THANK YOU, for sharing this. What a neat piece of history!!
--- In CBQ@yahoogroups.com, "superconductor80" <superconductor80@...> wrote:
>
> Hey Group,
>
> I was at my Girlfriend's Parent's house yesterday and, upon going through
> their attic, her Dad showed me this small birdhouse on a back shelf and said
> I might find it interesting. It was a somewhat ornate birdhouse that was
> obviously hand crafted and he told me he got it as a housewarming gift from a
> friend of his Father's (his dad was a signalman for the C&NW for over 30
> years). I thought, that's cool but so what? That's when I looked on the back
> and on the browned out, newsprint was a little note type written by the
> gentleman who made it (who was probably the father of the man who gave it
> away?). It read:
>
> "This birdhouse is built from lumber salvaged from the new union station in
> Chicago. I ran the first train into the new station when it was open for
> business. I retired in 1932 after 55 years of service with the CB&Q
> railroad. When I made my last trip I put this little poem on my cash report.
>
> As I bid you farewell today
> Let there be no sighs or tears
> For I am neither blind, lame, or old
> But I have served you many years
>
> Well have I served you willing
> Through storms and rain and snow
> And now that I am leaving you
> I regret that I must go
>
> A life of care has been my lot
> I have always done my best
> And now the time has come for me
> To receive my long earned rest."
>
> It wasn't much but few things I've ever read have been so eloquently put and
> that could so simply describe a life long career or railroading. Its hard to
> imagine the things this gentleman saw in his 55 years on the Q. Imagine
> hiring out on 1877 where the "East End" is a mere 13 years old, air brakes
> were still a novelty, and link and pin couplers were the norm. Anyway, there
> was no name on the birdhouse or the poem so if anybody has any idea who might
> have either written the poem and/or who the conductor was that would be cool
> (shot in the dark, I know). But, if anything, this a neat little blurb from
> way back in the Q days and was rather moving.
>
> Enjoy
>
> Jeff D.
>
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