Mountain Democrat., 1857-10-03
A Railway RelnInIscence.
BY FRANCIS D. GAGE.

~~~~N~A~AS - NSeNA~s
"Isay, Mr.. Conductor, when will the
next express train go out to st. Louis ?n-
"Elevcn o'clock and thirty minutes, to-
night, sir" was the gentlemanly reply to
the rough query.
"Eleven o'clock and thirty minutes.
Go to Tcxasl Why, It's ten this very
minute. Ill bet my boots against ajack-
knife the morning express is off,"
"Yes, sir, it has been gone half an
hour"
"Why in natur didn't you get us here
soonerP Fourteen hours in Chicager is
enough to break feller all to smash
Fourteen hours in Chicager putting and
blowingl Wal, guess can stand it;
I've twenty that's never been broke; 1
think that will put me through. Why
didn't you fire up, old bags-give your
old hos another peck of oats? / tell ye,
this fourteen hours will knock my calcu-
lations all into the middle of next week. 3"
"Very sorry, sir-we've done our best {;
but as VIC are not clerks of the weather,
hopo you will not lay your misfortunes to
our account. Snow-drifts, and the ther-
mometer sixteen degrees below zero. are
enemies We can't readily overcome"
"Thats So" said the first speaker, with
broad emphasis, and good-natured, for
giving smile. "Fourtecn hours in Chi.
cagor!"
The stentorian voice, sounding like o
trumpet, had aroused every sleeper from
clysian dreams, into which he might have
fallen after his long, tedious, cold nights
travel. Every head was turned, every
eye was fixed on tho man who had bro
ken the silence. He was standing by the
stove, warming his boots. To have war
med his feet through such mass of cow
hide and sole-leather would have been q
fourteen hours operation. Six feet four
or five inches he stood in those boots,
with shoulders ceased IN fur coat that
looked more like bearing up world, than
you will meet ordinarily in lifetimc.-
His head Websterian, his shaggy hair
black as jet, his whiskers to match, his
dark, piercing eye, and his jaws eternally
moving, with q rousing quid between
them, with smile of cheerful good hu.
NOR, Notwithstanding his seeming impa-
tience, attracted every ones attention.
Fourteen hours in Chicager, ehf-
Wal, / can stand it if the rest can; If
twenty dollars won't carry me through,
I'll borry Of my friends. I've got the
things that'll bring 'em. That's So"
And he thrust hand little less in
size than common spade down into tho
cavernous depths Of a broad striped, ,flashy
pair Of pants, and brought up that great,
red hand, full as It could hold, Of shining
twenty dollar gold pieces.
Don't yer think can stand these ere
Chicagers for one fourteen hours :"
A nod Of assent from three or four, and
. smile Of curiosity from the rest, answer.
cd his question in the affirmative.
You must have been in luck, stran.
ger" said an envious-loOking little man.
"You've more than your share of gold"
~ have, ehP Well, reckon not. /
camc honestly by it. TRGt's Sol And
there's them living who can remember
this child when he went around the prai-
ries trapping prairie hens and the like,
to get nights lodging, or pair Of shoes
to keep the masSasaugers from biting his
toes; I've hung myself up more than one
night in the timber to keep out of the
way Of tho wild varmints; best sleeping
in tho world, in the crotch Of . tree.top1
Now, reckon you wouldn't believe It,
but I've gone all winter without shoe to
my foot; and lived on wild game, whenI
could catch it. That's So"
"Didn't stunt your growth" said .
voice near.
Not bit CT it It brought mo up
right The p'rarriCs are wonderful roomy.
/ thought one spell would let myself out
entirely, but me and mother held corcus,
and decided that as she was getting old,
and blind like, it TUX too long, and cost
too much to sew up the legs Of my trOw-
sers, end sol put . stop to it. and con-
cluded that six feet Ave would do for .
feller that couldn't afford the expensive
luxury Of wife to make his breeches.-
1t was only my love for my mother that
stopped my growth. IfTd had an indea
ola sewing machine there's ne telling what
/ might have done
"YOu have 60 many gold pieces in your
pocket you can afford to get your trOW-
sers made now. Why don't you and your
mother hold another cOrcus and zee what
you can dOe If she wOuldlet you expand
yourself, you might sell out to Barnum,
and make fortune travelling with Tom
Thumb, and take the old woman along"
"Stranger," said the rough, great man,
and his whole face loOmed up with min
gled expression Of pain and pride,-
"Stranger, l spoke word here didn't
mean to; . slightly word, like, about my
mother. l would give all the gold In my
pocket to bring her back for one hour, to
look upon this country Asit Is now. She
had her cabin here when Chicager was
nowhere; here she raised her boys-she
couldn't give them larnin', but she taught
them better things than books can give !;
to be honest useful, and industriOus.-
She taught them to DO faithful and true !;
to stand by . friend. and be generous 70
an enemy. It's thirty wears. stranger.