When our daughter was very young, one of her favorite activities was running out to the front sidewalk to wave to the men who ran the four passenger trains traveling through town. The trains ran through a gully just across the street and beyond a small field, easily visible from our sidewalk.

      One day it looked as though one of the trainmen was waving to her, but as we watched we saw that he was swinging something in his hand, letting it fly into the bank next to the tracks. After the train had disappeared, we went to see what it was he had thrown, looking north and south along the tracks, until we found a bag of candy intended for our daughter. Very often after that he would throw candy, which we shared with other children in the block.

      Near Christmas his package of candy included a note which said we should go to the depot and pickup some Christmas toys, taking one for each of our children and distributing the rest to families who might need some help in providing Christmas for their families.

      Expecting to find a box of toys, I entered the depot a few days later to discover at least 6 big boxes for distribution. The toy I selected for our daughter was a "trainman" doll, dressed in the standard striped shirt, bib overalls and cap, which she still has.

      After selecting something for the other 2 children I had fun distributing the remainder to other families, along with the candy that had been included.

      I obtained the name of this generous man through a local man who worked on the same railroad. I found that he was a widower who loved candy and children. We sent him a small gift and received a reply that said he lived in one room in the home of a former sister-in-law and every year by the time Christmas came around, he could hardly get into his room because of all the toys he had bought year round for distribution. We later learned that he was also throwing candy to a friend who lived out of town a few miles.

      When winter arrived in earnest and the northbound train came through after dark, we were sure that he could not be seen from our porch, but he was prepared for that. The first time we turned on the porch light and stood our daughter on the railing we saw his flashlight waving back and forth in greeting.

      How sad that there are not more like "Jess Hammett", the fireman on the "Chip".