The Grooming of a Section Foreman
When a railroad boss demanded a married man for a section-house job, an applicant didn't let a minor detail like bachelorhood stop him from closing the deal in an hour.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
When a man is in deadly earnest about securing employment he will not let such a small obstacle as the lack of a wife stand in the way. At least, such is the fact in regard to a certain section foreman on the Columbia & Puget Sound road. He applied for the position to Assistant Superintendent McCabe, and his answers to that gentleman's queries were all satisfactory until the question came: 'Are you married? We want a married man to take this position, so that his wife can take care of the section-house.' The man acknowledged that he still wandered in the wilderness of celibacy, and Mr. McCabe said in a peculiar way: 'Well, you can have the job if you can get married in time. Hurry up and I'll give you passes for the 5:30 train.' It was then 4:30, and it seemed pretty short notice, but some men can get through a great deal of business in an hour. Before the time had arrived for the train to leave, the applicant returned, accompanied by a blushing bride, and said: 'Well, I got a wife. Will you give me those passes?' Filled with admiration at the man's readiness of resource, Mr. McCabe gave him the passes, and the happy couple left on their honeymoon.
“The man acknowledged that he still wandered in the wilderness of celibacy.”
This 1892 story highlights how employment in the late 19th century was often bundled with housing, a practice that mirrors contemporary struggles where workers must navigate 'company-town' dynamics or housing-dependent contracts. The transactional nature of the marriage—a prerequisite for a job and a place to live—underscores a period where labor and domestic life were not just intertwined, but legally and contractually inseparable.
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