"The New York office force of the R.D. Jones Co. caught its breath in a gasp of astonishment when it was announced that Captain Goff was to take out the Columbia with passengers only. Even the superintendent seemed ashamed of the directors' decision, for he had sent the word out to old Williams, the veteran chief clerk, scribbled on a slip of paper, and had then promptly gone out by way of his private entrance.
Williams read the note with rapidly rising indignation and broke up the office routine for a full thirty minutes, while he raged about the room, alternately denouncing the superintendent, the president and the board of directors, and assailing luckless clerks for stopping work to listen to him.
"Why," he cried, "old R. D. would turn over in his grave if he knew how these boys are running the company into the ground. It was bad enough when they commenced fillin' up empty cargo space with furniture, vegetables and dry goods, but now turnin' the Columbia into a passenger boat! A man-hauler! And not ordinary, healthy passengers with sound legs and good digestions, but a lot of consumptives, anaemics, and sick babies, raked up from the East Side, on account of" — here referring to the superintendent's note — "on account of the New York Eagle's Fresh Air Fund. Wish old R. D. was here for about five minutes." And then he added most prophetically, "It's bad business this haulin' of passengers and the company'll regret it."…"
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Amicalement
Armand
