They would be higher people, although he himself their grandfather was a nobody, just a switchman on a section of double track in a forest.

NEWYORKER: Among Animals and Plants

The switchman lifted his head from the rail, blew his nose, brushed the dirt off his clothes, and adopted a serious, dignified expression.

NEWYORKER: Among Animals and Plants

The switchman tried to explain to his wife that a wicked woman was still a woman and therefore not so very different from a wife.

NEWYORKER: Among Animals and Plants

The stationmaster had known his new switchman for a long time, ever since Fyodorov was a boy and used to go hunting with him.

NEWYORKER: Among Animals and Plants

He kept him back awhile, then promoted him to senior switchman.

NEWYORKER: Among Animals and Plants

The switchman examined the switch again, checking that the express had done no damage, then went into his cabin, pulled the door to, and played a few notes on his signal horn.

NEWYORKER: Among Animals and Plants

The switchman began travelling to Bear Hill.

NEWYORKER: Among Animals and Plants

During his next shift, Fyodorov read an order from the stationmaster: from now on, senior switchman comrade Fyodorov was to receive an additional fifty rubles a month, and he was temporarily being appointed a coupler a responsible position that many aspired to.

NEWYORKER: Among Animals and Plants

Constantly seeing powerful locomotives and precise signalling mechanisms, listening to the roar from the engines of heavy freight trains, the switchman felt that his reason had triumphed, as if he, too, were to blame for all this universal technological power and its charm.

NEWYORKER: Among Animals and Plants