Hey, hey, hey lock ready!

[Sherwood, Harrison]

>From: 	R ed Bug

>In V., TRP mentions a "C & O Compartment" aboard ship (can't remember the
>page # off hand). Any of you know what *that* is??

I don't have my copy of _V_ handy, but surely that's a cargo compartment
from the Chesapeake & Ohio railroad?

You see them all over the central East Coast, distinctive for their
truly weird logo, which (AFAI can tell) is a vague blob in the vague
shape of a vague cat, ostensibly named "Chessie." Perhaps the most
incompetent bit of corporate-identity graphic design your correspondent
has ever seen from a major commercial concern. And I've seen a few.

Ah. I zipped over to the C&O Historical Society on the Web and tracked
down the dirt on the logo. (It's coal!) (At http://cohs.marshall.edu/
--Click on the "C&O History" link.) We get the following tasty yet
nutritious info-snack:

     In 1933, C&O adopted a cuddly little kitten for use in an ad
campaign and 
     called her Chessie, after the railroad. She was instantly popular
and 
     appeared on calendars and in ads for the next forty years, becoming
one of 
     America's most-beloved corporate symbols. And she is as popular
today as she 
     was in the 1930's. 

(SheeIT! "She followed Topo Gigio on the Ed Sullivan Show in late 1963,
instantly sparking a worldwide outpouring of hysteria called
"Chessiemania," and popular culture has never been the same...")

Chessie herself is visible under the "Products" link--scroll past the
thicket of broken graphic links to the utterly ineffable Chessie Afghan
(only $49.95!) where she appears in all her vaguely felinoid glory.

I suppose if you squint real hard and kind of tilt your head to the
left, Chessie is sort of V-shaped.

Also at the C&O RR web site, perhaps relevant: 

     The C&O is laden with legend and lore, including John Henry, an
ex-slave who 
     supposedly worked on the expansion in the 1870's, and beat a steam
drill in 
     a contest at Big Bend Tunnel, giving rise to one of the most
persuasive folk 
     songs of the nation.  Other folk songs about wrecks and
personalities make 
     the C&O the line with the richest folk heritage and tradition of
all. 

(Man, these copywriters are _grrrrreat_! And here I thought the most
persuasive folk song was "On Top of Spaghetti"!)

Twenty points and a virtual bottle of Olde Heurich Maerzen to anyone who
can explain the title of my post. Hint: The recent death of this
powerful tenor and magnificent wit was a blow to bluegrass fans the
world over--all twelve of them.

Please reply privately by email. You haven't got a prayer of keeping
this on topic, and somebody will wag a Highly Disciplined Finger at you,
you dreadful riff-raff you.

Harrison