The Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1837-1867, 1857-07-04
From the Missouri Democrat
CHANCES AND CHANGES.
A Rail Hssd Ren,iniseeneS.
EY FRANCES DANA GAZE

BY FRANCES DANA GAZE
Il say, Mr.. Conductor. when viii the next
express train go out for st. louis
ELEVEN O'Clock and thirty minutes tc-
night. sir" was the gcntlcmanly reply to the
rough query.
Eleven o'clock and thirty minutes. G..
to Texas. Why. it's ten this very minute.
! Ill bet nv boots against jack knife the
morning express is OFF.
"Ics. sir, it has been gone half an hour
! "Whv i'll natur didn't YOU &c: us here sco::-
cr? Fourteen hours in Chicager is enough to
break fellow ull to smash. Fourteen hours
in Chcagcr. putting and blowing. I've been
told they keep regular six hundred horse
steam power all the while running. to blow
themselves up with. and pick the pockets Of
every traveller to pay the tircmcn and engi-
nccrs. Wall. guess can stand Il: I've a
twenty that has never been broke. | rcckoa
that will put me through. Why didn't yo,:
peck of oats. tell We. this fourteen hours
will knock all our calculations into the mi,;Ll"
of next week.
VERY sorry. sir-we'vc done onr best : i,m.
rs We are not clerks of the weather, / hcpe
you willnot lay our misfor ,unc to our account
Snow drifts and the thermometers sixteen de-
grccS below zero. are enemies We can't read
" overcome
That's so" said the first speaker, with
broad emphasis. and good natured. forgiy-
ing smile. Fourteen hours in Chicag,r."
The stcntorian voice. sounded like
trumpet, and aroused every sleeper from -i,s-
ian dreams into which he might have fale:,
after his long. tedious. cold nights travel
Every head was turned. every eve was fixed
on the man who had thus broken the silence.
lie was standing by the stove warming his
boots. To have warmed his feet through
such mass Of sole leather would have bee!,
a fourteen hours operation. Six feet four or
five inches he stood in those boots, with
shoulders leased III fur coat that 10, ke
more like bearing up a world than YOU VII
meet. ordinarily. in a life time. His head
Wehsterian. his shaggy hair black as let. his
hiskers to match. his dark. piercing eve. and
) jaws etcrnalv moving. with rous:,-
q Il between them. while a smile Of Cheerful
8 Cd humor. Notwithstanding hi. seer,:a4;
Impotence, attracted every ones attentio.
Fourteen hours in ihicagcr. eh9 W. !
can stand it if the rest can: if twenty dollars
won't carry me through. Ill borrow of ny
friends. I've got the things tha,1l bring 'en:" ;"
That's so"
And he thrust hand little less in s..
than common spade. down into the cave ..
Gus depths of 4 broad. striped. aashy pair IF
pants. and brought up that great red hand.
full as it could hold, Of shining twenty dollar
gold pieces.
Don't YOU think can .t:rd these sre
Chicagcrs for enc fourteen hoursoo"
\ nod of assent from three or four. anG
smile of curiosity from the rest. answered rs
question in the affirmative.
You must have been in luck. stransc
said IN envious looking little man. you've
more than your share of gold"
IL have. eh? Well. reckon not I come
honestly by it that's so. And there's them
living who can remember this child when he
went round tine prairries trapping p'rarry
hens and the like to get him a nights loar-
ing. or pair of shoes. to keep the ma.sas-
saugers from biting my toes. I've hung NY
self up more nor one niskt in the timber, to
keep out of the way of the wild varmin;x:
best sleeping in the world in the crotch of a
tree-top. Now. l reckon YOU wouldn't be-
lieve it. but I've gone all winter without .
shoe to my feet; and lived on wild game
when | could ketch it. That's co."
didn't it stunt your growth >" said avo:ce
near.
Not bit Of 1t. 1t brought me right M
These rarries are wonderful roomv. Ithot
one spell would let myself out entirely. but
me and mother had coreus and decided that
as she was getting old. and blind like. i; tux
100 long and cost too much to sew ND the
legs OF my trousers. and SO put stop to it,
and concluded that six feet five would do for
teller that couldn't afford the expensive
luxury of wife to make his brecches II
was only my love for nv mother that stop-
ped my growth: IfId had an idea ola
sewing machine, there's no telling what !
might done"
You have so many gold pieces in voar
, pocket You can afford to get Your ,rows,.s
made now Why don't YOU ard Your mother
hold another corcuS. and see what vou can doo
II She would let YOU expand yourself, YOU
might sell ont to Barnum. ndmake fnr,u,.,
travelling with Tom Thumb, and take Ola
woman along
Stranger. said the rough. great man. and
: MS whole face loomed up with mingled ex-
presslon of PAIN and pride, "stanser. spoke
; word here didn't mean to: aslightly word
like about NV mother. would give all the
gold IN my pocket to bring her back for one
!. hour, to look upon this country as it is now
She had her cabin here when Chicager was no.
. where here she raised her boys-she
couldn't give them larnin, but she taucb, Us
better things than books can give to br
honest. and useful, and industrious She
taught us to be faithful and true: to stand
b! friend and be generous to an cnemy.-
It's thirty years, stranger. since We dug her
grave by the lake here, with our own hand,
and with many a tear and sob, turned our-
selves away from the cabin where we'd bee,
raiscd-the Indians had killed our father
long before, and we'd nothing to keep us
and SO We went out to seek our fortunes
My brother. he took down to St. Louis a,s:
got married down there som'ers: and ! ;us,
went where the wind blowed. and when Tl
scraped money enough together, cum ha,E
and bought few acres Of land around u3y
mothers old cabin, for the place where Ia
lam her bones was sacred like. Well. in N
course Of time It turned up right in the nia.
die OF Chieaser. couldn't stand that
loved my mother too we'll to let cmnibusso.
rattle over her grave, so cum back abon,
hfteen years ago, and quietly removed H.
away to the huryin' ground. and then w.,,,
bach to teSas: end wrote Is an axen, after.