Oxford Democrat. [volume] (Paris, Me.) 1833-1933, 1869-05-28
ARAILWAYREMINISCENCE.

ARAILWAY 4 Y YREMINISCENCE.
81 say Mr.. Conductor, when will the
next express train go out to st. LOUISE"
Eleven o'clock and thirty minutes to.
night, SIR was the gentlemanly reply to
the rough inquiry.
Eleven o'clock and thirty minutes !!
Go to Texas! Why its ten this very min
ute I'll bet my boots against jack
knife the morning express is off,"
"Yes, sir, it has been gone half an
hour"
"Why in nature didn't you get here
sooner' Fourteen hours in Chicagcr Is
enough 10 break fellow all to smash.
Fourteen hours in Chicager putting and
blowing, I've been told they keep a areg-
ular six hundred hoss steam power all the
time running. to blow themselves up
with and pick the pocket ofevery travel
Ter to pay the fireman and engineers
Wal, guess can stand it; I've twen-
ty that's never been broke; / think that
will put me through. Why didn't you fire
up. old brag-give your old hoss another
peek of oats. I tell ye, this fourteen
hours will knock my calculations into the
middle of next week"
Every sorry, sir; we've done our best
but as we are not clerks of the weather
hope you will not lay your misfortun"s to
our account. Snow drifts and the ther-
mometer sixteen degrees below zero, are
enemies we cannot readily overcome"
That's So" said the first speaker with
broad emphasis. and good natured,
forgiving smile. Fourteen hours in Chi
eager"
The stentoriau voice, sounding like
trumpet, had aroused every sleeper from
his elysian dreams into which he had fall
len after his long. tedious, cold nights
travel. Every head was turned, and ev-
cry eye fixed on the man who had broke
the silence. He was standing by the
stove warming his boots. To have
warmed his feet through such q mass OF
cow hide and sole leather, would have
been fourteen hours operation. Six feet
four or five inches he stood in those boots,
with shoulders (cased in fur coa0 that
looked more like bearing up the world
than YOU will meet ordinarily in half
| life time. His head Wcbsterian. his
shabby hair black as jet, his whiskcrs to
match, his dark piercing eye. and his
jaws externally moving, with rousing
quid between them, while good humor.
notwithstanding his seeming impatience.
attracted every ones attention.
Fourteen hours in Chicager, eh."
Wal, guess can stan it If the rest OF
YOU 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 q common spade down into the
cavernous depths Of broad striped. fiashy
pair of pants, and brought up that great
red hand as full as it could hold of shin
ing twenty dollar gold peices.
Don't you think can stan these Chi
cagers for one fourteen hours'"
A nod of assent from three or iour, and
a smile Of curiosity from the rest, answer
ed his question in the affirmative.
"You must have beenin luck Stranger,
said an envious looking little man. you've
more than your share of gold"
81 have, eh? Well, reckon not. l
came honestly by it. That's so. And
there's them living who can remember
this child when he went round the p'rar-
ries trapping prairie hens and the like.
to get him nights lodging, or pair OF
shoes to keep the massassaugers from
biting my toes. I've hung myself more
than one night in the timber to keep out
of the way of the wild varmints. Best
sleeping in the world in the crotch of a
tree top. Now reckon you wouldn't be-
leive it, but I've gone all winter without
shoe on my foot, and lived on wild
game, when l could getit. That's so.
didn't stunt your growth" said q
voice near.
"Not bit of it. 1t brought me right
mp. These p'rarries are wonderful roomy.
l thought one spell I would let myself
out entirely; but my mother held cor
Gus, and decided that rs she was getting
old and blind like, it TUX too long and cost
too much to sew up the legs of my trou-
sers, and so put stop to it, and con-
cluded that six foot five would do for a
Teller that couldn't afford the luxury of a
wife to make his britches. 1t was only
the love of my mother that stopped my
growth. If I'd any idea of sewing ma
chine, there's no telling what l might
have DONE"
"You have SO many gold peices in
your pocket. you can afford to get your
trousers made now. Why don't you get
your mother to hold another caucus and
see what You can do? If she should let