him. He should treat his third class
passengers as politely as his first. He should be
firm, but courteous, with any drunken or
quarrelsome passenger. He must be
impervious to all weathers. He has a journal
to keep of each journey, and he must be
prepared to account for any stoppage, delay,
or accident that may occur to the train while
under his care. He must sort, and safely
deliver, at the various stations, the number
of company's letters and parcels intrusted to
him. He must neither pilfer from, nor
damage by reckless usage, any of the packages
or parcels, property of the public, under his
charge. He must wink at an occasional
cigar or pipe, if not too openly displayed;
especially if there be no lady in the offending
compartment. Finally, in case of any breakdown
or accident, he must have his wits
thoroughly about him, and see at a glance
how the disaster may be soonest remedied.

There is a vast difference on various lines
in respect of politeness and willingness to
oblige. At some large stations and junctions
we could name, they are still in the seventh
stage of barbarism in this respect, and ought
to be set to conjugate the verb, to oblige,
with all possible despatch. There is an equal
difference as regards the cleanliness and
smartness of porters and guards on various
lines. On some lines a discipline, almost
military in strictness, is observed; no man
must come on duty unwashed, unshaved,
with dirty boots, or clothes unbrushed. The
smartest porters are generally kept at the
principal towns; those of an inferior quality
are drafted out to do duty at roadside stations.
The goods' guards and porters are generally
looked upon as an inferior class. The porters
have no uniforms, and their wages are only
about seventeen shillings a week. At large
stations they form two distinct bodies, called
technically yardmen and shedmen. The
duties of the latter consist in loading and
unloading all trucks that come into or go out
of the warehouse; to sheet them, ticket
them, and place them ready for the horses to
drag away to the proper line of rails, there
to await the engine. They have also, in
conjunction with the carters, to load and unload
all drays that cart goods in or out of the
town.

As evening advances, the 'goods' shed of a
large station becomes a very animated scene.
Drays that have been out collecting during
the afternoon come rattling in one by one,
most of them top-heavy with goods. The
articles are lifted or craned out, one by
one, and checked carefully by the consignment
notes—the goods for Manchester,
Birmingham, Leeds, and other large towns,
having each a separate space of platform, and
not being mixed with those for other places.
As the night progresses, empty trucks are
pushed in on the other side of the platform,
and the process of loading commences with
remarkable order and celerity. The checker
has a number of consignment notes before
him, and, as the articles are placed one by
one in the truck, the name and address is
called out, and he ticks the note with red
lead, and initials it at the foot when every
article entered on it has been checked otf
into the truck. It is only a porter here and
there who makes a good packer. Bad packing
is a fruitful source of claims against railway
companies: considerable skill being required
to load the articles in such a way as to avoid
damage in shunting. The truck being now
sheeted and ticketted, is dragged away by a
horse, and becomes the property of the yard-men,
who, in addition to taking charge of all
outward-bound trucks, have to supply the
shed with all its inward trucks, and to
arrange, divide, and sort the various goods
and mineral trains, some of which are
continually coming in or going out. Like the
shedmen, they are on duty alternately a
week at nights and a week at days.

Suppose it eleven p.m. of a cold, frosty
night, and the train they are getting together
bound for London, with stoppages, to take up
and drop wagons, at a few of the principal
roadside stations. By and by comes the
engine, steaming slowly up—the guard of the
train has been here some time already. He
was formerly a porter in the yard, and obtained
his promotion because he is a sharp fellow,
and can read and write tolerably well. Men.
with lanterns are flashing about, like fire-flies,
among the trucks; there is much intricate
shunting going forward, and you must keep a
sharp look out if you wish to avoid being
run over or jammed between the buffers.
The train will consist of three distinct parts:
firstly, the through trucks—that is to say,
those trucks which have come from more
distant stations, labelled through to London,
or to some of the stations at which our train
will stop—which have not been unloaded here,
but are merely waiting for the forward train;
secondly, those trucks which have been
loaded in the shed; and, thirdly, a few empty
wagons which have been telegraphed for,
from roadside stations. Various odd trucks
and sundry portions of other trains have to
be shunted to and fro in the darkness, and
knocked about from one line to another
before our composite train is thoroughly
arranged and the signal to start given.

Previous to this, however, each of the trucks
recently loaded in the shed is passed over the
weighing-machine and a way-bill of it made
out for the guard, showing the weight of the
goods, the number of the truck, and its
destination. This way-bill the guard gives
up with the truck, when the latter quits his
charge. To the end of the train is attached
the guard's break, with its two small
side-lamps and its large tail-lamp flaring out a
blood-red warning not to approach too near.
And so, with a premonitory shriek, our train
flags slowly out of the station, the respirations
of the engine becoming quicker and quicker,