There is one thing that may be a little difficult to learn, and that is
to let your engine alone when it is all right. I once gave a young
fellow a recommendation to a farmer who wanted an engineer, and
afterward noticed that when I happened around he immediately picked up a
wrench and commenced to loosen up first one thing and then another. If
that engineer ever loses that recommendation he will be out of a job, if
his getting one depends on my giving him another. I wish to say to the
learner that that is not the way to run an engine. Whenever I happen to
go around an engine, (and I never lose an opportunity) and see an
engineer watching his engine, (now don't understand me to mean standing
and gazing at it,) I conclude that he knows his business. What I mean
by watching an engine is, every few minutes let your eye wander over the
engine and you will be surprised to see how quickly you will detect
anything out of place. So when I see an engineer watching his engine
closely while running, I am most certain to see another commendable
feature in a good engineer, and that is, when he stops his engine he
will pick up a greasy rag and go over his engine carefully, wiping every
working part, watching or looking carefully at every point that he
touches. If a nut is working loose he finds it, if a bearing is hot he
finds it. If any part of his engine has been cutting, he finds it. He
picked up, a greasy rag instead of a wrench, for the engineer that
understands his business and attends to it never picks up a wrench
unless he has something to do with it. The good engineer took a greasy
rag and while he was using it to clean his engine, he was at the same
time carefully examining every part. His main object was to see that
everything was all right. If he had found a nut loose or any part out
of place, then he would have taken his wrench, for he had use for it.

Now what a contrast there is between this engineer and a poor one, and
unfortunately there are hundreds of poor engineers running portable and