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THE LIFE AND WORK

W. K. SNIDER,

G. T. R. CONDUCTOR.

BY THE

REV. D. W. SNIDER.

ALSO

SERMONS AND LECTURE

with introduction
By rev. VV. S. griffin, D.D.

TORONTO :
WILLIAM BRIGGS,

WESLEY BUILDINGS.

Montreal; C. W. COAXES. Halifax: S. F. HUESTI8.

1898

Entered according to Act of the Parliament of Canada, in the year
one thousand eight hundred and ninety-eight, by WiLiiUM
Briggs, at the Department of Agriculture.

PREFACE,

IT was felt that thousands who had known
the genial and Christian face of Conductor
Snider, who had laughed under the ininiitable-
ness of his mimicry, or wept under the spell of
his pathos, or turned, with repentance and faith,
unto God untler his impassioned appeals, seek-
ing their salvation, would desire to have at their
hands some memorial of his life and work.

In response to this desire and with the per-
suasion that the Conductor would gladly give
consent to anything which might go out from,
or because of, him on an errand of good, his
loyal wife and devoted helpmate placed in my
hands such notes and MSS. as were at her
disposal for the purposes of this volume.

It is to be regretted that he left so little on
paper of those sermons and lectures which ha<l
thrilled the hearts of multitudes. They were
born of his experience, and for the most part,
were written only on the tablets of his extra-
ordinary memory.

Preface.

I trust, however, that hi.s ffiuioUH h'cture,
" Life on the Rail," and liis equally celebrated
" Railway " sermon have been sufficiently re-
stored by the aid (jf press reports, etc., to f>ive
the readers of this volume a welcome memorial
of the enjoyment they had when listeninf,^ to
them. I am indebted to a stenographic report
of the sermon on " The Blessed Invitation."

The kindly tributes to be found in these
pa^es will express the sentiments of thousands
concerning- the Conductor's well-ni'^'rited ^otxl
name. I am grateful for the pnjmpt and cheer-
ful manner in which they came into my liands.
They are heart-felt testimonies which cannot
fail to be appreciated by every reader.

It will be sufficient to add that tliis little

volume goes out to its readers followed by the

prayer which dominated the Christian life and

experience of the genial and lovable man it

holds in affectionate remembrance, namely, that

the loving Lord may use it for the salvation of

many.

D. W. Snider.

Methodist Parsonnqc,

Milton, May UK 1898.

INTRODUCTION.

LJAVING known the late Conductor Snider
.since he was a lad and ioHnwed his course
with much satisfaction for man/ years, I am
personally grateful that his cousin has j^repared
this interesting memorial vuaime whicii I he-
ll ve will be much appreciated by everyone who
knew and lov^ed him.

W. K. Snider lived on the railroad ever since
he was a small boy — and his education was prin-
cipally such as he acquired in his " life on the
rail."

His natural gifts in many particulars were
above the average and were greatly developed
by his experience and observation in his con-
stant public intercourse with the world.

His genial qualities and unicjue endowments
secured for him a warm welcome in all circles
of social life. His retentive memory, his powers
of description and imitaticn invested him with
rare abilities to interest and entertain his

Vlll

Introduction.

friends, and all who enjoyed his personal ac-
quaint.-nce will always carry with them pleasant
recollections of the hours spent in his company.

No more popular conductor ever took charge
of a railway train. His assiduous attention to
all travellers who needed oversight, his solici-
tous regard for their comfort, and his affahle
treatment of the travelling public generally,
made him a universal favorite.

When he was converted everybody knew it
— not only by his prompt and public testimony
for Christ but also from the wonderful chan<»;e
which appeared in all his hal)its of life. All
" the boys," as he called them, with whom
he had spent many an hour in sinful jollifica-
tion, were taken into his confidence, while he
told them the glad story of his })ei'sonal salva-
tion, and not a few were led by him to the
Saviour whom he had learned to love. His
talents were soon recognized by the Church,
and to the day of his deatli his evangelistic
services and popular lectures gave him a won-
derful reputation throughout the country. His
originality of thought, his incomparable powers
of imitation, his aptness of illustration, his
forceful and earnest delivery, together with his
great personal magnetism, guaranteed the extra-
ordinary success which cr mncd all his public

introductio7i.

efibrts. The publication oi' these selections
among his sermons and lectures, it is believed,
will be greatly appreciated ])y those who ad-
mired and loved him, and will serve as a
souvenir that will be highly cherished.

W. S. Griffin.

i I

CONTENTS.

Preface ....

Introduction. Bev. W. S. Griffhi, D.D. -
His Like and Work. i^er. Z>. W. Snider -

Tributes —

Wardsville Methodist Church ....

Toronto Christian Police Association .

W. R. Tiffin, Esq., Superintendent, Northern
Division, G.T.R

Rev. John Potts, D.D.

Crossley and Hunter, P]vangelists - - . .
John Morrison, Esq. , Chief Conductor, O. R C

Rev. W. F. Wilson

Rev. A. C. Crews

I.O.F. Court Brock, Toronto - - . . .
Women's Christian Temperance Union, Fergus -
E. H. FitzHugh, Es(i., Superintendent, Western
Division, G.T.R. ......

"The Blessed Invitation:" A Sermon. Condmtor

Snider --■-...
"Railway" Sermo.v. Conductor Snider -
" Life on the Rail : " Lecture. Conductor Snider -

pAt4ii:

54
55

56
57
58
59

62
63
63

65
81
94

il 'i !

J! *

t
n

tj
tl
o
si

d
ei
al

THE LIFE AND WORK OF
W. K. SNIDER.

HIS LIFE AND WORK,

Born ; born ao^ain ; died. Birth, bringing its
gifts of hereditary advantage; conversion, or
the new birtli, bringing its sanctification of pur-
pose and exaltation of life ; death, bringing to
those around sorrow and tears, but also" its
myriad tokens of love and chaplets of praise—
these are the piers that measure and support
the spans which make up the completed bridge
of many glorious lives with all their weight of
sin and success, forfeit and fortune, pleasu're and
power.

The life of W. K. Sni.ler, the Christian con-
ductor, viewed as a bridge, is full of interest in
either span. The world realized how remark-
able the first span was when it blazoned his

14 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

i::

conversion as a public event and proclaimed it
as " wonderful." It was talked of as an event
of extraordinary importance. It will be neces-
sary, therefore, to inquire into the character of
those years between his birth and his conversion,
though it takes into account the time that his
repentance covered. The other and later span
in his life, since the story of Jesus thrilled his
heart and the pulpits of the land were the place
of his convincinfjf and joyful message, received
its joyful testimony of beauty and power when,
at the knowledge of his death, multitudes in all
parts of Canada felt that a most intimate friend
had slipped from their side, or a dearly loved
one had been torn from their embrace. A fair
bridge ! An eloc^uent life 1 An established
character !

William Kaitting Snider, third son of Michael
Snider and Elizabeth Kaitting, was born March
1st, 1852, in the township of Trafalgar, about
live miles from the town of Oakville, in the
County of Halton. His ancestors were among
the earliest pioneers of the Canadian wilderness.
His great-grandfather, Michael Snider, after
whom his father was named, a man of com-
manding manners and powerful physique, came
with his wife to America from his native Ger-
many, and settled first in Maryland, U.S.A. After

The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider. 15

varying fortune in Maryland and Pennsylvania,
but when their fortune was ripest, they sought
the aegis of the British Hag, and taking advan-
tage of the proclamation of King George III.,
came into Canada, crossing the Niagara River
at Chippewa, in 1802. Overtaken by an early
winter, where the city of Hamilton now stands,
they took shelter during those dreary, lonely
months of 1802-8 in a vacated log hut or shanty,
and worked and waited for the Spring. Disap-
pointment met them, as the land they expected
to take up had not yet been surveyed. It was in
1807 when they Ijegan the work of clearing and
founding a home on Dundas Street, Trafalgar, to
which they moved in 1809 from Ryckman's Cor-
ners, where they had found companionship and
the opportunity to labor during the intervening
years. The Conductor's great-grandmother was
born in Ireland, though brought up and married
in Germany. It may be that we are indebted
to this fact more than we know, for those gifts
of mirth and mimicry which gave him a good
degree of his popularity and fame. At all
events, he had a drop of Irish blood in him.

By the name Kaitting the subject of this
memoir preserved his mother's family name —
and more. By the name " William " Kaitting
he honored the name of his uncle, who was the

'^ ,

16 T/i€ Life ami Work of IV. K. Snider.

llbi '

first mule child born of white parentage in the
frontier township of Trafalgar. Early in the
century John Kaitting and his wife came from
the United States into Canada, swinnuing their
horses across the Niagara River, while the
heroic woman had a babe in a basket strapped
to her back. They settled in Halton. Mrs.
Kaitting did not see the face of a white woman
for the first six months of her residence in the
country, while her husband manifested such
skill with the gun that he was named by the
Indians " Cusicance," conveying the meaning
thit he was " quick to hunt and shoot all deer
from Indians."

These ancestors were of that simple, sturtly,
patriotic, God-fearing stock to which what is
purest and best in our Canadian manhood may
be traced. They were brave, whole hearted and
religious. They took their part in the early and
protracted struggles of this young country —
loyal alike to God and government. Some-
times an unwelcome strain was put upon their
cherished plans and hopes to which only patriot-
ism could submit. The fragrance of the pioneer
nuptial feast of David Snider and Eliza Eliza-
beth Marlatt, the Conductor's grandparents, had
hardly been lost in the fuller perfume of the
forest when he was ordered to Little York to

The Life and Work of JV. K. Snider. 17

the
the
rom
heir
the
)pe(l
\Irs.
man
the
luch
the
ling
leer

join his company of artillery, where he remained
•lurint^ the troubled years from 1812 to 1814,
while the honeymoon was shattered and the
bride remained in her father's house. Was it
not, therefore, something very instinctive in the
Conductor, the son of the tirst-born of this
union, which lent spice and strength to the
description he gave of his return from a hapless
venture as " peanut butcher " on the train l)e-
tvveen Detroit and Chicago, when, with twinkling
eyes, he used to mimic the stranded youth whose
pockets could produce no spoils though stood
on his head and shaken like a bag, who at the
same time strutted about l)efore the boys of the
town saying he was 'just home from tlie States " '.
He had been to the States ! Ever after his own
boyish escapaile he was proud to be a Canadian
by the emphasis of four generations of Canadian
blood that leaped in his veins, and his contempt
for the man was unfeigned who thought himself
too big for his country.

The Conductor's parents during the fifties left
the farm where they had lived since their mar-
riage, December 29th, 1836, and took up their
residence in Milton while it was in the race (and
finally successful) for the honor and advantage
of being the county seat. Already the comicali-
ties of his character and the indications of that

18 The Life ami Work oj IV. K. Snider.

marked histrionic ability he was to manifest had
secured for liini the free and easy greeting of
" Billy." and he took it from all parties as his
right l>y the unaffected egotism of his childhood,
which uttered the plans and exploits of his play,
" Hilly do (lis," " Billy goin' to do dat." Those
who have known him longest and loved him
best would feel that a false dignity had dis-
honored him if the page which told his history
should fail to meet their eyes with the famil-
iar name. It is to the credit of his character,
too, that through all the years, and when position
and fame were heaped upon him, he enjoyed
from his associates on the railway, or in Chris-
tian work, the friendly and hearty, if not elegant,
greeting, " Hello, Billy : " " Give us the latest
story, Billy."

After a few years of residence at Milton and
Zimmerman, in the township of Nelson, the
CJonductor moved with his parents to the grow-
ing town of Guelph (now a city), where for over
twenty years his father carried on the business
of commission grain merchant, and held an
honorable place among its citizens both in the
life of the Church and the municipality. Here
it was that the boy's eyes opened wide to
tlie world, and it was to this spot that he
carried those who ever heard him preach or

The Life ami Work of \V. K. Sntdcr. 10

lecture, when he .spoke, with the patlios of the
most genuine repentance, of his lionie and
mother and the hallowed j^jraves of his parents,
whose prayers had followed his prodigal foot-
steps through all the years of his sin.

He continued his attendance at school upon
his father's removal to Guelpli, and became a
pupil successively of the public and Grammar
schools and of Walker's Academy. That he
did better work at school or went further in
his studies than the average boy was plainly
indicated when he came to enter, and to be
welcomed in, the pulpits of the Province. While,
at such times, he lamented the insufficiency of
his education, only the severely and coldly criti-
cal found reason to correct his speech. His style
gave evidence not only of his superb natural
endowment, but also of those educational ac-
(juirements so necessary to retain the ears of
the cultured. He was no gesticulating boor.
He was no declamatory assassin of the Queen's
English.

But there is little doubt that the Conductor
often broke the routine of his school days and
gave unnecessary rest to his books by a freijuent
indulgence in those plays and sports wherein,
at the same time, " the boy was father of the
man." He was simply fascinated by the sight

20 The Life and Work- of IV. K. Suider.

of a niilway train, aiul t<> improvise such a tliiii;,^
about the house, hy every exi)e(lient of uiuhiuiite<l
^^enius, and to play in turn tlie several parts ol"
en<^ine(M", ])rakenmn, l)a<r(^a_L;('nian and conduc-
tor was satisfaction nion; keen and delioht
more intense than the hnj^iiini,^ <>f Linnie to a
hunter, or the ineffectual pull of a trout on the
hook of a Hsherman. A never-ceasinj^^ round of
tickets was taken from the otlier mendjers of
the family as station after station was called,
and the " choo-choo, choo-choo-o " of an on-com-
ing train threatenin<^ its tragic consequences
was to he heard at any moment.

And he was efjually fascinated by another
thing that gave variety to his sports and perhaps
aroused m-eater interest in others. His mimetic
gifts were captivated by the opportunity which
the Ijlatant and brazen-throated gutteralist who
stood at the door of the panorama or side-show
or circus afibrded them. Great temptations
came this way to which he yielded. Billy
was willing to serve the manager of a show
at any time to cfain admiUance. He must see
how it was done. He must learn the song and
be able to recite the joke — for did not everyone
count on him to repeat it? To. hear him was
to get the sliow^ away below cost. He estab-
lished a panorama of his own — that scenic

ii.

Thi' lAJc and Work of \\\ K. Siiufn: 21

display wliieh luis ^ivon ])lace to the store-
opticon ('.\hi})iti(jn. He luul 150 pictures, aiul
crowds used to irather to hear him descrihe their

Lnowi

wonders

It is not snrprisinfjf, in view ol' the t'ore^oin^
facts, to learn thixt the mimetic and)itions of tlie
Conductor should find o^iportunity for develop-
Tiient in tlie higher reaches of the dramatic art.
This was puhlicly ati'orded by an attempt upon
the part of amateur actors to render tlie " Mer-
chant of Venice" in the drill hall of the town
of (iK'lph, when he carried the part of Shylock
throui^di with amazin<^ success. This, perhaps,
was his first impersonation of the "Jew" — a
rnle in which on many a platform he was after-
wards to " bring down the house."

