Months later, Fred went aboard a train headed for Millville, New Jersey. The job offer he had taken was a job at a steel mill...he had thought it was another saw mill...Looks like he was missinformed!

Fred had a window seat and was gazing out the window at the beautiful scenery. Plenty of beautiful pines trees, grassy lands, a clear, bright blue sky, filled with fluffy white clouds...He would see farms some great miles apart from each other...Fred wondered where they were. They had been travelling awhile...

He felt someone's presence and looked up...It was one of the train's conductors.

"Enjoying the ride, sir?...Anything I can get you?...A sandwich, perhaps...Sarsparilla? Anything?"

"Oh, no sir...I'm quite all right..." Fred said.

"Well, we're just about ready to stop at our next pick-up...Just let me know if I can get you anything..."

"I will...Where are we now, by the way?" He asked.

"Iowa, sir..." The conductor said..."Such a beautiful state, isnt it? God's country...If you ask me..."

The train had stopped and people got on. Men, women and children...A man, his wife and their two young boys, and their baby daughter sat across the aisle from Fred, some folks passed and sat in the back of the train, others in the front...The last passenger got on and there were only a few seats left...

"Mind if I sit here?" A young man with thick brown hair asked Fred...

"No...Not at all...Take a seat, Pete..." Fred laughed.

The man chuckled..."Well, the name's John Gruber, actually...And yours?" He said, shaking his hand...

"Fred Lay...Nice to meet you, John..."

"Pleasure's mine as well, Fred..." He smiled...

"So where are you headed, John?...If I may ask that...If you don't mind..."

"Not at all, Fred...You could say we're travel buddies now..." John laughed..."I'll tell you...but you tell me where you're headed first..."

"Millville, New Jersey...Cumberland County..."

"That's near where I'm headed...I'm going to Bridgeton...I'm away on business..."

"Oh, where do you work?" Fred asked politely...

"Iron factory...In Dubuque, of course...my hometown..."

"Sounds interesting..."

John laughed..."I guess so! Ma and Pa think so...My two brothers, George and Joseph, do I guess...My little sister doesn't though...She always gets so bored and walks out of the room when I go on about it..."

"Guess its just a man's thing..." Fred chuckled...

"I suppose" John laughed. "I love her though...Ha! She says I'm her favorite brother..."

"Why's that?"

"I bring her candy and spoil her to death!"

Fred imagined a cute little girl about eight years old...with bags full of candy in her hands, and a mischeivious smile on the girl's face...He laughed..."I bet your folks just LOVE that! How old is she?"

"Fifteen...No wait! She just turned fourteen, May 23! She's growin' up so fast right in front of my own eyes! Its hard to keep track of! "

He chuckled..."Oh, I figured she was younger than that...Considering you bring her candy..."

"Well, she's got quite a sweet tooth!" John laughed... "Ah, she's a good girl. She says she's got a fiesty side to her, and she's told me little things she's done but I don't believe a word of it!" He laughed...and then smiled..."Got a pair of such innocent lookin' brown eyes...a cute face...Can't help but say 'yes' to her..."

Fred smiled at the thought of such a brother/sister relationship...

"Do you have any siblings?" John asked.

"Yes sir, I do...Two of them...A brother and a sister...Both of 'em older than me...They both live in Germany..."

"Thought your name sounded German...So's the name Gruber...How is it that you're in the states?"

Fred chuckled..."I move around a lot...got itchy feet, so to speak..."

The two young men talked for hours and hours until nightfall...Both rented a sleeping car and retired for the night. The next day, the train brought them to a train station...and they set off again towards their destination...New Jersey...It was a long, long train ride, with every now and then, they'd stop at a train station to let people off and to swtich trains...but they finally made it to Cumberland County...

"Well, here we go our seperate ways...you to Millville and me to Bridgeton..." John said, shaking his hand..."You're gonna live here, you said..."

"Yes sir...and it was nice traveling with ya, John..." Fred slapped him on the shoulder...

John knodded goodbye and set out...but a few minutes later he walked back to where Fred was standing..."Say,...somethin's different about you. You seem like a nice guy to get to know!...Tell you what...when you get settled...write me! Here's my address..." He said writing his address down on a piece of paper...

"Thanks, and will do, John!" Fred said, putting the piece if paper into his trouser pocket...

"This seems a bit silly, considering we just met each other...Sorry, if I offended you or anything..."

"Oh, not at all...We crossed each other's paths this week...Maybe, we are soon-to be friends."

"I guess you're right, Fred...Why else did God have us on that train-ride together?..."

"Right...And well, I've been known to make friends easily anyway..." He laughed...

"Well, I'll be seein' you around, maybe...God willing..."

Fred knodded and both men went their separate ways...

813 Mertz Street

Dubuque, IA

April 15, 1884

John Gruber

Dear Fred Lay,

Its been great to hear from you! Been awhile hasn't it? Can you believe its been two years since we met each other on that train to New Jersey!...What I wanted you to know, is there's a job opening at the factory I'm working at...and wondered if you were interested...I know that Iowa's a LONG way from New Jersey, but its a thought! Let me know, friend...because I'll pay for your trip over here. I insist! Well, goodbye until the next time.

