t-iron. The other night
he had run his buggy in the dark against a lamp-post which was of
cast-iron and the lamp-post had broken to pieces. Am I to be censured
if I had little difficulty here in recognizing something akin to the
hand of Providence, with Perry Smith the manifest agent?

"Ah, gentlemen," I said, "there is the point. A little more money and
you could have had the indestructible wrought-iron and your bridge
would stand against any steamboat. We never have built and we never
will build a cheap bridge. Ours don't fall."

There was a pause; then the president of the bridge company, Mr.
Allison, the great Senator, asked if I would excuse them for a few
moments. I retired. Soon they recalled me and offered the contract,
provided we took the lower price, which was only a few thousand
dollars less. I agreed to the concession. That cast-iron lamp-post so
opportunely smashed gave us one of our most profitable contracts and,
what is more, obtained for us the reputation of having taken the
Dubuque bridge against all competitors. It also laid the foundation
for me of a lifelong, unbroken friendship with one of America's best
and most valuable public men, Senator Allison.

The moral of that story lies on the surface. If you want a contract,
be on the spot when it is let. A smashed lamp-post or something
equally unthought of may secure the prize if the bidder be on hand.
And if possible stay on hand until you can take the written contract
home in your pocket. This we did at Dubuque, although it was suggested
we could leave and it would be sent after us to execute. We preferred
to remain, being anxious to see more of the charms of Dubuque.

After building the Steubenville Bridge, it became a necessity for the
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company to build bridges across the Ohio
River at Parkersburg and Wheeling, to prevent their great rival, the
Pennsylvania Railroad Company, from possessing a decided advantage.
The days of ferryboats were then fast passing away. It was in
connection with the contracts for these bridges that I had the
pleasure of making the acquaintance of a man, then of great position,
Mr. Garrett, president of the Baltimore and Ohio.

We were most anxious to secure both bridges and all the approaches to
them, but I found Mr. Garrett decidedly of the opinion that we were
quite unable to do so much work in the time specified. He wished to
build the approaches and the short spans in his own shops, and