Fayetteville observer. [volume] (Fayetteville, Tenn.) 1850-1966, 1870-04-21
VOL. XTH--ho 10

: began to creep forward, while, g.
) if from the same feeling, my sto
! ker staring with all his. might
: right at the poor child.
We were too near il 10 have
done our part, and it was with g
groan seeming to force Itself out
of my breast that / told myself
it was through my encouraging
the poor children with presents
that this was going to happen, fol
there, seing no danger, was g
little bright-eyed, lOng-haired
thing dancing about, and waving
lis hands as we came swiftly on.
1t takes me some time to tell,
but it only took a few moments
and there it all is now like a pic.
ture that having once seen l can
never forget. 1t was a glorious,
golden sunshiDy afternoon. with
all looking bright and mellow,
the hut with its patch of flowers;
the children by the side Of the
line, and their mother running
out wild and frantic like but on
!ly to drop down in the track, half
way between the door and where
her little one was dancing and
waving ber little hands as we
glided on.
/ felt like a man does in one
of those nightmare dreams when
the will is there to do something,
only a dreadful kind of force
holds you back and you see dan
ger coming nearer and nearer,
and yet cannot avoid it. We neith-
er of US spoke, but stood there,
one on each side, leaning forward
as helpless as the poor little child
in front, till, with almost a well,
l. fought clear of the power that
seemed to hold me; with the
feeling on me that / was too late,
crept along the side OF the en-.
CINE and lay down with arms ex-
tended in front Of the cow-catcher.
Only moments, but moments
that seemed like hours, as with
its strange, hurrying, jumping
motion, the engine dashed down,
as l told myself, to crush out the
life of that poor little innocent.
l wanted to shut my eyes to keep
out the horrible sight, but | dared
not; and though now / seemed
to be doing what might save the
child's life, l could not think it
possible. There it was in front,
and yet we appeared to come no
nearer. In an ordinary way we
should have passed the shaDty a
score of times; but now the hor-
ror of these moments acted so
upon my imagination that we
seemed TO crawl slowly but sure.
ly, like the motive of some vast
machine that hardly seemed to
move, and yet force its way on
with a power that there is no stop
ping.
Twenty yards-ten yards
were we never going to pass over
the spot? or would some miracu-
lous power stop the engine2 Il
tried to shout, but only a curious
hoarse noise came from my throat;
I wanted to wave my hands, bat
they remained stretched out OBJ
stinately towards the child.
Five yards-four-three. There
was the little thing laughing in its
innocent glee, for it was expect
ing some little present from me,
who was then calling myself a
murderer, and lay there motion |
less.as a statue.
Two yards-one-at lsstNall
over. %here was a shock as we
dashed down on the little thing, |
who seemed to stretch out its lit
tie hands to mine, and actually
jump into my arms, and then,
with it tightly clasped, we were
still going on and on--I with my
eyes shut, but feeling that I had
thechild tightly held to my breast,
and yet not able to see if it was
hurt.
Then ] don't know bcF It vas, but