The adolescent period of the Conductor's life
was full of unrest— a strug^^le between his home
affection and filial duty, for he dearly loved his
parents, an<l his passion for the railway and his
love for the dramatic Now he is a " peanut
butcher" or newsboy on the train comin^^ to (^rief
in Chicaf^o, and now he is with a circus. At
one time he is clerkinof in the store of his eldest
brother at the village of Ballinafad, and, secur-
ing a license, is holding forth as an auctioneer,
keeping the sales attractive and lively with his
mimicry and t'un, and at another time he is the

22 The Life and Work of W. K, Snider.

promoter or prominent figure in some local
theatrical affair as amateur comedian, or he is
travelling through Canada with the famous
Townsend Opera Company. His services were
in demand far and near, for all manner of
entertainments under all kinds of auspices.
With nothing malevolent in his make-up, with
his remarkable gifts, always sunny and hearty,
it is readily seen how his feet slipped into
perilous social ways. The devil had his snares
laid for him, and he was all but wrecked. None
but a God pledged to hear and answer prayer
could have snatched him from the ruin into
which the (piick descents of his convivial life
would have plunged him. The Holy Spirit
shot the arrow of conviction into his soul, even
as he used to vividly descrilie the brakeman who
hurled his lantern into the cab of the engineer
in his last desperate attempt to stop him before
his train should thunder round the curve and
crash into the danger ahead, and he halted in
his way of sin, turned about, and gave his glad
and rescued life to Christ.

Meanwhile he found his chosen place of work.
In 1870 he started upon his well known career
as a railway man, in which he passed, in due
course, from brakeman to conductor. He was
associated in his beginnings with Conductors

The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider. 23

Furniss and Lillis, diirinf^ the development of
the Wellington, Grey and Bruce division of the
old Great Western Railway.

On the loth day of February, 1876, he was
married to Miss Charlotte C. Milne, daughter of
Thomas Milne, Esq., of Fergus, a most estimable
and Christian lady, to whose consistent life and
never-ceasing devotion to his highest interests
he felt himself unutterably indebted. It was a
happy union in every way from the beginning,
while the later years of their married life — so
early interrupted and closed — were full of
rejoicings at the goodness and mercy of the
Lord. As a Canadianized edition of German
and Irish character, he was proud of his Scotch
wife, and felt that with her he could " stand
four-square to every wind that blows."

It fell to their lot (conmion in the lives of
railway men) to have many changes of resi-
dence, and in obedience to the law of necessity,
but happily, also, in most cases of promotion,
they lived in the following places : Palmerston,
Southampton, Wingham, Toronto, London and
Windsor.

Up to the time at which that supreme event
in his experience occurred, and concerning
which he never wearied of telling, namely, his
conversion, he was known as the " comedian

fp-

24 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

conductor," and was in constant demand at all
manner of public and social functions, where, in
ways more or less convivial, there was supposed
to be " the feast of reason and the flow of
soul." Certain annual festivities were not con-
sidered complete unless his soncj was in it, or his
celebrated mimetic version of "Barnum's Great-
est Show on Earth " was produced. It is
pleasing to know that different societies which
repeatedly had him at their banquets for the
simple purpose of mirth, also with equal sin-
cerity and exalted appreciation, in later days,
had him pi3acli*before them, and tell them how
he was brought to God. In fact, among the
Conductor's greatest admirers in his Christian
life were those who had many times *' laughed
with both their sides " at his mimicry, in places
and on occasions which, at all events, did not
foreshadow the pulpit.

Meanwhile, the influences which for many
years had been at work for his salvation, were
ripening, and w^ere soon to yield their fruit.
Prayer, tear-stained but faith-laden, had gone
ap continuously from the altar of worship in
his father's house, that the boy, exposed to daily
danger on the track, and to the more serious
perils of his social gifts, might be grandly saved.
His father died, commending him to God, and

The Life and Work of W. K. Snider. 25

pleadiiii; with him to take the Bible as iiis
i^uide, and leaving the testimony ringing in his
soul that he himself believed it fully — from lid
to lid — as the blessed Word of Life. His
mother, whose unceasing love he cherished,
passed away with a faith so strong that, while
she knew her eyes were not in gladness to
behold the sight of his conversion, and in this
submitted to grievous disappointment, she was
confident of his salvation. His faithful wife,
< luring ten years of patient, prayerful waiting
and consistent living, asked of God that she
might be the instrument in His hands in leading
her husband to Christ : but, not long before it
occurred, with a fuller surrender to the way
and will of the Lord, she changed her prayer,
an<l earnestly sought that He should choose
whom or wliat He would to bring liim to salva-
tion. The devil, overstepping his mark, tocjk
tighter and tighter grips of him, until he asked
himself, in some measure of alarm, from time to
time, " Where will this end { " Friends were
solicitous. Pastors generally were faithful.
The published sermons of Rev. Sam P. Jones, in
his great Toronto campaign, in their straight
bondmrdment of sin were operative. Finally,
in Palmerston, during the latter part of the
month of January, 1887, while special services

26 The Life and Work of W, K. Snider.

i. ■ !■

were being lield in the Methodist church, con-
ducted by the pastor, Rev. (J. E. StcafFord, the
Spirit of God met response as He wrou<>lit
among the people. The Conductor attended the
Sunday evening service. He was always an
attentive hearer, but at this time he was deeply
impressed, yet, with a sliow of unusual hard-
ness, he resisted. He left his wife at the after-
meeting, only to have his struggling soul stung
to the (piick by the innocent words of his
daughter, who followed him from the church,
saying, " Wait, father, I'm going with you." He
muttered in his spirit — Where ? And the only
answer seemed to be — hell. He was taken sick
that night. For several days he was seriously
ill. He was sin-sick, too. The Spirit of God
was striving with tliis man, so long foremost in
the devil's service. Conviction seized his soul.
He prayed. He agonized. He dreamt that he
saw Jesus looking upon him with eyes of love.
Awake again, he turned in his bed from side to
side, only to have the Scripture mottoes on the
wall, which had long been there, now one and
now the other, flame out at him in letters of
living fire the invitations of the Gospel. The
mottoes were these : " He leadeth me," and "His
name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the
Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, and the

'J he Life and Work of \V. K. Snider, 27

Prince of Peace." He felt tliat tlie Lord wanted
him. He arose and dressed liiinself, and, in
order to get away from tlie sii»ht of the burnin^"
but loving message of the mottoes, found his
way to the living-room of the house, only to
throw himself upon the lounge, broken in
heart. His wife and sister-in-law, at first
alarmed, were at his side, but with spiritual
intuition (piickened by the Holy Ghost, they
understood his case, and gave God thanks. " Let
us kneel here and pray," they said. " The Spirit
is striving with you. That is what is the
matter with you." They knelt. They prayed.
He prayed — he prayed for himself as a hard-
ened and lost sinner. Presently he cried, " God
save my train hands — my baggageman and
brakeman ! " And immediately the light of the
glorious Gospel of the blessed God filled his soul.
He said to his wife and sister-in-law — with a
face so different from before, and radiant — " I'm
all right now." How fully the prayers of his
loved ones were answered on that 29th of
January ! What forces operated together to
accomplish that victory ! A new span in the
bridge of life was to throw its grander arch
over the remaining years.

The news of the Conductor's conversion was
quickly noised abroad. It went throughout the

':!!. ■.,

I ill '

28 T/ie Life and Work of IV. K. Snider

town, it leaped from station to station alon^j;; his
route, it Hew afar over all the Province, " Con-
ductor Snider is converted I " He believed tliat,
when his repentance was sicrnalled to hea\'en
and there was joy in the presence of the angels
of God, his redeemed parents caught up the
chorus in tlieir glad liearts.

The Conductor speedily gave undoubted evi-
dence that, as he used to express it, " he had
come clean Over the fence." Without being
obtrusive, but always simple and natural, he
seized every opportunity to let it be known that
he was on the Lord's side. " No desire of his
heart was stronger than that, without flinging
it in the face of men like the Hare of a detective's
lantern, he should let his light .s'o shine that
men might glorify his lieavenly Father. His
celebrated " Railway " sermon was born of that
desire. It was his prayer from the first that
each day some occasion might present itself for
direct conversation about personal religious ex-
perience, and that he should have grace to make
the best of it — both in giving and receiving.
After several years had passed, he claimed, to
the glory of God, that v.hile there might have
been one or more exceptions — in which case the
fault would be wholly with himself — he was
unable to locate any two consecutive days when

rler.

The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider. 29

ilon<r his
3, "Con-
zed tliat,

hea\'en
e angels

up the

)ted evi-
■ he had
t being
u-al, lie
vvn that
5 of his
flinging

iective's
ne that
His
of that
st that
self for
ous ex-
3 make
eiving.
ned, to
it have
ise the
le was
I when

I
1.

such opportunities of Christian conversation or
personal dealing with men had not opened to
him in the most unforced and natural way.
But the fact is, also, that he spotted a man who
would talk with him about Jesus as (|uickly as
his trained ears caught the meaning of the
engineer's whistles. Whether it was the old
colored man who greeted him in the wash-room
of the hotel, saying, " Shine, sah," but whom he
found so loved the name of Jesus that, unable
to read anything else but that sweet word
J-E-8-U-S, he usiid to trace the lines of the New
Testament until his happy fingers might rest
upon it while his soul rejoiced ; or whether it
was the man of affairs who realized his steward-
ship and gladly told of the goodness of the Lord
in the increase of his property ; or whether it
was the venerable and cultured Christian min-
ister who, out of his treasuries of knowledo-e
and grace, brought forth things both new and
old — the Conductor was ready with a happy
face to sit at his feet as a child.

He began to testify to his own conversion at
the earliest moment in the presence of his com-
rades in the church at Palmerston, and it was
afterwards given to him to declare it before
thousands.

He looked forward to his hrst trip with umch

30 The Life and Work of W. K. Snider.

fear. He anticipated considerable jibinj^ and
ridicule, and he wondered it' he could stand it.
The one answer he used to <iive his pastor when,
at ditterent times, he said to him, " Friend
Snider, I wish you were a Christian," was,
" There is no use talkin*^ — I can't be a Christian
and run a train on the Grand Trunk Railway."
And now he was face to face with his fear. But
he took it to God and committed his way to
Him, and he found that his fears were ground-
less. He quickly learned that God gave His
angels charge over him and tlmt He was " able
to keep." He met with encouragement from
everyone — even the bartender heartily con-
gratulated him on tlie stand he had taken, and
promised that he would not put one temptation
in his way. He found out, too, that " God bless
you, Billy " awaited him from the sincere lips
of men all along the route from Southampton
to Hamilton. Beginning with Engineer Hazle-
w^ood, who only wanted time to wipe the
grease from his hands to take his own in the
strong grasp of Christian congratulation and
fellowship, and to evpress his delight that Jesus
would now be found at both ends of the train,
all along the line, from sectionmen, trainmen,
telegraph operators, station agents, travellers —
all classes took his hand with the grip of help-
fulness.

The Life and Work of \V. K. Snider. 31

and

and it.

when,

^Viend

was,

istian

way."

But

'ay to

ound-

e His

" able

from

con-

ti, and

tation
bless

e lips

iipton

lazle-

i the

n the
and

Tesus

Tain,

men,

Drs —

iielp-

The WTiter, at that time pastor of Zion
Tabernacle in the city of Hamilton, remembers
w^ell that first day's experience of the Conductor
as a Christian on the road. Upon arriving in
Hamilton and securing an early dinner, he
sought out other company than it had been his
habit with whom to pass the time until his
train should turn its nose homeward. Going to
the home of his brother (George H., who sur-
vives him) and telling him, and also his brother
James (since deceased), the story of his conver-
sion, he had him hitch his horse (the Conductor
was not yet strong from his sickness) and drive
him to the home or place of business of every
Christian acquaintance he had in the city. The
preacher-cousin was the first he chose to see
that he might tell what God had done for him
to their mutual joy and strengthening. And
thus he passed about with happiness

"Telling to all the world around
What a dear Saviour he had found."

It is not strange, then, that the Lord com-
mitted to this man of such great gifts a message
— a public message. In one of the sermons in
this volume he tells how it came about, his
struggle and his victory ; and how, when taking
the Word of God on his knees in the Kerby

32 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

House bedroom, at Hnintford, lie pledrred liim-
self to his Master, when he saw His promise,
saying lie would confess Him not only at Port
Elgin but before thousands. And this he was
permitted literally to fulfil. It is quite probable
that there are not half a dozen men in Canada
who have addressed more peo[)le on the theme
of a personally experienced salvation during the
past ten years than the Conductor. Through
many privileges granted him by his superior
officers on the Crand 'J'runk Railway, he was
able to visit nearly every centre of population
from Montreal to Vancouver, and to tell either
in sermon or lecture, the story thjit won his
heart and saved his soul.

What were the secrets of his constant and
increasing popularity and usefulness ?

First: His appearance and manner won him
regard. While there was nothing particularly
striking in his face and physi(jue, nor anything
eccentric or demonstrati^'e in his deportment :
while it might be sim[)ly said that he was of
average height and of dark complexion and
fairly stout, multitudes who have met him on
the train or sized him up as he leisurely stepped
before an audience, will remember that they
looked at him again and again. There was an
openness of countenance, a sympathetic sparkle

The Life and Work of \V. K. Snider.

of the eyes, a warmth and ^jjuiiiality of nature, a
subtle manly quality with him whicli rivottofl
the attention and chained the lieart. His dis-
tinct enunciation, too, with a voice, clear, reson-
ant, tender, sug^^estivi; of fellow-feelin<^ and
conu'adeship, added to the charm.

A further secret in his attractive power was
the native <^ood sense he displayed. He never
seemed to for«^et his limitations, while, at the
same time, he never paraded his consciousness of
them. He knew he was not'in any sense a well-
educated man, but no audience ever heard him
lament it. There were muiy subjects on which
he regretted that he was unable to speak, l)ut
no congregation ever was called upon to sufier
while he made the ])yrotechnic attemj)t. Before
men he was content to till his niche, and he
did it peerlessly ; before God lie repented that
s(|uandered opportunities had narrowed it. How
the Lord honored and blessed his whole-hearted
consecration in his own sphere !

It is idle to speculate as to what might have
been the result if, in his boyhood, he had given
himself to Christ and to study, with his marvel-
lous gifts of memor}^ and language and dramatic
power and ([uick reading of luiman nature. But
it is a matter to be connnended in his character
that he did not assume tlie rule when it was too
late.

84 The Lijc and Work of IV. K. Snider.

He waH many tiim's toinpte«l, and by some liu
was ur^ed, to cntor the evanf^t'listic work — to
give liiniselt' wliolly to it. There are several
reasons wliy lie did not do so, which indicate his
spirit and vindicate his ju<l(;nient. It will be
sufficient to name but two :

First, he felt that he was educationally unfit.
He knew that to relate one's experience, thrilling
as it might be or varied, was a totally different
thing from the attempt to lead and instruct and
inspire a given community, night by night, in
the deep things of God and holiness, and which
he believed, at all events, ought to make such
demands upon the resources of knowledge and
research as would leave him out at sea. He
did not think that to be able to say, " I'm a
Christian," and to have a Bible under his arm
was to ordain him an evangelist.

