During
his second interview, Nat told the superintendent the reason he had quit
after just one trip. Superintendent J. M. Smith told Love that the
secret to success in the Pullman porter business was keeping the customers
satisfied. Nat replied that he could satisfy two or three customers,
but that pleasing a whole carload of them was another matter.
Still, he said he would try his best, was hired, and spent several years
learning to please the passengers on the Colorado roads, which resulted in
his gaining favor within the company.
Nat Love soon became one of the
most popular porters, and was eventually given choice runs by his
employers, resulting in better pay, better tips, and special favors.
Most of the remaining portion
of Love's book concerns the details about his life as a porter. He
tells the reader about the largest, and smallest tips he has received,
caring about passengers with special needs, such as the elderly and the
handicapped, and porter etiquette in general. In fact, the last few
chapters of "Deadwood Dick" could very well serve as a training manual for
porters, as he speaks from experience while dispensing advice.
Yet, while he may have had led
a relatively quiet life as a porter, Nat Love's spirit of adventure and
his need to explore continued to take him places few have been, even while
they were actually there. His descriptions of the things which
surround him are so vivid, that if we close our eyes, we can easily
picture everything he saw, from the details of the train's dining cars, to
the the scenic beauty of the many places his railway routes have taken
him.
There is one more incident of
note which took place in Nat Love's book, a wreck which took place in
Colorado when the train struck a split switch and derailed, falling to
their sides so the passengers and crew had to escape from the windows;
no one was hurt, and Love's description take on a whimsical turn, as he
compares their emergency exit to that of gophers leaving their holes.
That the frighten passengers shared the same humorous vision remains to be
told, but one thing is for certain, the great Nat Love had survived
through worse.
During the course of his
adventures, Nat Love met some fascinating characters, including The James
Brothers, Buffalo Bill, Kit Carson, and Billie (sic) the Kid. From
the way he speaks of these people, we can see that Nat Love was an
objective individual with a friendly demeanor, who seldom judged others
based on hearsay. Perhaps this had to do with the fact that he
himself had been subjected to discrimination. In the final chapter
(CHAPTER XXII) of his
autobiography, he reminisces about the people has has met, letting the
reader feel his own nostalgia.
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