By dint of long watching I became aware that though apparently the eyes of the lad saw everything there was to be seen, in reality he was most watchful of the captain, hardly ever lifting his gaze from the figure above him, and at last I discovered that by a scarcely perceptible motion of his hand, merely opening and closing it, or with a simple backward or forward motion from the wrist down, the captain conveyed his orders to the boy, who responded by shouting in his shrill treble through the skylight what, after much conjecture, I discovered to be "Ease 'er!" "Stop 'er!" "Turn 'er astarn!" "Let 'er go ahead!"
The gesture by the captain's hand was oftentimes so faint that I failed to see it, though I was on the look-out; much less could I interpret its meaning, yet the lad never once failed to give the correct order.
Only think of it! The safety of these boats, their crews, and thousands of passengers absolutely depends upon these youngsters, who in wind and rain, sunshine or storm, are compelled to be at their posts for many hours daily. If through inattention or inadvertence the wrong command should be given to the engineer, a terrible calamity might occur. That such is never or rarely the case speaks volumes for the fidelity and attention to duty of these boys, who have very little opportunity for training or education of any sort.
[PACKAGE NO. 107.]
BY JAMES B. MARSHALL.
The express agent in San Francisco smiled very pleasantly when the package was brought to him with a directed express tag properly tied on it. But it was not so strange for him to smile, since he knew all about that package, and had foretold the exact time required for a package to reach New York. But the clerk who pasted a green label on the tag, and marked on one end in blue ink "No. 107, Paid" so and so much, why should he be amused? And why should the two express-wagon drivers who were in the office at the time declare that that package would be something like a surprise?
Then an errand-boy came into the office to express a valise, having left seven other boys standing on the nearest street corner before a hand-organ that was playing the newest airs, which those seven boys were learning to whistle. But why should that errand-boy, who was usually a very quiet boy, immediately run to the office street door, and call, and beckon, and wave his hat furiously for those seven boys to come and look at package No. 107? Then those seven boys, in spite of the attraction of the hand-organ, came on a run, and stood eagerly around the express office door. And why wouldn't those boys go away until that package was taken with other packages to the railroad station in one of the express wagons? And what, also, greatly interested five other passing boys, a Chinese laundry-man, two apple-women, and a policeman?
Well, it was the same cause, which will soon appear, that made curious and smiling the express people of Omaha, Chicago, and other places where the package was seen on its way East to New York.