Secondly. The Conductor was more and more
convinced that God meant that he should prove
himself to be a living contradiction of that lie
with which the devil had snared him for many
years, namely, that " it was impossible for him
to be a Christian and run a train." He felt that
it was his mission to go up and down the
country fulfilling the duties of a trying occupa-
tion, and wdierever the opportunity offered to
declare to the glory of God : " I am a living

IJic IJfc and Work oj \V. K. Snider. W>

witiR'KS. The Lord is able to save and Me is
able to keep." And lie did that tliint^ faithfully.
It was his pro<(raninie always and everywhere
to (rive tliat testimony, whether men heard him
in the reverent stillness and expectation of the
sanctuary at the hour of worship, or whether
tliey should come to get the medicine of healthy
laughter when, on the week-night, in th.e exer-
cih ^ of his splendid talents, he should arouse his
auflionce to the highest pitch of pleasural)le
enjoyment until their sid(is ached. That testi-
mony of his, however, that " God has power on
oarth to forgive sins, and to make men strong
and happy in His service," must be given just
the same. He took to the platform for that
purpose, chiefly. Conductor Snider did not lec-
ture in order that he might tell funny stories —
he told funny stories, he used his inimitable gift
that he might lecture. Men would throng to
witness liis mimicry but when they came to
enjoy that feature they had, also, to submit
to his purpose and hear about salvation. The
story was his fulcrum, his testimony to the
power of the Gospel and to the redeeming love
of Jesus Christ was his lever. But he did not
use what has just now been named as his
fulcrum on the Sabbath. It was only in the
smallest way, if at all, that he ever gave any
3

36 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

evidence in the course of a sermon of his niirth-
provokijig gifts. He had no need. Tlie expec-
tation of the Sabbath and the presence of sinful
and burdened men and women in the house of
God was a sufficient fulcrum for his testimony
and message. His reverence forbade the relation
of a story for the story's sake, and he would be
the last to tempt the fretting steeds of his power
or let them from their stalls, lest that reverence
in others should be destroyed.

How God honored and blessed him and made
him a blessing in his choice to run a train as a
Christian conductor and to testify of Jesus, as
far as possible, across the threshold of every
open door ! And the doors opened everywhere,
while through the kindly treatment of his rail-
way superiors (which after all was only business
wisdom) he was able to say to tens of thousands
in this country, to the glory of God, " I an a
living witness."

" I came to Jesus as I wfis,

Weary, and worn, and sad ;
I found in Him a resting place,
And He has made me glad."

But, besides the unaffected humility of the
Conductor which confined the services he ren-
dered within the definite limits that his native

7 he Life and Work of IV. K. Snider. :37

good sense determined, a further secret of Ins
usefulness lay in the simplicity and cleanliness of
his humor. It has been said that " humor with
! ome men is often much more reverent than the
solemnity of others," and his is a case in point.
It has to be understood that the sense of humor
with him was rather of the appreciative and
mimetic sort tlian creative or conjured. It was
not employed as a weapon. It had no vicious or
vindictive uses. It never " put the laugh " on
another to the injury of his feelings or his name.
It was unadulterated fun. The Conductor's gift,
which at the constant call of his friends he
exercised so freely that it was kept " on tap,"
was simply tlie ability to mirror the well-known
comicalities and whimsicalities of character,
while between these and the vulgarities of
character he made and kept a wide chasm. It
may be said, therefore, that the door of the
room might be open to all the childi-en, and no
woman would ever want to exclude herself from
it, when the Con;aictor was telling any of the
numberless stories of which he appeared to be
as " full as an egg is of meat." No one went
away from his recitals, either pul)lic or private,
with his eyes averted or a bad taste in his moutli.
<^n the other hand, he felt he had been refreshed
and renewed, for trouble, meanwhile, had flown

■B^BW?BB»B!"

38 /"/;,.• Ufc ami Work of IV. K. Snidcf.

!ii

from tlie windows and the rush of business
had met the pause of a splendid exhilaration.

And it was through this gift, exercised as it
was, that he kept in sympathetic touch with,
and held the appreciation of, men from whom,
under other circumstances, his conversion might
have made an utter cleavage. This was one of
the distinct gains of his conversion to the
Church of God, and it is a matter of admira-
tion and gratitude that while the Conductor's
nanie is everywliere associated with a jolly
laugh, there is no sting in the memory of it.
The dignity of none was ever lowered. The
moral sense of none was ever shocked. Men
enjoyed it, and would gladly enjoy it again.

It remains to be added to the (qualities which
have already been named as having contributed
to his popularity and usefulness, that which,
after all, was the supreme secret of Conductor
Sni( lei's power. It was none other than an
unfaltering faith in God and a quenchless and
absolute belief in the Bible and in prayer. His
life was directed by these as emphatically as
his train by the orders of the chief "despatcher."
No telegram put in his hands by the operator
at a station was ever more peremptory for the
control of his train than a promise of God with
its condition from the " blessed Bible " was final
for the stay and comfort of his soul.

TJie Life and Work of IV. K. Snider. 39

Whether it was so or not, it at least appeared
instinctive for him to believe. It seemed to be as
easy for him as for a child. Whether as a (piality
natural or ac(|iiired, whether as a victory hotly
fought for and won, or a possession by the ri^ht
of inheritance and undisputed, he was fre^ from
the taint and damage of scepticism or agnosti-
cism or infidelity concerning things religious
and evangelical. No evil seed of that description
had ever taken root in his nature, or the eradi-
cation of it had been most complete. An ounce
of ex])erience with him was worth more than a
ton of philosophy.

Hence his answers to insinuating objections
were always at hand, like tlie sufficient state-
ment of the man born blind to whom Jesus had
given sight : " Whether he be a sinner or no, I
know not : one thing I know, that, whereas I
was blind, now I see." He would say, " God
ansv/ers prayer, for has He not answer' d my
' lother's prayers f " God's Word is true because
I have found it true." " God takes care of me
■inl opens the way for me, for my experience
over and over again proves it." " I am a living
witness."

His like or dislike of a preacher, as a preacher,
proceeded from this standpoint of belief. He
did not want to listen to theories from the

:i.

40 I he Life and Work of W. K. Snider.

pulpit, or to explanations which needed to be
explained, or to tentative ideas. He wanted to
hear that which was manifestly born of faith,
and which was itself able to give birth to faith ;
from faith to faith, from strength to strength —
that ^vas the sermonic order of merit. It is not
surprising, tli(3refore, to find that he was a great
admirer of I). L. Moody, and that, for the same
reason Ww love for the glowing rhetoric and
dramatic e of T. DeWitt Talma<;e received

no check, w.iile the (juaint and powerful home-
thrusts of Sam P. Jones, under the same vigor
of belief, delighted him. He read and re-read
the sermons of these men, imitatincr their voices
as he had heard them, and, if he had a listener,
adding also their peculiar gestures or man-

nerisms

The freedom he was given to fill so many
engagements to preach and lecture, necessitating
such frecjueiit and, sometimes, prolonged absence
from his train and the duties of his run, the
Conductor attributed wholly to the providence
of (Jod. He was not unmindful of the kindness,
both in word and deed, of those officers of the
railway from whom he obtained such privileges,
but he chose to esteem them as the mere instru-
ments of CJod's providential direction both of
himself and his work. If, through the calls of

' I

TJie Life and Work of IV. K. Snider. 41

the Chiircli, he was asked here and yonder to
preach, he hiid tlie ease before the Lord, ready
to go if the way should open to him, and lie
made his application for relief from his train in
that spirit. He stated his case first to God and
then to the railway company, and left it there.
Very few times, if ever, was he disappointed.

There were two special cases of official kind-
ness that he used to relate, while giving God
the glory. The first was concerning his removal
from Winf^ham to Toronto. He felt for a lonf;
time while residing in Winghari, in 1891, and
running between Wingham and London, that if
he coidd be transferred to a more central and
populous point, such as Toronto, he could answer
a greater number of calls with greater ease and
have a larger field for his evangelistic activities.
He wrote the superintendent of the road to that
effect, and received a prompt and very favorable
reply. But weeks, if not months, passed and no
change came. He knew the slow routine attend-
ing the work of promotion over a great system
like the Grand Trunk Railway, and that what-
ever came could only follow the lines of justice
between himself and his fellow-employees. How-
ever, he thought he saw one or two opportuni-
ties that might have been his pass out of sight.
His faith in the oflicial promise he held appeared

42 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

! : m

to be liaving som \ test applied. One morniiio-
Ijefore takini»: his t^aiu at Wino-haiii lie read the
75th Psalm at I'ainih' worship. When he had
read the sixth and seventh verses he stopped
and said : " That is the Lord's word to me
to-day, an<l whether I am to \n) to Toronto or
not, it is all ri^ht and ii) His hands." And he
read the words a^ain : " For pronu)ti(jn cometh
neither from the East nor rr(jm the West, nor
from the Soutli, hut (Jod is the judoe : He
putt''th down one and setteth up another." He
went to ])is <luties restfully and satisfied, having
the i.s^ur mce that he was in the hands of the
Tiord, and before the day threw its shadows to
the East he had his oHicial orders in his hand to
move to Toronto. It may be observed just hei*e,
that durin<^ the first year of his residence in
Toronto, ' tweeii April iTtli, 1892, and April
J 7th, 189.S, he delivered 127 sermons and
addresses, besides attending to the duties of his
train.

The other case he df^lighted to tell was con-
cerning the extended holiday he was permitted
to take that he might preach and lecture along
the route of the Canadian Pacitic Railway, from
North Bay to N'ancouver, and the " passes " he
received for himself and wife for the whole of
the double journey. He declared that the Lord

I il:

seemed to unlock everytliiiig for him, and to tt'll
him to take what he wanted. No doubt it gave
great joy to him as a mere cog in the great
wheel of a gigantic enterprise to leceive such
recognition from his superiors, but he was not
insensible to the fact, indeed it was his claim,
that it was oidy the secpience of tliat consecra-
tion to the will of the loviriii;; Lord who had
saved him, which he made in the Kerby House,
Brantford, and which enabled him to preach his
first sermon at Port Elgin, and to which he luid
adhered, and it was a direct fulfilment of tiie
pronnse of Scripture : " Them that honor me, I
will honor."

The notes received from the superintendent
and his assistant, bearing on the case, may
prove of interest. The Conductor prized them
highly:

" Montreal, March 13th, IS^o.

" CoNDUCToii Snider,

" Toronto.

"Dear Sir, — Your letter of March 5th, ad-
dressed to Mr. Morice, asking leave of absence
and passes is before me.

" It affords me very great pleasure to send to
Mr. Morice, which 1 have done to-day, a pass for
yourself and wife over the C. P. R. from North

m >■

44 T/ie Life and Work of W. K. Snider.

Bay to Vancouver and return. You will be

provided witli pass, Toronto to North Bay and

return, when you are prepared to leave on your

trip.

" I liope tlie visit will benefit tlie health of

yourself and wife, and that you will return

with renewed vi<;-or to atj^ain take up your work

amongst us.

'* Yours truly,

"J. Stephenson,

"Superintendent"

" Toronto, March loth, 1895.

'Mu. W. K. Snider,

" Passenoer Conductor,

" Union Station, Toronto :

" Dkar Sir, — Re 3^our application for leave of
absence during the months of May and June of
this year.

" I will arrange to relieve you for that period,
and enclose herewith passes for yourself and
]\[rs. Snider, North Bay to Vancouver and re-
turn, over the Canadian Pacific Railway.

" Please remind me, about the middle of April,
and I will get passes for yourself and Mrs. Snider
from Toronto to North Bay and return over our
line.

The Life and Work of W. K. SmWer. 45

" I tru.st the trip will be a pleas.aiit one to both
of you, and sincerely hope that the niiHsion you
are on will be the means of doing good to many.

" Yours very truly,

" I). MORICE,

" Assistant Superintendent T

The names attached to the foreg'oing letters
are sutrgestive of the fact that a change in the
manao-ement of the Grand Trunk Railway has
taken place since their date. New men and, to
a certain extent, new methods, have been intro-
duced for the control of the system. Much
curiosity and some suspicion amongst all the
employees awaited the course of events as they
should appear under the new regime, and, as
a matter of fact, many striking clianges were
soon bulletined.

The Conductor was asked many times if he
was not afraid "something might drop" tliat
would interfere with the liberty he had enjoyed
of tilling so many public engagements. But he
had no fear concerning it, whatever the official
action might prove to be. He felt that he was
in the hands of the Almighty Despatcher, and if
He wanted him to preach He would continue to
open his way, whether on or off the railroad-

4(i The Life and Work' of W. K. Snider.

Cjiud could control the hearts of men in thut
which atlected his welfare or usefulness. It
was soon made known to him, liowever, that
he had the full sympathy of the new mana<^e-
njent, as well as he had the encouragement of
the old, and he was personally informed that he
mi^lit confidently rc'tain and make use of any
of the privile<;es which had been ^ivinted to him
in th(! past while in the pursuit of the good
WM)rk in which he was eni£a<»;ed, and on account
of which he was in so i»reat demand. Thus we
see this man, who committecl his way unto the
Lord and wdio ti'usted also in Him, kept in place
and })rivilege until the close.

And fi'om every human standpoint of observa-
tion the close came all too (juickly. At the age
of forty-six, in the flower of his years, while
runninii' one of the best trains on the Grand
Trunk tracks (an express between Windsor and
Niagara Falls), and popular among all classes,
and abundantly iseful in the church, and mani-
festly winning men for Christ at almost every
service at wdiich he preached, telling the old, old
stoiy, and while planning more extensive things
in the way of Christian endeavor, his earthly
career w^as ended.

The first serious indication of disease was seen
in August, 1897, wlien, becoming ill, he left liis

The Life and Work of W. K. Snidn: 47

train at Haiiiiltoii junl was laid up in tlio lionie
of his In'otlier for several days. He recovi'red
from the attack, which was thou«;ht to liave
proceeded from temporary causes, and resumed
his (hities. During the month of NovemV)er,
while attemptint; to till an en^ragement to preach
an<l lecture at the anniversary services of the
f^eachville Methodist Church, he was stricken
again, and was obliged to cut short his evening's
discourse. It was the last time he ever preached.
His text in the morninii- was that favorite one
of his when not giving what had become cele-
l)rated as his " conversion " or "railway" ser-
mons, "Clirist is all and in all." (Col. iii. 11.)
He was endeavoring to impart the lessons of
his railroad knowledge and experience at night
when he was forced to desist by the tierce
thrust of disease. The text for the evening
was, " Let your light so shine before men that
they may see your good works and glorify your
Father which is in heaven." (Matt. v. l(j.) He
rallied somewhat, and w^ith the best medical
treatment he expected to be able to till his
appointment to lecture on the Monday evvting,
He did not give up hope until the hour had
arrived. When told that the church was
crowded and that people had come five and
six miles to hear him give his famous lecture,

4.S The Life and Work of \V. A'. Snider.

"Life on tlio Kail," he broke down and wept at
the enforced disappointment to himself and his
audience.

