter unmolested.

It turned out as I had expected: the President of the road was not the
Major's uncle at all--except by adoption, and for this day and train
only.

We got into no episodes o