“I have enjoyed the experience, too. I think I have had a natural
inclination for mechanics all my life, and I enjoyed having to do with
engines and the construction of the road-bed. I am learning, gradually,
of course, to build an engine, and to run one successfully. It won’t be
long before I can do that.”
“And what will you undertake when you have finished with the
construction and motive-power departments?” I asked.
“Well, I haven’t planned that far ahead yet, but I hope, eventually,
to know as much about the finances of the road as I do about the
mechanics, and I also want to know something of the way in which the
road is managed. All this will take time, but I am determined to give
it all the time it needs. I think the advantages to be derived from
such a training are worth a great deal of time and work.”
“Does it seem like very hard work to you?”
“No; you know, I’m very much interested in such things, and so I
don’t mind the work. I would much prefer working in the yards and
round-houses to working in the offices. It is much more to my taste.”
I asked Mr. Vanderbilt whether he ever expected to run an engine
attached to a train, and he said he had no idea of doing so, but he
could, if necessary. “I’m glad to know how,” he said.
And then Mr. Vanderbilt went to attend to some work awaiting him
outside, and I entered Mr. Depew’s office. When I asked Mr. Depew to
tell me something more of the young man whom he has so nobly befriended
in all his trials, he spoke with great animation.