He was conveyed to his honu; in \Vi»^dsor,
after a day or two, and it appeared foi aie
time that his constituti(jn was rapidly breakin*^
down. Several careful examinations by skilful
|)hysicians failed to discover any organic diffi-
culty, and they expressed the opinion that lie
had been overtaxing his strength for a long time
by the double work of preaching and railroading,
but that complete rest would doubtless restore
him. And so it appeared. During Decend)er
and January he gained flesh and strength a^"dn,
his appetite came back, and he looked int e
future with increasing hope.

He paid a few visits to chosen friends during
his convalescence, at which time he was in Gait,
and attended for two niglits the Crossley-
Hunter meetings, then in progress. He was
delighted to be with them, as he had known and
loved them from before the time of his conver-
sion, and rejoiced in their work wherever they
might be. It was in one of their meetings that
he made his last public testimony for Christ,
and presented to his fellows the strong claims of
his loving Saviour to the loyalty and service of
men.

Against the persuasion of some, who feared

Ihc Life and Work of IT. A'. Snider. 4!)

liu was not yet sutficieiitly .strong;, he n'turiicd
to hi.s (lutioH on tlio train. Hu felt that he was
out of tlie wootls, and on the highway to coni-
])l('te recovery. Hut the " pale horse and his
rider" were pursuiiif^ him. He did not remain
jonir on the road, liecause of a sudden stress of
suHeriri};" he had repeatedly to put his train in
other hands for portions, or, perhaps, the whole
trip. Finally, he was confined to his home.
His troubl(! seemed most obscure, and hattted the
doctors. . It soon l)ecame appaient that he was
losino- trround, but no real alarm w^as felt by his
wife and friends until death was alrea<ly at the
door.

The Conductor seems to have had some notion
that he mij^ht not recover, but, if such was the
case, he only indicated it in such ways as fiml
their interpretation wdien they are looked back
upon. He was solicitous concernin<i^ his insur-
ance premiums, and the like. One day he
in(|uired of his pastor with a pathetic eagerness,
" Do you think I will ever be able to make
people laugh again '. "

But the ghastly aggressor blew his poisonous
breath against his cheek to wither it, and
stretched out his cruel paw towards his heart to
clutch it. In the delirium of his mortal struggle
he talked of the things with which his days had

50 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider,

l)een full — trains, and time-cards, and orders ;
preachin^y, and entertaining vast audiences, and
expressing his confidence in God. Addressing
his wife, lie said, " I have to go to preach.
What will I tell them ? There is nothincj like
' the old, old story,' is there ? I'll tell them
' the old, old story.' It saved me, you know."
Again: "What does Paul say about it? " "Well,
my dear," said his fondly loved wife, " Paul says
a good many precious things. What do you
mean ? Do you mean, ' 1 have fought, a good
fight ] ' " " Yes," said the dying man, " that's
it, that's it, ' I have fought a good fight, I have
finished my course, I have kept the faith.' "
" Wliat is that about a crown ? A crown of
righteousness ? The Lord will crown me — and,
perhaps, He will let me crown 3'ou," speaking to
his only daughter, who was at his side. " I'll
do it now," and with an efibrt he placed an
improvised wreath on her brow. And in a short
time, peacefully, on Tuesday evening, April oth,
1808, he fell on sleep. His genial eyes were
shut. His warm hand-grasp was pulseless.
His true heart was still. Those he loved about
his bed, and the multitude throughout Canada,
who loved him, had forced upon their lips the
sad farewell.

But in the hope of a glorious resurrection — we

I !

The Life and Work of W. K. Snider. ol

siy it with the promise of reunion from our
risen Lord kissing the troubled brow and the
comfortino- hand of God wiping the tears from
our eyes. We believe that the heavenly Father
has given him grander duties upon a more
exalted scale in a higher sphere.

" The hour of birth is ^\ hen the saint expires,"
and the life of the good man, whose steps were
ordered by the Lord so clearly here does not
now want for the divine direction. The fare-
well we utter is therefore tuned to these beauti-
fully suggestive and victorious lines :

" I watch a group of children, tired with play,
Returning to their homes a.s evening falls,
And as they drop off singly by the way,
Each waves her little hand and gaily calls,
' Until to-morrow.'

" And so when we, amid life's gathering gloom.
Pause on the threshold of our father's home,

Why should we sorr(>w I
Shall we not meet again in endless day,
Where shadows and where sighing flee away.

To-morrow T'

It was made clear by the autopsy that the
fight for health had been carried on in merciful
ignorance of an incurable disease. A foreign
growth, so obscurely located, and aft'ecting the
organs in such a way as to elude the most

52 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

-f ,

expert examination, had done its work. This
knowledge gave to both physicians and friends
the sadly satisfactory assurance that they had
done their best.

The startling intelligence of the Conductor's
death was (juickly made known by the news-
papers of the Province and beyond, when, in the
most kindly terms they voiced i ; universal
shock and sorrow that was felt, and also gave
interesting sketches of his remarkable career
and valuable estimates of liis character and
work. Beautiful floral tributes were placed
upon the bier by many loving banc s, while the
massive archway of flowers with "|,ates ajar,"
which gave expression to the respect of the
Order of Railway Conductors, bore the tender
and pathetic inscription, " Our brother's last
*ip.

After an appropriate and touching service at
Windsor, in which many ministers of various
denominations took ])art, the body of the la-
mented Conductor was reverently borne to the
Grand Trunk station — his fellow-conductors
acting as pall-bearers — and was taken to Fergus
to al)ide for awhile in the parental home of his
bereaved wife. Here the last sad rites were
observed, when, at noon on Good Friday, April
8, 1898, an impressive Inirial service, in which

The Lije and Woyk of IV. K. Snider. b:\

the society of Foresters took part, was conducted
by the Rev. T. W. Jackson of the Methodist
Church, assisted by a number of representative
ministers, after which the mortal remains of tlie
dearly loved and greatly honored evangelist-
conductor, borae by the affectionate hands of
his cousins, were committed to their last restinji
place in the Belsyde Cemetery at Fergus, being
buried in the undimmed hope of a full and
glorious resurrection.

" Nor ever shall he be in prai.se,

By wise or good, forKaken,
Named softly as the household name

Of one whom God hath taken ;
With quiet sadness and no gloom

We now shall think \\\nn\ him,
With meekness, that is gratefulness

To God, whose heaven hath wim him."

TRIBUTES.

The following selections have been made
from the numerous resolutions and tributes that
have been offered expressini; the great respect
and love with which the memory of Conductor
Snider is cherished.

They have been chosen because of their re-
presentative character, and as indicative of the
many-sided influence of his life.

jNIETHODTST CTIURCH at WAllDSVTLLE.

The first is an extract 'om a resolution of
pathetic interest. It was unanimously passed
by the conoregation of the Methodist Church
AT Wardsville, in the hushed solemnity that
came upon them during the evening service of
Easter Sunday as the death of the Conductor
was referred to, and the memories of the people
recalled the fact that the last full day of service
he was permitted to give had been for them, and
with results so marked and blessed. Though

Tributes.

lie atteinpteu to preach one otlier Sunday, his
service was interrujjted by the sharp stroke of
(hsease.

The resokition takes the form of a letter of
condolence to the bereaved wife, and signed by
the pastor. Rev A. I. Snyder. Tt reads, in part,
as follows :

" You are aware he has visited our town
twice. V/e shall never forget the beautiful
Gospel sermons he preached and the thrilling
testimonies he gave to the power and love of
Jesus Christ. At the close of one of his sermons
twenty- one persons arose for prayer.

" We learned to look upon him as a man sent
from God. While here he preached Christ as a
mighty Saviour."

TORONTO CHRISTIAN POLICE
A8SOCIATION.

The following, taken from a resolution passed
by the Tcjronto Christian Police Associa-
tion, and signed by W^innifred J Macdonald,
the Hon. Secretary, is of uni([ue interest :

" The memories of Mr. Snider's visits to the
meetings of the Christian Police Association are
very helpful ones, and his inspiring messages to
us are not forgotten. He certainly obeyed our

fir

56 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

Lord's injunction, ' Be not of a sad countenance,'
and the shining^ of his face testified to the glad-
ness of liis wliole-liearted service for Christ."

MR. W. R. TTFFTN.

SKperinfendent of tlw NortJierti Dicinion of t}ie Gratul

Trunk Raihraij.

" I hear<l of the sudden and, to me, unexpected
death of Conductor Snider with deep regret.
It was only a short time before I met him at
Hamilton station, when he informed me he felt
very much improved in health and expected to
be quite able to continue his duties.

" The subject of these remarks first came
under my notice on the W. G. & B. Division,
when employed by the Train News Company, a
sharp business lad, polite, full of humor, and a
general lavorite. He subse()[uently entered the
train service on the Division under my super-
vision in the early seventies. From the start
he displayed ability and aptitude, and by appli-
cation and conscientious discharge of his duties
worked his way to a conductorship, the duties
of which position he discharged in a most satis-
factory manner up to the time I relinquished
charge of the Division in 1892."

■ 'I

ier.

Tributes.

ienance,'
^ist."

^pected
regret,
liim at
he felt
ted to

Ccame
vision,
any, a
and a
3cl tlie
Juper-

start
ippli-
luties
luties
mtis-

IlEV. JOHN POTTS,

General Secretin']/ of Edxcation.

"The lamented death of Conductor Snider
recalls to mind the event and circumstances of
his remarkable conversion and his prompt and
influential evan<^elistic work. Few, if any, con-
versions in Ontario attracted as nuich attention
and were followed by such earnest and success-
ful efforts in leadino- sinners to Christ. Very
soon after his acceptance of Jesus he was wel-
comed into the pulpits of various churches as a
trophy of the Gospel and as a witness for Christ.
Conductor Snider was an interesting character
apart from grace, but when he was transformed,
enriched and beautified by the regenerating
power of the Holy Ghost he became a Christ-
like man. Soon after his entrance upon the new
life I had the pleasure of forming his acc^uaint-
ance, and saw that he was a man of more than
ordinary gifts for public speaking, and ha<l a
charm of persuasive power which, with personal
consecration, would place him in a prominent
position for usefulness. His great popularity
did not spoil him ; he remained to the end of
his brief but blessed Christian career a disciple
like unto the one who leaned on the Master's

.58 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

bosom. C(jn<luctor Snider turned to good ac-
count liis familiarity witli railway life, making
nearly all its features illustrative of the perils
of sin or the safety of the Gospel. His great
influence with men of the railway, from the
brakeman to the general manawr, was the
finest testimony that could be borne to the
genuineness of his Christian character."

CJIOSSLEY AND HUNTER,

Ei'atujeliiits.

" Our familiar friend, Omductor Snider, has
been promoted to the better land after a faithful
run of twelve years on the heavenly railroad.
We first met him at the Moorefield camp-meeting
and urged him to become a Christian. A few^
months later we were rejoiced to hear that he
had responded to the Saviour's call. It has
been our privilege to be intimately associated
wdth Bro. Snider for years. He has often been
a guest in our home. He preached twice in our
meetings in Creat St. James', Montreal, and
again in the Metropolitan, Toronto, with blessed
results. Just a few weeks before he went to
heaven he and his devoted wife visited us in
Gait, and in one of our meetings gave his last
public testimony to the power of Christ to save,

lit

Tributes.

sustain and use for His glory a consecrated
railroad man. We loved liini dearly and his
memory shall ever be fragrant.

" May God bless our railroad nien, and may
many more of them imbibe Conductor Snider's
spirit, practise his virtues, honor his Christ,
and receive a royal welcome at the great Union
Depot ot heaven."

MR. JOHN M0RRT80N,

Chief Condiittor, O.KC. Toronto Divisuni No. 17.

Mr. Morrison, the worthy and respected Chief
Conductor of Division No. 17 Order of Rail-
way Conductors, who knew the late Mr. Snider
well, says of him : " In 1864 he came on the
road as a newsbo}^ and continued as such
for five or six years. He was very (juick at
repartee, and always full of fun and humor,
Many and many a time have I known him to
keep the passengers in roars of laughter at his
jokes and comicalities. In fact, ' Billy Snider,'
as he was popularly called, was known as the
' funny newsboy ' all over the line. Afterwards
he was engaged as brakeman, and was at all
times the life and soul .of the crew he ran with.
But while always merry and light-hearted, he
never failed in being prompt and punctual in

GO The Life and Work of IV. A'. Snitier.

tlio discharf^e of his duties. In KS7(i lie was
appointed conductor, vvlncli position he lield
with entire acceptability up to the time of his
death ; and in that responsible post, too, his
manly, genial nature, no less than his pleasant,
humorous ways, won for him the re<;ard and
friendship of the trainmen and of all who knew
him.

" Expression was given to tlu? feeling of
respect and friendship in which he was held
by his brother conductors in a very eulogistic
resolution passed hy the members of Toronto
])i vision No. 17 at the time of his death.

"After becoming a Christian, Conductor Snider
may be said to have sobered down somewhat,
but his natural gaiety of spirits never left hiin,
although strictly adhering to the religious path
he had chosen."

REV. W. F. WILSON,

Pndor Wesley MHhod id Church, Hamilton.

'' It seems but yesterday since I met my dear
friend, W. K. Snider, wliose cheerful manner,
genial companionship and inspiring words I
always greatly enjoyed. I can scarcely realize
that we shall see his face no more, until that
morn when the ransomed of Christ shall gather

l^ributes.

to be forever with tlieir Lord. My acfiuaintanee
with Bro. Snider extended over a nmnher ol*
years, tliree ol' which I was his pastor, in the
McCaiil Street Methodist (Miurch, Toronto. I
always looked upon him as a true friend and
wise counsellor. He was conscientious .'\nd
painstaking in his work, extremely o;enerous
and fraternal in his intercourse with his breth-
ren, liberal in his support of Genu's cause, both
with his money and his talents. His experience
meant everything to himself ; he knew what
the condemnation of sin was, and greatly
rejoiced in the light and liberty of the Gospel of
Christ. He loved to tell above everything else
tli^ story of redeeming love. By word and deed
he kindly reproved the sinful, and exliorted the
Christian to a closer walk with God. But his
work is done, his course is finished, and I have
no doubt he has joined the ranks of the blood-
redeemed, w^aiting for the glad reunion with
wife and daughter, in the glorious realm wdiere
the sorrow^s and farewells of this world are
unknow^n."

(52 The I. iff ami Work of W. K. Sni.icr.

,J,

V:':

REV. A. C. CRKWS,

(Uuuiid Stcidanj of Kfurorth Lt'iujuefi und Sunihuj

^Sv hot tin.

