Promotion soon came.

A new operator was wanted and Mr.Brooks telegraphed to my afterward dear friend James D.Reid, then general superintendent of the line, another fine specimen of the Scotsman, and took upon himself to recommend me as an assistant operator.

The telegram from Louisville in reply stated that Mr.Reid highly approved of promoting "Andy," provided Mr.Brooks considered him competent.

The result was that I began as a telegraph operator at the tremendous salary of twenty-five dollars per month, which I thought a fortune.

To Mr.Brooks and Mr.Reid I owe my promotion from the messenger's station to the operating-room.[18] I was then in my seventeenth year and had served my apprenticeship.