Your Friend,

John Gruber

Yes, Fred had lived in New Jesrey for two years now...He was now 24 years old...and thought it was high time for him to be moving on again...so he wrote a letter back to John as soon as he could. His penmanship had gotten much better thanks to one of the schoolteachers' private tutoring...at first, Fred felt embarrassed that he couldn't write...but he soon learned to write as well as anyone. He could read as well now...

Millville, NJ

April 20, 1884

Fred Lay

Dear John,

Thanks for the job offer! I'm right thankful of you for thinking of me for the job...and I accept it...It think its high time to be movin' on now...and I think movin' to Iowa is just the place. I've been told that its God's country...bet ya agree, But don't ya dare pay my way over there...I can make it just fine! Well, I'll see ya sometime in June.

Your friend,

Fred J. Lay

So Fred soon made his way to Iowa...Fred went walking around Dubuque with an envelope with John's address and also one with the factory's address on it, but he decided to walk around some and enjoy the beauty of nature.

"God's country indeed..." Fred thought...He walked up a hill aways, well technically it was a forest, but soon he made it to a gravel road...

A long, long ways up the road, there was a young 16 year old girl with long, beautiful reddish brown hair who was walking with two milk cows. She was a most strikingly beautiful young lady, standing at a few inches over 5 foot, and weighed 125 pounds...This young lady was herding her family's two cows to their grazing spot...It was all open grassy land, except for a few trees, and a small creek...

"Gee, why can't you bossies be this calm all the time?" She laughed..."Usually, I have to bring the buggy whip to y'all!...Oh well, I'll just enjoy this while it lasts!" The 16 year old said, patting a cow on its side and tying both of them to a nearby tree...

"My 'story' rock...Here I come!" She smiled and took a little magazine she had under her arm, sat down on the large boulder by the creek and began to look at it..."My that dress looks so beautiful! What color is that?...Brick red?...Hmm...Its pretty...And red is my favorite color...Dark red especically...Like that..." She was saying to herself...and she sighed..."But its too expensive...$7...I'd have to save up long awhile to get it..." The pretty young girl began to look at a new purchase..."My! $10 for a corset! How ridiculous!... Ma and I could make one ourselves!" She flipped a few pages into a different section in the magazine. "Oh...There's my lavender perfume Pa got me for my birthday last month! So that's where he got it!" She exclaimed and smiled at the thought of her Pa...Such a good man. Hard-working man, in fact. Tall, sort of on the husky side, dark haired, handsome...and that waxed handlebar mustache always made her giggle! It looked absolutly silly on him, she thought, but she kept that a secret from him...He was her Pa, and he was very special to her...She was so special to him as well...She was Pa's little girl...and would always be...Considering she was the ONLY girl in the family, besides her Ma of course...

"Hello there!" A voice called out to her...Her head snapped up and saw a handsome, 5 foot 6 iches tall, blond young man, with a newspaper tucked under his arm...

"Who's that?...I've never seen him around these parts..." She thought and went back to looking at the magazine. Yet, she kept watching him out of the corner of her eye. He walked up ahead and sat down at a tree to read his newspaper...She glanced up at him and she thought he smiled at her a little and she payed attention to her magazine again...but later, she glanced up at him..."My, I sure am glad the creek is between us...I don't know if he looks like a boy I'd associate with...He seems kind though."

She realized it was soon time for her to bring the cows back home, so tucked the magazine under her arm, released the two cows, and started down the road...she passed the young man reading his newspaper..."Hello again!" Fred called to her...

The young girl's eyes got wide. "Why is he talking to me? He's a stranger...I don't know him...I shouldn't talk to him, then..." She thought...and quickly turned her head away from him and walked on past him and down the road...

"What a shy girl..." Fred said out loud..."She was right pretty though!" He thought.

Fred chuckled..."What can ya do Fred Lay? You were just trying to be friendly! Oh well!" He said to himself.

He picked up his newspaper, stood up and set off down the road to try and find the factory John wrote about, maybe he'd be there.

"I'll ask John if there's a boarding house or hotel I could stay in 'round here..." He said to himself, as he was walking down the gravel road...

Fred soon found the iron factory John Gruber worked at...John took him to one of the boarding houses in town, Mrs. Jones, a widow lady in her forties kept the place up...It was her home where she lived alone for years...but soon she decided to make her home a boarding house...She loved cooking for the folks that came through...and made friendships with many of them...

"Thank you for the wonderful meal, ma'am..." Fred said...John and Fred had supper at the boarding house that night...

"You're welcome, Fred...And John...tell your Ma I said hello..."

"I will..." John smiled..."Well, I better be going...See you later..." John then left.

"I think I'll head on up to bed now, Mrs. Jones...Good night, ma'am..." Fred knodded before going upstairs...

"Good night...And good luck on that new factory job tomorrow..."

"Thank you, ma'am..." Fred smiled and headed upstairs...

Ellie Jones smiled..."What a respectful and kind young man...Handsome too..." Her smile went wider and she walked into her own bedroom downstairs...

A/N: Fred worked at a steel mill SOMEWHERE in New Jersey...I just picked a city that had a mill or a factory in it. lol.

813 Mertz Street was the Gruber's actual address!...John wasn't born there, I don't think, but the rest of his siblings, except for his older brother George were born there...:)

The year, 1884? Okay, random year! lol. Fred wouldn't have even been born then! lol. He was born September 30, 1886...