"I liappeiiLHl to be aboard Conductor Snider's
train on wliat was ahnost lii.s last run. Alter
lie had collected the tickets he came and sat
down with nie, and we had a very plearumt chat.
He was full of plans for the future, and the idea
of dyint^ seemed to be remote from his thouj^ht.
In my relations wdth Conductor Snider I have
often been impresse<l with the intense delight
which he manifested in Christian work. He
was a genuine vaihoad man, and loved the road;
but he loved preaching and lecturing nuich
more. In his public ministrations he was
decidedly evangelistic, and aimed at bringing
men to the Saviour. Even in his lectures, w^hich
were marvellously entertaining, he scarcely ever
closed without in some way appealing to his
fellowmen to give themselves to the higher and
better life. His Sunday evening sermons were
almost always follow^ed by an after service, in
which he invariably exhorted sinners to eon '" to
God. In many cases hardened m i vho had
gone through revival after reviva .lout bein
touched, were moved to yield > inse' . es to
Christ. Conductor Snider was one wh< turned
' many to righteousness.' "

Tributes.

6:J

INDKPKNDKNT OllDKR OF F()Uh:STKKS.

TIio following;" excerpt is from a most eulotj^is-
tic and lu'otherly resolution from Court Brock,
Toronto, I.OF.:

"Our late brother, Contluctor Snider, was one

of those men who, havin<^ ])ut his liand to the

plow, did not turn aside, and the t^ood which he

has wrou<^ht will not pass from our midst with

nm.

WOMEN'S CHRISTTAN TKMPEllANCE

UNION.

The W. C. T. U. of the town of Ferj^us f^ave
expression to their great esteem for the late
Conductor, in a glowing resoluti(m in which
these vigorous sentences are found :

" Conductor Snider was one of our lionorary
members. His heart also was in the temper-
ance work, and his life and influence made him
a tower of strength on the side of ])rohibition.
We mourn his loss greatly. As a soldier of the
Cross, he was mighty in battle. His field w^as
large, his talents exceptional, and his voice
reached thousands and thousands of his fellow-
men. He has slain scores and hundreds of
sinners by the sword of the Spirit, and has seen
them rise again to walk with Christ his Captain
in newness of life."

ISi.'. I .

64 11 ic Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

« 'i

■J'

MR. E. H. FITZHUGH,

Superintendent (rr<md Trunk RnHn^ay Sustrm.

" The late Willifun Snider entered the service
of the Grand Trunk Railway System in the
capacity of brakeman at Pahnerston, Ont. Soon
afterward ( January ^ 1875) .showing an aptitude
for liis chosen vocation, he was promoted to
the position of conductor, subsequently serving
as such on the London, Huron and Bruce
branch, and on the main line between Toronto
and Stratford. Having further gained the
confidence and approbation of the officers, a
short time ago he was placed in charge of one
of the principal trains out of J3etroit, which
position he held at the time the fatal illness
was contracted, which resulted m his untimely
death.

" Mr. Snider was widely known as the ' Evan-
gelist Conductor,' and for his philanthropic
efforts to improve the morai and religious
status of railroad men in general. His many
addresses were, without Cioubt, both advanta-
geous and profitable to all who hea)'d them.

" By his death his fellow-workmen have lost a
sincere and sympathetic frien<l, and the manage-
ment an upright and loyal employee."

*'THE BLESSED INVITATION."

" Coine unto mo, all ye that labor an<l are heavy laden,
;ind I will i^ive you rest."— Matt. xi. 28.

Now, the world may not know \vliat it is that
it is after, but if you could probe into the hearts
of men, deep down, you would find that in the
heart of every man there is a want, and that
want is " rest.''

As you look into the faces of the multitude
who throng the streets of our largo cities, you
see them rushing to and fro, and if you w^ere
only permitted to stop them and ask them what
they were in search of, the answer would be
" rest." There is a man after pleasure, but it is
not in pleasure that he will find rest. There is
another man in business. He says, " I will work
hard, I will save monev, and I will be able to
buy the things of the world, and I will procure
rest." It is like the man spoken of in the
blessed Bible, who had great possessions, and he

i-'

':\'

• i

()G T/ic Life ami Work of IV. K. Snider.

said, "I will tear down my barns and Vniild
greater, and I will say to my sonl, Soul, thou hast
much goods laid Uj) for many years, therefore
eat, drink, and be merry." Now, I want to tell
you this afternoon that this rest which our
blessed Saviour speaks of is not got in pleasure,
it is not got in riches — not that riches are not
right enough in their place (I often wish I had a
great deal more than I have), but I tell you I
want to get this rest that Jesus Christ speaks
of ; and if I want to find the man who knows the
most about it, I will not go to the millionaire : he
has his sorrows and troubles. Why, it is only a
short time ago since a millionaire in the city of
Chicago took a revolver and blew his brains out.
Now, he did not have that rest of which our
blessed Saviour speaks. Nor will I go to the
man of high position.

There is only one place in this world that we
can get it, and that is at the foot of the cross.
Listen to wliat the l)lessed Saviour says. I want
you to lose sight of me this afternoon, and hear
the blessed words as they fall from His gentle
lips: "Come unto me, all ye that labor and arc
heavy laden, an<l I will give you rcvst."

You see, it is a gift, it is an unspeakable gift.
It is worth more to us than riches, it is worth
more to us than pleasure. Now, then; is no rest

" The Blessed Invitation^

in sin. Men wlio luive crossed the Atlantic tell
US that it appears to be perfectly still, that it
appears to be at rest, but they say if you look
away down into the deep blue waters, you can
see the waves coming in and goin;^ out. The sea
is never at rest, and (iod compares the wicked
to the troubled sea. Now, I would like to give
you my idea of the man who has the perfect
rest that Christ speaks of. He is the man who,
when he rises in the morning, goes down on his
knees and commends himself to the Lord Jesus
iMu'ist. He asks Him to i^rant that his walk
nntl conversation may b^^ acceptable to Him, that
lie may be enabled to let his light shine that
others shall see his good works and glorify his
Father in heaven.

He asks the Lord to grant that he shall be
enabled to speak a word for Him to-day, that he
shall be enabled to point some poor sinner to the
Lamb of God which taketh away the sins of the
world. He tells the Lord that he is weak, but he
knows that his Saviour is stronj^, and he puts his
trust in the Lord Jesus Christ to keep him. He
commits his way unto the Lord, and goes out from
his home with that prayer on his lips, and the
Lord Jesus Christ watches over him. He gives
Itim grace to overcome temptation, and when he
goes home at night, though perhaps he may have

G8 The Life and Work of W. K. Snider.

been working for ninety cents or a dollar a day,
and his poor body is weary and tired, still he
goes to the blessed Saviour and thanks Him for
keeping him to-day. He says : " O Lord, I
know that if I have done anything contrary to
thy will to-day, if I am willing to confess my
sins thou art willing and able to forgive ;" and
he asks forgiveness for all the sins that he may
have committed during the day, and he says :
" Lord Jesus, I am tired and weary. I am going
to lay down ihis weary body to rest. I am
going to lay it in your arms, and if I do not
wake up here I will wake up in heaven." That
is " rest." You cannot buy that with money.
There is no money in this world that will buy
the peace of soul that Jesus Christ gives to them
that trust Him. He says, " My peace I give unto
you : not as the world giveth, give I unto you " —
but the peace of conscience, peace of soul, the feel-
ing that all is well, that he is safe in the arms of
Jesus no matter what may happen during the
night. Sudden death, sudden glory.

I think I hear someone saying, " Oh, my ! I
would like to have that peace of conscience that
you speak of, but how am I to get it ?" Listen.
This Bible says, " Let the wicked forsake his
way and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and
let him return unto the Lord, and he will have

" llic Blessed Invitation!'

mercy upon him, and to our God for Me will
jibundantly pardon." Just as soon as we are
willinii' to forsake our sins and turn to the Lord
He will have mercy. VVlien I think how I have
rejected the Holy Spirit of God, when I think
of how many times I have sinned against God,
when I look back over my past life, it appears
to me impossible for the Lord Jesus to foi'give
my sins. But listen, my l)rother, I have got
another precious promise from the Lord Jesus
Christ. What does He say? " Him that cometh
unto me I will in no wise cast out." I thank
God from the bottom of my heart that I ever
saw that blessed verse. If I had never seen
that v^erse I would not be standing here in this
sacred desk, trying to deliver this blessed
message to you, but I thank God from the
bottom of my heart that I was ever pointed to
that blessed verse.

I will never forget, the longest day I live, the
agony that I w\as in when coming to Jesus
Christ — all day long, all night long pleading that
(lod would have mercy upon my soul. But it
was all dark ; there was no light. I wanted
some great light to break in on my soul, and I
wanted that peace that the world could not
<;ive, but I was pointed to that blessed verse by
my precious wife : " Him that cometh unto me
I will in no wise cast out."

70 The Life and Work of \V. K. Sniiicr,

She said to me, " You liave come to Jesus,
you have asked Him to forgive your sins, you
liave been pleading with Him these long hours to
have mei'cy upon your soul, you have confessed
your sins. Cannot you ))elieve His precious
word, where He savs, ' Him that cometh unto
me I will in no wise cast out ' ? By and by I
V)egan to take tliat precious promise, and then I
began to pray for my baggageman and my
brakeman. Why, I said, "I am all right." I
coukl not [)ray for anyb<jdy else but myself, and
now I have turned around and am trying to
lead someone else to Christ, and from that day
to this I have never had a doubt of my accept-
ance with the Lord Jesus Christ.

But I think I hear someone saying, " Oh, my !
you never were as great a sinner as I liave been ;
you never rejected God as long and as many
years as I have done." My ])rother, I want to
tell you that it was that which made Him leave
the glory of heaven and come to this world.
What for { To seek and to save that which
was lost ; and just as soon as the sinner feels
deep down in his soul that he is a lost sinner,
that there is no power on earth can save him
but Jesus Christ, then he will receive this
blessed rest of which Christ speaks.

But I want you to understand this afternoon

" TJie Blessed linntatioii!'

there is sonietliin*:;' more than simply believing"
oil Jesus Christ Paul says, " With the heart
man believeth unto righteousness, and with the
mouth confession is made unto salvation."
There are just two steps to salvation, and a
great many people take the first step but they
never take the second. We are told that if we
believe on the Lord Jesus Christ we shall not be
ashamed to confess it to the world.

" Ashamed of Jesus ! can it be
A mortal man ashamed of thee I "

Oh, my ! when I think how many there
are who are ashamed to C(.)nt'ess Christ ! Jesus
says, " Blessed is the man who will confess me
before men, him will I confess before the ang-els
ill heaven." I thank God to-day that I ever
saw that verse. If I had never seen it I would
not be here to-day ; 1 would not be standing
here to-day confessing the Lord Jesus Christ to
you. After I had been converted six months I
got orders to leave Palmerston and move to
Southampton, and I will never forget how badly
I felt when I got that order to leave Palmerston.

I thought, " How kind this people have been
to me ; they have been trying to help me
along on the good way, and they are doing all
ill their power to liel[) me in this grand life;"

72 The Life mid Work of \V. A'. Smder.

lilii

S'i .

an<l when I f^ot the orders to leave, I felt that
I had to leave the people where they had been
so kind to me. When I was pissintr thron<^h
the city of Guelph, I met ])r. Gritfin, President
of the Conference. He was at tlie depot that
mornint^, and he asked me how I was gettino-
along. I said, " Well, I am not feeling very well
this morning ; I have got to leave Palmerston."
" Well," ho said, " God's hand is in that." Just
the tirst words he said, " God's hand is in that."
I said, " How is that ? " He replied, *' God is
going to use you." " Why," said he, " God has
given you a talent, and He is going to use it."
He asked me if we had plenty of ]Dreachers at
Palmerston, and I said we had plenty of preach-
ers there. " You liave got men to lead the
class-meetings '{ " " Yes." " You have got men
to lead the prayer-meetings ? " " Yes." " Yon
have got men to conduct all these meetings, and
there is no work for you there." Well, I made
up my mind I would confess Christ to the
world. " When you get up to Southampton,"
said Dr. Griffin, " you will find there is some-
thing for you to do there, and they will at once
put you to work." When I went up there, the
people met me and said they were so glad to
have me there, for I was just the man they
wanted. I was announced to lead a prayer-

■

" The Blessed Invifatiour

meeting at Port Elgin. " Why," I said, " I never
led a prayer-meeting in my life. I have no
oltjection to a prayer-meeting up here in our
own little church, but I can't go down there and
stand up before that people. It seems im-
possible. You will liave to get somebody
else." Do you know, the Lord would not let
me sleep that night I I got out of my bed and
dropped on my knees, and said, " Lord,
if it is thy will for me to go to Port Elgin and
preach, give me a sermon, and I will go down
and deliver it." As I " run " on my train the
Holy Spirit gave me thoughts, and I put them
down ; and do you know by the next Thursday
I had a sermon that would take forty minutes
to deliver. I was in the city of Brantford on
Saturda3^ The devil came to me and said :
" You are going to Port Elgin to preach ; that
is a cheeky thing for you to do. What will the
people think of you, an3'way ? And then you
are going into the pulpit ! You are not a min-
ister; you are not ordained. You have not
been at college, and you are going to preach ;
and the last time you were at Port Elgin you
took a part in a play called ' The Charcoal
Burners.' "

Well, I got in such a state I did not know
what to do ; but I took comfort in the blessed

74 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snn/er.

I <i

Saviour. I took my Bible, and on \\\y knees 1
held it, and I said, " O Lord Jesus Christ, if it is
thy will for nie to go to Port Elgin to preach,
show nie something in this blessed Bible, in
order that 1 may use it for the honor and
glory of God. I want to give myself into thy
hands ; I desire to know if it is right." Then I
opened the blessed Bible, and the first words
that caught my eyes were, " Blessed is the
man who will confess me before men ; him
will I confess before the angels in heaven."
And right there, at five o'clock in the morning,
I said, " Lord Jesus, I will confess thee ; " and
I thank God I got up feeling that it was well,

I have been in over two hundred churches
preaching, having been in every town and city
in western Ontario, proclaiming Jesus Christ
and Him crucified. I thank God to-day from
the bottom of my heart that I ever saw that
blessed verse, " Blessed is the man who will
confess me before men." And I think of how
many there are who will refuse to take up their
cross and follow^ Jesus.

Your crosses are all different. Your cross
may be to confess Christ to your family.
Another man's cross may be to confess Him
among his fellow-workmen. Another man's
may be to confess Jesus Christ in the Church

" The Blessed Invi/ation!'

of God. Oil, may Goil liolp us to take \\\) our
cross to-day, and say, " (iod boiii<;' my lielper, I
will confess Christ wherever I j^o." There are
two steps to salvation, " With the heai't man
helieveth unto rii^hteousness, and with the
mouth confession is made unt(J salvation," and
just as soon as we are willing to take up our
cross and follow the Saviour, He i- willin<^ to
save us.

He comes to us with another precious promise
and He says, "I will make you tishers of men."
When I think of that God I have been rel)ellin^
a.vainst all these long years, when I think how
1 did everything that was contrary to His will,
yet as soon as I was willing to forsake my sins
and turn unto the Lord Jesus Christ and was
willing to confess Him bjfore the wm-ld — then
He said, " I will make you a tisher of men." I
sometimes think that God let me go right down
to the very verge of hell, then He set my feet
upon the rock Christ Jesus, and now He says to
me, " Go down and bring them up." May God
help me to lead some precious soul out of dark-
ness into His marvellous light. Oh, my brother,
my sister, if you want to shine as the stars of
heaven, try to win one precious soul for Jesus
Christ.

