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"I hope you won't be so lazy to-day," said the Generator to the Engine, as the engineer opened the throttle and the crank began to move; "Yesterday you loafed along so slowly that I could hardly keep the lights going. Why don't you do a little hustling?"

"If you had been at this business as long as I have, you wouldn't say that; you are a fresh young thing just from the shop," retorted the Engine. "I really need a vacation; I have put in about eighteen hours a day for seven years."

"Gee! aren't you glad you're not a marine engine on an Atlantic liner? They say they run about ten days, night and day, without rest. I guess you'd growl then," said the Generator.

"You just wait a while, you saucy Generator; you are now in the same position that I was in seven years ago. I was then well dressed, polished, and as smooth as they make 'em; I was easily the fastest in this section of the country."

"It is pity you are so slow now," interrupted the Generator. "It is an outrage to me to be obliged to keep in step with you. Instead of connecting me direct, they ought to get a belt, and place a big pulley on your shaft and a little one on mine, then I could gallop along even if you insisted on crawling at your present speed. I have heard a lot about 'direct connection,' but I fail to see the advantage, especially in this

case.

"If I were as ignorant as your remarks prove you to be, I should shut up," growled the Engine. "Don't you know that they build engines that would keep you on the move and make you cry for mercy? You are like a college man-you think you know it all; but when you have seen some up-to-date machinery, you'll know more. You mustn't think old junk like me is representative. Your experience is limited to a few half-finished engines in your shop."

As the Generator made no answer, and the Engine felt garrulous, it continued: "I'll tell you a little secret that (Continued on page 100)

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(Continued from page 98)

may cheer you up. Just before you arrived, the engineer and the boss carried on a long conversation here in the engine room. The engineer was for getting a new engine to keep you going, as he knew I was too old-fashioned. The boss said he couldn't afford it. Then the engineer wanted to get a belt to make the work easier for me, as he knew I wouldn't want to go so fast. The boss wouldn't listen to this, for he wanted the floor space. The result was that the engineer monkeyed with my governor so that I could take a little more steam at each stroke. He is all right; he gives me a drink of oil more frequently now, and calls the sight feed lubricator all kinds of names."

"Hurrah!" cried the Engine, "they are to shut down for dinner, so I'll take a nap, for we'll not stop again for nine

hours."

The engine was rudely awakened from pleasant dreams of an eternity in the scrap heap, by the hot steam entering the valve chest. After a short silence, the Generator, remembering the name, "fresh young thing," said humbly, "Will you please tell me what an indicator is?"

"Sure," replied the refreshed Engine, "But what do you want to know for?"

"While you were taking a nap," answered the Generator, "the boss and engineer came in, and said they would put an indicator on you. Does it hurt to have an indicator put on?"

"No, you goose! An indicator is only a little nickel-plated cylinder that tells the engineer all about my insides. It won't hurt to put it on, although it did hurt when they tapped in my cylinder the two holes you see plugged. I wonder what the result will be," mused the Engine. "Shall I have a little taken off the laps of my valve? Will they decide I can't do the work alone, and get a condenser? Or shall I start for the scrap heap? I should think they would get me a condenser, as the river will supply all the water they want."

The Generator, not understanding these mutterings, kept silent, but resolved to find out what a condenser was, and why it required so much water.