Everything that we do for Jesus in this world

r d

7(] 77ie Life and Work of W. A*. Snider.

'! iii

.i ■•«

. ;' !

' ''il' '

: :H^

will !)(> I'or uternity. Look .'it tluit poor woiiian
witl) ht3r box ol' ointmont. She was jjoor, itiii
she leaves the record hehind her that will staiii!
as lon^' as the (liureh of (jiod stands on eartii.
To-day we read of it just as if it only happened
yesterday. Why { l>ecaus(! she was doin;^
somethino; for Jesus Christ. There are men
tryin*,^ to <;"et titles to their nanjos. I want
God's title to my name : " W. 1)."—" Well done,
good and faithful servant, enter into the joy of
the Lord."

There is another promise that is precious to
my soul, and that is, " I will raise them up at
the last day." Last February I stood in the old
churcli in Ouelph, the town where I spent my
boyhood, and where my father and mother are
now at rest. When I stepped into that pulpit
and looked down in the faces of tliose dear old
heads that used to sit in class-meetin<i: with m\-
precious mother and father, how I thought (jf
them 1 And after I came down from the pulpit
tliat Sunday morning, some of them came to me
and said, " God bless you ! We were thinking
of your mother to day. Oftentimes we haxc
heard her praj" for her boy wlio was on the
railroad train, ]>ut little did she think that in
twenty years after you would be standing here
in the sacred desk pointing sinners to the Lamh

" The Blessed Invitntiony

ol' Cjiod that takcth away tijo .sins of tlw world."
Tluy said to me, " Vour parents know it in
heaven." Jesus Chri.st says, " Tljere is Joy in
the pre.sence of tlie anj^id.s over (jne sinnei- that
it'penteth." On Monchiy niornino- the Kev.
.Mr. T. and I went out to the cemetery where
my t'atlier and niotlier are buried, and as I sat
hy the j^'rave my li<;art filled full and I said,
" Vou did not live to see your prayers answered;
you did ncjt live to see nie ])rouoht to Jesus
Christ." Then I took that promi.se of Je.sus
Chri.st where He says, "I will rai.se tliem u]) at
the last day," and I said there is no power on
earth can take that promise from me. It is in
I lis own precious Word He .says " I will rai.se
them up at the last day," and I will l)ehold them
ai^ain before His throne in <;l()ry. Oh, my
brother and sister, if you are hen; to-day and
you have loved ones now in glory, God help
y(ju to take the ble.ssed promi.ses of Jesus Christ
and bind them to your heart. There is no
])ower here can take that from you — " I will
behold them again," because Jesus Christ says
iiimself, " I will rai.se them up at the last day."
Then there is another precious promi.se. Jesus
Christ has left this blessed Book full of prom-
ises. He says, "I will not leave you comfortles.s."
Oh, what a ble.s.sed promise that is I If there is

78 The Life and Work of \\\ K. Snider.

anything in this world that we should prizu
more than another it is this, to have a friend
that will not leave us comfortless. Oh, h<j\v
oft'jn you have been m sorrow, how often you
have been in trouble, and you would give all 3^011
possessed if you had one friend that you could
tell all your troubles to and know that they
would help you, and that they would sympatlii/c
with you ! I want to tell you to-day of a
friend —Jesus Christ is the sinner's friend. He
says, " I will never leave you nor forsake you '
— those that put their trust in me. Oh, may God
help us to take this Friend as our friend to-day.
He loves you and He loves me, and He wants
us to confide all our sorrows and all our troubles
to Him who cares for us.

Then Jesus Christ conies to us in anothn* pro
mise, and He says : " I will that they also may ))e
lujld my glory." That is the will of Jesus Christ
concerning ever}' person here to-day. It is His
will that you shall behold Him in all His glory,
the glory that He had with the Father befon
the worhl was made. We have only seen Him
as a Man of sorrows and ac(juainted with grief:
we have only seen Him as He wandered up and
down this wt)rl<l with nowhere to lay His h.'ad.
He was rich, but for oui* sakes He became poor.
We have seen tiie blessed Savionr in the Garden

•1-.'

" The Blessed Ini'ltation."

of Gethseiiiano, and we have lieard Him pray,
' Father, it' it be possible let this cup pass from
me, but not my will but thy will be done." We
have seen Him draoiied before Pilate's juduf-
incut bar, and we have seen Him spit upon and
crowned with thorns; we have seen Him nailed
to the cross ; they dragged Him to Calvary's Hill
and they nailcMl my Saviour to the cnjss, and in
the figony of death we ]ia\ ': heard Him cry,
" Fatlier, forcfive them, for thev know not what
they do," and we have; seen Him rejected, and
we have seen the (bsciples ih/cing from His
persecutors and leaving Him alone. He died on
the cross, but I tliaid\ God, althougli they all
forsook him and lied, Ciod put it into tlie hearts
of two noble men to take their stand for .Jesus
Christ. I see Joseph of Arimathea, the rich
man. It took the death of Jesus Chi'ist to
move that man to confess Him to the world, and
ho took the 1)ody of Jesus, altho'ugh lie had died
the deatli of the cross, and put it in the tomb.
Ihit the toml) could not contain Him. Three
ilays later he arose out of the tomb, (iod sent
an angel to roll away the stone, and He is now
ascended on high, and He wants you and me to
heboid Hiu) as He is in glory. 'Ihcbe are not
pictures, my friends : these are realities. It is
the will of Jesus Christ for evcrv ^oul here to

't .

ilS

7/ir Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

behold Him in all His glory, and you have jjjot
the privilcf^e to-day. It says : " For God so
loved the world that He gave His only begotten
Son that wliosuever believeth on Him shoiiM
not perish but have everlasting life." The invi-
tation is to you. "Jf you want rest," Jesus says.
" I will give it," and He says that he will make
you fishers of men. Oh, may God help every
soul here to-day to accept this blessed invitation
from Christ himself. Come to Him, forsaking
your sins and consecrating your lives to Christ,
and then you will behold Him in all His glory.
Oil, may CJod bless you, for Christ's sake. Amen.

''RAILWAY" SERMON.

" Let your light so shine before men that they niraysee
your good works, and gh>rify your Father which is in
heaven."— Matt. v. 16.

There iiKiy 1)0 some here who, because this is
a special sermon to railway men, think it may
not be of interest to tliem, but by the grace of
(i(hI I hope to make it of interest to everyone
present.

The life of a railway man is surrounded by
danger. There are accidents almost everjr day.
To obviate tliese as nnich as possible the com-
pany lias ]n'ovided a rule-book witli whicli tlie
employees must make themselves familiar. To
disobey some of the rules in these books means
destruction and death. You see, tlierefore, that
fvery railway man is face to face with a great
responsibility.

The railway company have also provided
signals — white, red and green. WIkmi an en-

82 The Life and Work of W. K. Snider

\ .;

III

gineor sees a wliito li<:flit at a station in the
ni^ht, lio knows that it' liis train is not " tinit-.l '
to stop at tliat station tlie line is clear ami
he can run v\\f\\i tlirou<^^h, at the rate of \)v\-
haps thirty or forty miles an hour. If he s<m s
a <^reen li^ht it indicates to him "caution,"
and he ffoes slow and looks for other sit-iials.
But when a red si«jjnal is displayed in the
centre of the track, no en<^dneer will pass it
if it is in his power to stop. It means dano;ti-.
When he sees it he puts on the air-brakes, and,
if that is not sufficient, he reverses his en<;ini'
and gets down on the foot-board ready to jump.
To go ahead means death.

Not only are the stations supi)lied with these
lights, but the trains and the trackmen havt»
also a set. If a trackman finds a dangerous
l>reak in the track, he must at once set a danmn-
sio;nal at a safe warning distance from it. IF a
train breaks down, it is the trainman's dutv to at
once get out a danger signal to protect his train
from the rear and stop any on-coming train

A great numy men are color-blind, and the
sio-ht (jf en^fineers and iiremen must l)e tested to
see if they are al)le to distinguish one color from
another, so that there may be no danger of their
mistaking the signals. It would be a terrible
thinii' if a man were to take a lod light for a
green.

^" in th..
f^ of ,„.,.-

' 'iC Scc.s

Cfiiiti,),, ■■

in tho
[mss it

(^•s, an. I,
eno-i,,,.

oj"Mjn|).

^1 these
I have

laiiMT'i-
If a

train
II

/ th.'
ed to
f^'roni
^hoir
•ibio
)r .1

" RailuHny " Sermon.

8.S

The superiniendent «^^iveH tlie "runiiint^^ orders,"
and no ciif^ineer or conductor will go out with-
out these orders, because, however well he may
!)(' acquainted with the road, he does not know
what trains are coniino-.

Now, vsonie of you may say, " What is all that
to us ( We are not goinj^ into railroading."
Did you ever realize that we are every one of us
running a train, and on it as a passenger is our
immortal soul :* (Jod has given us that one pas-
senger. He has pnjvided a " rule-})ook " — tlie
Messed Bible— for us to become familiar with,
and there are in it some rules, the disobeyment
of which means everlasting death. He has
nven us Jesus C'hrist, the great whit(! light,
nd if we follow Him we shall not walk in
darkness, but shall havi; the light of life.

He has hun'»' out Ljreen sinrnais, and has told
us we must beware of certain things.

God holds out red lights and says, " Thou
slialt not," and then we nuist stoj).

For many years I studied the "rule-book" of
the railroa<l company, but I shudder to think
liow I kept rushing past the signals (lod had
given. The world and the devil had made me
e()lor-blind. When I think of how many times
1 have blaspheme<l the name of (lod, an<l how 1
liavt^ rolled down the end)ankment with my

84 TJie Life and Work of W. K. Snider.

\ I

train and luive been pulled out, 1 thank (i(M)
that He has been so merciful tonie,ar 1 that tin
prayers of my mother have preserved nuv I
thank Him that He did not permit me to
utterly wreck the train carrying; my immortal
soul. He opened my eyes, and now I am detri-
mined to endeavor to ^et all my rellow-creatnrcs
to see the sij^nals which arc hun<^ out to warn
them of their danger.

God wants us to carry these sij;nals. My
brother, what kind of a li<;'ht are you carrying; '.
A white light, that [)eople may say it is safe Ini-
me to follow him :* or a green light, of wliicli
they say, " I don't know whether to follow liiin
or not" \ or a red light, which says "I am a
total wreck " :* See that poor fellow wIkj lia>
gone on in sin until all he is good for is to hold
up the red light to his fellow-mortals, sayiu;^,
" D(jn't follow me, or, like me, you will iiictt
with destruction." When 1 see a poor fellow
like him, wIkj has goti*- on from sin to sin until
he has become so di^ti^xured that his dear oM
mother would hardl}^ W able to recognize him —
and it is wonderful how such habits as drinkiii_'
disfigure a man — I ask myself, " What is 1m
doing :' " ()h, my friends, he is standing and
wavinn- the red siji'iial of danger an<l saving,
"For God's sake stop, or you will find yourst If

" Railway " Scrnion.

«5

ill the same position as I am." But, oli, so many
do not heed him. Men keep on ih'inking and
swearing, and in the practice of all manner of
sin, never seemino- to realize that the time is not
far distant when they will tintl themselves in
the same position. And when I see a young
man step into a bar and call for his drink, I am
often reminded of the brakeman when he is sent
hack to flajj a train after his train is wrecked,
lie runs back with all his might, and after
awliile he sees that ponderous locomotive drop
()\('r the brow of the hill, and he connnences to
wave the red light of danger. But there is no
rt'sponse. They do not appear to notice his
signal, i hey seem to be all unconscious of the
ilanger before them, and he cries out, " My God,
lion't they see my signal!" and still conMnues
to wave his lamp, l^ut on, on comes that great
locomotive, and to save his own life he ste})s to
oiH^ side, and as that great locomotive rolls by
lit' has been known to take his lamp and throw
it tlnough the window of the cab, and as he di<l
so to cry, "My (uxl, boys, jiut on the brakes!
\\ <■ are wrecked around thr curve, and you will
all be dashed into eternitv ! duiii]) for vour
li\('s!'' And when I see this voun*:' man at the
1'ar 1 often feel like runnitig before him and
waving the re<l signal of danger and saying.

S6 The Life and Work of W. K. Snider.

*T»"I

.' f I-;

']!

P • / is

" My (}()(!, yoiin<( man, put on tlie l»rakes. Stop !
Thero is a wreck around tlic corner, and if you
continue in the way you are goin<r you will be
wrecked for time and eternity."

The way to display the white li<(ht is to live
ri<rht, I don't believe in long-faced Christians.
The man of the world knows a Christian when
he sees one. 1 have known Men befon^ I was
converted that I would no more swear in their
presence than before my sainted niother. When
I was on the devil's side every! >ody knew it,
but when I f^^ot on Cod's side I got ri<(ht over
the fence. I do not want a Christian who is one
only on Sunday. I want a man with a religion
that is good every day in the week and every
week in the year.

We cannot run our trains ourselves. Get on
your knees and ask for running onh'rs every
morning from the Great Despateher of the
miiverse. I went manv times without them
but I wouldn't now. Since I was converted I
would rather oo without runnino* orders from
the superintendent of tlui road than without
running orders fi'om Jesus Christ. I kneel
down every day befoi'e 1 go out, and ask -lesus
(Christ to keep my train safe. Kven tlu; little
children of railway men know the danger to
which their fathers are exposed, and if there is

'* Rai/uay " Sermon.

that love in tlio family which there should be,
they kiss theii* fathers every lime they \n) out,
knowinEf they may never return. How nice it
w^ould he if all conductc^rs, engineers and firemen
and railway men would kneel down and ask
God to take care of them. How much better
for the wife in case of the worst to know that
her husband's last words had been, "God be
with me, this day ! "

I'll never forget the hr.st ti'ip I made as a con-
verted conductor. I had been ill. Before start-
ing I went up to tlu! Engineer, Fred Hazlewood.
God bless him ! He said, " I'm glad to see you
around again, my boy." " Aren't you glad to
hear the other news, Fred ( " said I. "What is
it, my boy?" he asked. And I could see by
the brightening of his eye that he had an
inkling of the truth. " Fred," said I, " I have
given my heart to God." "Wait till I get the
grease oft' my hands," said he. "God bless you,
I want to shake hands with you. Christ has
ridden w^ith me upon the engine, and now I
know He will be behind nie. I can run the
train better to-day." How that thought lifted
him up to think that Jesus C'hrist would ride
with him, and now he knew^ if an accident
happened to his train and he were killed he
would be cari'ied away on angels' wings and

■■i!

i'. )

88 T/ie Life and Work of W, K. Snider,

sweep tliroii<^li the <^ate.s — vvaHlicd in the hlood
of the Lamb." That was a hlcuse*! thought t<»
me — "The Lord will be witli me on this trip" —
and I .say to you, raib'oad men, you may liave
him always with you — in the ent^ine-cab, in the
ba<(^a<;e-ear, in the mail-car, in the coaches or
in the van.

Now, someone will say, "This is religion — tliis
is i'aith and I don't understand it." No men
exercise i^reater i'aith than railway uien. In
the darkness of night a conductor receives an
order to meet a train at a certain station. He
looks at his watch and time-card, and sees that the
train is due to leave there some minutes before
— but he has faith in the despatcher and he takes
the order to liis engineer, wdio says, " All right,
I'll make it," because he, too, has faith in the
despatcher. To obey the order faith was neces-
sary — faith in the despatcher who controlled the
running of the trains — the telegraph wires
which carried the message — the operators who
sent, received or wrote it, and in the conductor
and engineer who would also obey it, that a
collision and possibly death might be avoided.
If so much faith is placed in their fellow rail-
road men, why should they not trust Jesus
Christ who never makes a mistake ? God made
the planets and they run on schedule time.

kaihuay " Sermon.

Sotnc years ji<^o scientists stuttMl that (jn a cer-
tain <lay ami liour Mars wonld be at a certain
spot. At the specified time Mars was riyiit tliere.
Sometimes a despatclier makes a mistake, and
wlien he dues it is a terribh' thiny. .leans Clirist
never makes a mistake.

Hnt some people have no i'aith. Here comes
a man withont iaith in an^thin^^ He has read
about a threat acci<lent sonu'vvh<'re in the States,
and he is sure lie is ^oin^^ to be killed before
he gets half the way on his journey. He looks
at the engineer and con<luctor suspiciously, as if
to say, " I have no faith in them ; they are not
to be trusted." He is hardly on the train,
before he wants to know when he is going to
change cars, and every time the conductor comes
through he asks the same ([uestion. When he
feels the air-brakes put on, he is sure that
everything is going to smash, and when we stop
at a water- tank he is the first man out looking
both ways for the train that is going to run into
us. That man has himself worried half to
death before he gets to the end of th« trip.

But thei*e is another kind of man. He has
faith. He looks at the engineer and conductor,
and sees in them capable men — trusted servants
of the railroa<l. When he gets on board he
throws a seat back, takes off his overcoat,

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90 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

makes himself comfortable, and reads his paper.
When he concludes that, he throws it over his
face and goes off to sleep — the sleep of the just.
We pass ponderous freight trains pounding on
the sidings, but they disturb him not. The
calling of the stations by the brakeman is a
lullaby to him ; and when he arrives at his
destination we wake him up, and after stretch-
ing, and rubbing his eyes and saying, " Why,
boys, was I asleep ? I wonder did I snore ! "
he gets ofi' rested and contented. He had faith
in the railroad and in the trainmen. So should
we have faith in Christ.

Again : We must have running orders. Lots
of times, when I have been running a freight
train, I have had orders to go on a certain side-
track, and to wait there for, perhaps, forty-five
minutes, until another train would pass. It
would not do to go to the engineer and tell him
to go on, for, if the orders were to meet the other
train there, we must stay, for that matter, five
hours, unless we should get new orders. You
could not get any engineer to move without a
change in his orders until that train had passed.
The Lord sometimes side-tracks us. We may
not see the wisdom of it at the time, but all we
have to do is to wait patiently. We will see it
by and by. I was put on a side-track when I

Railway^' Sermon.

was laid up with typhoid fever for two months ;
but God knew what was best. I had better
health afterwards than I had had for years.

There are two great trunk lines in this
country, the Grand Trunk Railroad and the
Canadian Pacific Railroad. At the Union Depot
in Toronto the trains stand side by side. You
can go on either, or a car may be switched off
one road on to the other. There are two roads
to eternity — the narrow way, that leads to life ;
and the broad way, that leads to destruction.
May God help me to turn the switch, and turn
you on to the heavenly road !

You are in the great Union Depot now. Get
on the narrow way. The Engineer on that line
is old, steady and reliable. He is not looking at
the crops along the way, but, with one hand on
the throttle and the other on the lever. He
keeps his eyes steadily on the straight and
narrow way along which He is taking His
train.

As soon as it is dusk the fireman lights the
engine head-light. They want all the light
they can get. The brakeman will not go out
on top of his train without his lantern. It is a
guide to him, and with it he ca*i signal the
engineer, who can see it thirty car-lengths
off. Take the Bible with you as a light to your

92 T/ie Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

path and as a lantern to your feet. With it we
can signal others, and bring them to travel on
this heavenly road.

Having started yourself on the narrow way,
endeavor to get all your friends to travel by the
same line. Every railway man who has the
interests of the road at heart is obliging, and
tries to make the road popular; so we should
be in regard to the heavenly road. How are
we to do it ? By putting on a long face ? I
used to tell my wife I never could be a Chris-
tian, because I couldn't put on a long face. Since
I have been converted I havf> been happier than
I ever was before, and I pray to be delivered
from those Christians who have long faces.

When my train used to leave Southampton in
the morning I would have only a few passengers.
When it reached Palmers ton, after a sixty miles'
run, there would be two coaches full ; and when
it reached Guelph, three coaches. So the number
of passengers on the heavenly road is constantly
increasing. When you have reached the great
union depot, you can say to the Superintendent,
*' Lord, with your help I have brought my train
through safely. I have brought the passenger
you gave me, and the coach is full of others
whom I have inducec to come on the same line."
Then the Great Superintendent will say: " Even

*' Raikvay " Sermon.

so ; the way has been rough. Hand in your
tool-box. I am going to superannuate you, and
you will enter into your reward and receive the
freedom of the Heavenly City. Take off your
uniform and put on this white robe of righteous-
ness. I give you this heavenly home to enjoy,
throughout eternity."

My friends, if I never meet you again in this
world, may I meet you in that City whose
Maker and Builder is God. And may God
grant that no railway man may ever start out
again without His running orders. Amen.

''LIFE ON THE RAIL,
AND THE PEOPLE YOU MEET."

Mr. Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen :

It has been announced that I would deliver
a lecture, entitled " Life on the Rail, and The
People You Meet Every Day." Now, I hope
you will not expect me to relate all that I
have seen or heard since I commenced running
upon a train, over twenty -five years ago, as it
would be impossible for me to do it in the time
allowed for a lecture. I intend to give you a
short outline of my life as a railroad man.

When but a small boy, about the year 18ou,
I looked upon the locomotive for the first time^
and the curiosity that was aroused in me then
has never wholly left me ; and I often wonder
what the people thought when the first iron
horse was seen upon the public highway.

The steam locomotive, the material trans-
former of the world, has a remarkable history.

" Life on the Ra:ir

As it has been said, it was not born on the rails,
but on the connnon higliway ; and a tremendous
baby -giant it was, tearing up its cradle in such
furious fashion that men were territied by it
and tried their best to condemn it to inactivity ;
just as a weak and foolish father miglit lock up
his unruly boy and restrain him by force, instead
of wisely training him in the way he should go.
But the progenitors of the iron horse were like
their herculean child — men of mettle. They
fought a gallant fight for their darling's free-
dom and came off conquerors.

Richard Trevi thick, born in the parish of
lUogan, Cornwall, April 13th, 1771, was an
inventor of whom the world has heard much, —
but though a child of genius he died penniless.
In 1801 he started the iron horse on the public
highway. In 1802 he obtained a patent for a
locomotive. It was on the 28th December, 1801,
when the travelling engine took its departure
from Camborne town for Tehidv. The carriage
(says Mr. David Gilbert) broke down after going
very well for about four hundred yards. It
was forced under some shelter, and the parties
interested adjourned to the hotel, and comforted
their hearts with a roast goose and drinks, for-
getful of the engine. The water in it boiled
away. The iron became red-hot, and nothing

iv|

9(3 The Life and Work of W. K. Snider.

that was combustible remained either of the
engine or its shelter. Thus it fell a victim of
the punch-drinking propensities of the period.

A similar result might have been reached
had not the foster-father of the locomotive been
temperate in habit and irre} ressible because of
his determination and pluck.

The railroad and the locomotive attained their
place about the year 1828. It was at that time
when a premium of £500 was offered for the
best locomotive that could be produced in
accordance with certain conditions. These were
that the chimney should emit no smoke — that
the engine should be on springs — that it should
not weigh more than six tons, or four and a halt-
tons if it had only four wheels — that it should
be able to draw a load of twenty tons at the
rate of ten miles an hour, with a pressure of
fifty pounds to the square inch in the boiler, and
that it should not cost more than £500.

The iron horse was at last to assume its right
position. It was no longer an infant, but a
powerful stripling, though still far from its full
growth — as far as six tons is from ninety.

It was on October 6th, 1820, when the memor-
able trial of locomotives took place. It was to
continue eight days. The four exhibited were
the " Novelty," the " Sanspariel," the " Bocket,"

" Life on the RaU:'

and the " Perseverance," built respectively by
Messrs. Braithwaite and Ericsson, Timothy Hack-
worth, R. Stephenson & Co., and Burstall. The
" Rocket " looked as if it was all funnel, a
stunted body with a long, very Ion*; neck. On
a level stretch of railroad two miles long, each
engine was required to make twenty double
journeys during the day at an average speed of
not less than ten miles an hour. The " Rocket "
made the time and more, but was not a favorite
at the outset, as the people said its appearance
was against it. The " Novelty ' was a favorite
with both spectators and judges. It looked
compact and handy, and its lines were harmoni-
ous and in keeping with the purpose for which
it had been built. Its fuel and water were
carried without the aid of a separate tender, and
its whole weight was less than three tons. While
travelling its experimental journey it occasion-
ally moved at the rate of twenty-four miles an
hour; but on the second day of the trial the
blast bellows gave out. The boiler of the
" Sanspareil," also, showed a defect, while the
" Perseverance ' failed because it could not go
faster than six miles an hour. The " Rocket "
won the day because it had the '' go " in it. It
not only made thirty miles an hour, but it drew
a load of thirteen tons' weight in wagons at

r I

9« The Life and Wo'.k of W. K. Snider.

IS i

the rate of thirty-fiv^e miles an hour. The
unlikely engine grew handsomer every moment,
and before the third day was over the people
said she did not look so bad after all. The
" Novelty " tried again, but bursting its pipes
ended its hopes. The " Sanspareil " was simi-
larly unfortunate, and Stephenson's " Rocket "
received the prize.

Could a man at that time have seen in a
vision of the future, as Henry George says, "The
steamship taking the place of the sailing vessel,
the railway train of the wagon, the reaping
machine of the scythe, the threshing machine of
the flail — could he have heard the throb of the
engines that, in obedience to the human will and
for the gratification of human desire, exert a
power greater than all the beasts of burden on
the earth combined; could he have seen the
forest tree transformed into finished lumber —
into doors, sashes, blinds, boxes or barrels, with
hardly the touch of human hands ; the great
workshops, where boots and shoes are turned
out by the case, with less labor than the old-
fashioned cobbler could have put on a sole ; the
factories, where, under the eye of a girl, cotton
becomes cloth faster than hundreds of stalwart
weavers could have turned it out with their
hand looms ; could he have seen steam hammers

" Life on the Rail."

shaping mammoth shafts and mighty anchors,
and delicate machinery making tiny watches;
the diamond drill cutting through the heart of
the rocks, and coal oil sparing the whale ; could
he have realized the enormous saving; of labor
resulting from improved facilities of exchange
and communication ; sheep killed in Australia
and eaten fresh in England ; and the order given
by the London banker in the afternoon executed
in San Francisco in the morning of the same
day ; could he have conceived of the hundred
thousand improvements which these only sug-
gest, what would he have inferred of the social
condition of mankind ? His heart would have
leaped and his nerves would have thrilled, as
one from a height beholds just ahead of the
thirst-stricken caravan the living gleam of
rustling woods, and the glint of living waters."
Do you not realize how I would look upon
one of those wonderful locomotives for the first
time ? Have you ever entered a round-hruse
where the locomotives are kept? There is much
to interest in it. Care must always be taken,
for, if any little thing were neglected the build-
ing might be wrecked together with the engines
in it — usually a considerable number. Some
have just come in from the road, where, with
lightning speed, they have been fulfilling their
7

100 The Life and Work of W. K, Snider

Ik- if

iiUHHion, and are now dis^oi<^ing their fire and
water, and preparing to rest. Some are letting
off steam with a fiendish yell, unbearably pro-
longed. Some are in the hands of the wipers —
the firemen superintending. Others are under-
going the necessary repairs, and a few are ready
for instant action.

Engineers, as a rule, love their engines as
men do a horse, or dog, or gun. It is their joy
to be with it. They like the regularity with
which it runs to and fro from its termini, like
the beat of a pendulum swinging through its
iron arc. They love the excitement of seeing
the train loaded up, the hurry of passengers,
the rolling of the baggage, the start, and, best ol
all, the race. They delight in the bound and
speed of the fiery steed. They will touch the
levers as delicately and with as much grace as
a good reinsman will handle the lines. The
sound of the whistle, the clip-clap of the wheels
rattling on the iron track, has a music for the
engineer more enlivening and bewitching than
ever accompanied the organ's peal. It is not
strange, for a wonderful thing is that engine,
the emblem and exponent of the hour.

See it — that thing of iron and of fire, with a
banner of light — an eye like a star — the sinews
of brass and steel, and i^3 breathings of flame !

" Life on the Rail!'

101

See it .stand iiig on the track, its pipes piiffini,^
steam, fretting to be free ; reminding one of the
horse described in the Book of Job, whose " neck
is clothed with thunder," " which paweth in the
valley, and rejoiceth in his strength." " He
saith among the trumpets. Ha, ha ! and he
smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the
captains and the shouting," and is impatient to
go forth to battle. It glides upon those two
iron bars from winter to suunner, from day to
night, from evening to morning. It plunges
like a cleft strand from the thunder through
the mountain gorgeo. It leapb across the wide
valleys. Its shaft glitter^^ in the mines. Its
voice is heard in the shop. Its banner is every-
where. It has forced its way to the far hamlet
in the quiet vales, and they have feii the thrill
and jar of the great world. It is wonderful
how that living, panting thing of iron has
revolutionized the world.

Benjamin F. Taylor has, in his wonderful
way, written of the engine, and asked, " Did
you ever creep gingerly up to the deck of a
railway car when the train was moving, say
twenty-five or thirty miles an hour ? And did
you look away beyond the train where the two
iron bars — that noblest couplet in the great epic
of the time — were welded lovingly together

102 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

^-Svl

without hammer or furnace or pin, just beneath
the wonderful invisible fingers of distance ?
There the tracks lay, a huge inverted V upon the
bosom of the prairie. And how marvellously,
as the train moved on, those stubborn bars
swayed round to a parallel as a brace of sun-
beams flung from a mirror swinging in the
wanton wind sweep round in the blue air ! And
did you remember ? Not a spike wrenched
from its good hold, not a tie untied, not a timber
splintered ! There must be a charm in those
fingers, indeed."

No one that ever rode upon the engine can
ever forget the sensation of pleasure, of exulta-
tion, of exuberant joy experienced as fear is
forgotten and one is given up to the excitement
incident to the situation when, in fancy, you
keep time with Saxe in his rhyme as you go on

the rail :

" Swinging through the forests,
Rattling over ridges,
Shooting under arches,

Rumbling over bridges,
Whizzing through the mountains,

Buzzing o'er the vale ;
Bless me, this is pleasant
Riding on the rail."

Well, it was my privilege when a small boy
to experience what it was to ride upon a loco-

''Life on the Rail!'

103

motive, and can you not wonder how it im-
pressed me ? My mind was made up then that
I must be a railroad man. I used to play "cars"
at home, and when about thirteen years of age
started out as a newsboy. You are all ac-
quainted with the duties of a newsboy, or
"peanut butcher," on the train. They are to
provide the passengers with all the latest news-
papers, books and periodicals, also peanuts,
oranores and candies, and in his smart run
through the train to give a fre(juent chance fur
someone else to close the doors. I took a
situation running between Detroit and Chicago.
I left my home a boy who had never been away
before. I was expecting to make my fortune
in a very short time ; but I can tell you when a
boy gets away from home and finds himself
among strangers and has his scant pocket-book
as his only friend, it makes him think of home
and the comforts he had while in that home. I
had my experience of this. I had only run
about two wrecks when my trunk was sent to
me from home, and in it was a letter from my
precious mother, and when I opened it and
commenced to read where she said she did not
know who W'Ould look after me now or mend
my clothes for me, but that she gave me over to
the care of the Lord, I tell you, it went down

104 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider,

deep into my heart and I began to weep. Oh,
how I wished I could return at once and say,
" Mother, I am back, and I do not think I will
ever go away again ! " However, I made up
my mind I would try and hang out a little
longer. I had only made one or two more trips
when I met with a serious misfortune. My
boxes were broken into in Chicago and about
twenty dollars' worth of goods stolen from me,
and my employer made me become good for
them. I thought that was pretty hard, for, be-
sides having to pay for the goods, I had the ill
luck to lose my hat. When I arrived at Detroit
1 was out of money and bare-headed. But I
met an old friend of mine from Guelph. He
was just going to Grand Rapids for a visit and
had some money, and he took me to the hat-
store and bought me a hat, and if it had not
been for him I would have had to sleep on the
street. Oh, if ever a boy thought of his home
and his mother's feather beds, I was that boy !
But I was given a pass and four twenty-five
cent shin-plasters. I started for home on a
Saturday night and travelled all night, getting
as far as Paris. Then I went to Brantford,
where my brother lived, and stayed over Sunday,
and then on to Guelph. I can remember that
on Monday 1 had three of the shin-plasters left,

" Life on the Rail.

105

and, I tell you, I thought I was rich ; but I had
enough of the United States to last nie for some
time. Not many fellows who come back from
there and strut about with their hands in their
pockets informing the boys that they are "just
home from the States," could produce any more
lucre than I could if they were stood on their
lieads and shaken.

I thought I would look for a " run " in Canada
where I would not be so far away from home,
and young and small as I was, I was taken on
as *' an experienced hand." This did not last.
I was attracted bv a circus, and followed its
fortunes for a time. But in 1870 I started in
earnest, as a brakeman on the old Great
Western Railway.

The life of a brakeman is not all sunshine. I
do not think there is any occupation so danger-
ous as that of a brakeman on a freight train.
He has to be out in all kinds of weather, sun-
shine or rain, snow or sleet — he has to be there.
Oh, do you ever think of him on the cold winter
night as you are lying in your comfortable beds
— do you ever think of the poor brakeman who,
on his hands and knees, often has to pull him-
self along over the tops of the icy cars, afraid to
stand up for if he should make one false step he
would be hurled into eternity ?

106 The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

"Dust-grim features, weather-beaten,
Hands that show the scars of toil ;
Do you envy him his station,
Patient tiller of the soil ?

' ' In the storm or in the sunshine

He must mount the speeding train ;
Ride outside at post of duty,
Heeding not the drenching rain.

'* In the pleasant summer weather,
Standing on the car-top high.
He can view the beauteous landscape
As he rushes swiftly by.

" As he views the beauteous picture
Which the lovely landscape makes,
Suddenly across his dreaming

Comes the (juick, shrill cry for brakes.

* ' But when winter's icy finger

Covers earth with snowy shroud.
And the north wind like a madman,
Rushes on with shriekings loud ;

' ' Then behold, the gallant brakeman
Springs to heed the engine's call,
Running o'er the icy car-tops —
God protect him if he fall !

" Do not scorn to treat him kindly —
He will give you smile for smile ;
Tho' he's nothing but a brakeman,
Do not deem him surely vile.

'* Life on the Rail."

107

" Speak to him in kindly language,

Tho' his clothes be coarse and plani,
For he has a fearless heart
That feels both joy and pain.

'' He may have a widowed mother-
He may be her only joy ;
Mayhap in her home she's praying
For the safety of her boy.

'' How he loves that dear old mother
Toiling on from day to day ;
Always bringing her some present
Every time he draws his pay.

" Daily facing death and danger ;
One mis-step or slip of hand
Sends the poor unlucky brakeman
To the dreaded unknown land.

" As we scan our evening papers,

Note what their filled columns say .
One brief line attracts our notice :
' One more brakeman killed to-day 1 '

•

" In her lonely cottage, waiting,
In the waning of the night,
Sits the luckless brakeman's mother-
She expects her boy to-night.

" Someone brings the fatal message-
God have mercy, hear her pray.
As she reads the fearful message : ^ ^^
' Killed while coupUng cars to-day.' '

108 The Life and Work of W. K. Snider.

But the brakeman on the passenger train does
not have it so hard. He is not exposed so much
as the brakeman on the freight. He has passed
through that part of it, however, and is now on
the " Express," perhaps, and often the young
man from the country takes a trip and sees a
brakeman on such a train passing through tlie
cars, calling out the stations. He sees that he
does not have to toucli the brakes, but that he
simply helps passengers off the train and assists
in loading the baggage, and the young man
at once thinks it the finest job in the world. He
goes home to tell them that he has struck it
rich. He is " goin' to go on brakin'." He is
" not goin' to farm any longer and do such
killin', slavin' work and earn nothin'. " He is
" goin' to go on brakin'."

Like Pat's boy, who had a steady run. An
old section hand had a son concerning whom
his mother expected great things, and often
stood between him and his weary father who,
night after night, when tired from his work,
saw the woodpile had not been touched, and
attempted remonstrance. "Where's Patsy?" he
would inquire, only to be told that " he was
up to the deepo at this minit — he expected a
tillegram from the Superintender — he may come
home with it now — he's goin' to get on brakin'."

''Life on the RaiL'

109

One morning Pat went to his work, and after
the foreman had gone round the curve he started
his " cuddy " pipe, and while vigorously pulling
at it, said to his mate, " Do you know that my
boy Patsy do have a steady run ? " " You don't
tell me," says he. " You don't tell me. Now,
nothin' pleases me so well as to hear that your
Patsy do have a sitiwashun. Where is his run,
now ? " And the old man replied while con-
tinuing the struggle with his '! cuddy" : " Goin'
betwixt home and the station, b' jabers, lookin'
for a job."

Well, for two years I had the experience of a
brakeman, when I was promoted to the position
of train baggageman. This is a very nice posi-
tion, but the baggageman generally has an oppor-
tunity of trying his muscles, for the young ladies
know what a time they have in trying to get
the lid of that Saratoga trunk down when they
get it packed to go away at the time of their
summer holidays, or when they start for college.
They do not think when they are trying by
every stratagem known in the art of packing,
to get everything they possess in this world into
that trunk, and when they get the fat sister to
sit on it while they try to lock it, that the poor
train baggageman has to pile it up as high as
the roof of his car. The language some of them

110 The Life and Work of W, K. Snider.

are made to use when they see such trunks
being lifted into their cars is not always the
best of English. Nevertheless, they love the
ladies if they do not love their Saratoga trunks.
Then it is remarkable what people will put in
their trunks when they are going away. Let
me give you a few words of warning here. The
necessity of them arises both from the amusing
and the tragic experience of the baggageman.
Some night he is sitting alone in his car, while
the wind howls outside and the train is forging
its way through the darkness and storm ; and
perhaps he is reading some blood-curdling
account of crime and murder, when, in the fitful
light of his own smoky lamp, he sees from
beneatii a pile of trunks something slowly
streaming out upon the floor. He starts, the
perspiration stands in beads upon his brow, a
chill strikes to his heart. He has heard of
human bodies being crushed into trunks. He
has read of the villanous ingenuity of men who
sought to dispose of their victims, and he is
filled with horror. But the sharp whistle of the
engine arouses him to duty. The thought of
reward attached to a discovery so important
flashes through his mind. Braver impulses
come, and, turning up the light in his lantern,
he steps courageously towards the foul spot.

''Life on the Rail!"

Ill

He looks cautiously at the trunk from which it
comes dripping, stoops down so nervously — his
hair lifting his hat — and lo, it is raspberry

vinegar

Now, I suppose you know how it happened ?
When the trunk was already packed for the
journey, and the rig was coming to the gate,
mother or some of the folks cried out, " For
gracious sakes, Miranda, you have forgotten the
raspberry vinegar ! " Miranda said she could not
take it now, she would be late for the train, but
mother said, " Your auntie will never forgive
you if you go without that raspberry vinegar.
You know she thinks no one can make it like I
can, and I promised to send her some when you
went to visit her, and unless you take her that
raspberry vinegar you shant go one step. Now,
Miranda, there's no use, that raspberry vinegar
has got to go." So, while the rig is waiting and
the driver is jawing from the gate, and all is
hurry, the lid of the trunk is opened and a jar
of raspberry vinegar is put in on top of all its
bulging contents. They tell the driver to be
careful, and he says, " Yes, mum." But at the
station that trunk, with its precious load, is
pitched into the baggage car, and the first thing
that happens is, that jar of raspberry vinegar is
upset or broken. My, my ! I would like to be

112 The Life and Work of W, K. Snider.

some place out of sight where I could see
Miranda open that trunk, with all her visiting
clothes saturated with raspberry vinegar ! First,
then, do not put such things in your trunk when
you go on a visit. You run a great risk if you
do. Again, be sure your trunk or valise is
properly fastened. The baggageman has a great
experience when a lady's trunk comes open and
all its contents fall out upon the floor, or when
a valise comes apart like the collapse of a puff-
ball, as he tosses it to the top of the car. A few
cents will get you a strap by which you can
make your property secure. Remember, it is an
awful job for a baggageman to get everything
back again after there has been a spill.

We now go on to the freight conductor. The
duties of the freight conductor are very heavy,
and he is under great responsibility. He has
to look after the running of his train, and check
off all goods that are unloaded along the route.
I had some very thrilling adventures while run-
ning a freight train, and met with three or four
accidents. One time I was in the van when it,
with four other cars, was thrown into the ditch
upside down. The freight cars were smashed
into matchwood. A very humorous incident
happened this time. It might have been serious,
but as it came out all right I make mention of

" Life on the Raiir

113

it. We are not allowed to curry paasengers on
a freight train. But, while passing the town of
Brussels, when the road was first built through
that part of the country, three men (I took them
to be farmers) got on the van while we were
working at the station. When we got out al)out
a mile or so we were thrown into the ditch, and
I never saw three worse scared men in my life.
I do not think they would ever get on a freight
train again as long as they lived. But when I
was up before the superintendent of the investi-
gation, I wondered what I had better say if he
should ask me who was on the train. I thought
it was best to tell the truth, and resolved to do
so. Sure enough, he asked me, ** Who was on the
train, Snider ? " I replied, " My two brakemen
and three farmers." "What!" said he, "three
farmers ! Now, you know that is a straight
violation of orders. What were they doing
on that train ? " I told him they had got on at
Brussels. " Well, then," said he, " why in the
world did you not stop and put them off ? " "I
did, sir," I replied ; " I did, sir, just one mile out
upside down in the fence corner." I must say
I was pretty badly scared myself, and I was on
the point of giving up railroad life, but I kept
on and passed through a couple more accidents,
coming out all K for which I have to thank
God.

1 U The Life and Work of IV. K. Snider.

After a while I was put on a passenger train,
and this is where we come to meet the people. I
do not know of any place in the world where
you have a better chance to read human nature
than on a passenger train. We see many funny
incidents. No two people are alike. We have
the fat passenger, the lean passenger, the nerv-
ous or no faith passenger, the superstitious
passenger, the cautious passenger, the contented
passenger, the passenger who is always finding
fault. We have the young lady who is going to
college, or to spend her vacation. We have the
dear old lady, with the usual band -boxes and
bundles. We see the passengers who are filled
with joy as they think of the friends they are
going to meet, and we see the passengers who
are on their sad mission, for, in the baggage car,
perhaps, is all that is left of a loved one. They
have a single fare ticket with them with the
word " corpse " written across its face. We can
see what is passing through their minds as we
punch their tickets. Then we see the newly
married couple ! If there is one thing in the
world a conductor can tell, it is a newly married
couple.

Note. — Those who have ever listened to this
lecture as it came from the Conductor's lips will
call to mind the successive side-splitting anec-

''Life on the Raiir

115

dotes and personations with which he iUustrated
many of the foregoing characteristic personages
— the German, of Mildmay, whose dog howled
all night long, and who found the reason for it
next day, when the paper told of the death of
a man in Cincinnati ; the woman who sought for
information at the station wicket concerning the
trains in each direction, and who was so thankful
for the information, but pressed her inquiries
closer still until satisfied beyond a doubt, when
she called to her daughter that they were safe
now to cross the track; the bridegroom who
offered one ticket for himself and bride, because
the preacher had made them one ; the marvellous
impersonation of the hunchback Jews in their
hot debate as to the greatest example to be
found of success in life, and giving the palm to
the man who " had but one shirt to his back,
but now he do have a million " ; the dude who
on the English railway lifted the window at
every station to inquire of the guards if his
luggage was " saife," until receiving his quietus
in a crushing retort ; the kind-hearted but fussy
and garrulous old lady who told of all the plans
of her visit to Amanda while she fumbled in
every conceivable place for her ticket — these
stories, with others doubtless, those who have
laughed and cried under the spell of this lecture

■i

116 The Life and Work of W. K. Snider.

and the Conductor's wonderful mimicry will
remember, and will regret, with the writer,
that they cannot be reproduced. They were
so thoroughly woven into his personality that,
no doubt, the thought of putting them on
paper, stripped of the excitement attending
the appreciation and laughter of an audience,
was utterly out of the question.

We regret, also, that the beautiful and pathetic
close of his lecture shares the same fate. In it,
it will be remembered, he sought to leave upon
the minds of his audience important lessons
which have to do with eternal issues. Taking
a dear old lady on his train under earnest
instructions from loved ones to look after her
until she should be met at the union depot of
the great city — tenderly describing the parting,
and the journey, and the meeting with those
who kissed her cheeks and welcomed her with
joy as she slowly stepped down from the train
at her destination — how vividly the Conductor
led his hearers to see that, for the Christian, life
is a journey, with Jesus Christ as the Great
Conductor, while there awaits a joyous welcome
for him one day when his ransomed soul shall
enter the great union depot in the City whose
Builder and Maker is God !

And we believe, the last trip ended, he has had
his welcome. ' D. W. S.

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