Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1870-03-02

| knew | was losing wind. was eneour-
aged in the race by sundry helpful fellows
who kept crying out as | passed, Go it,
CATERS - - Plucky boy" " He amt left,
o, no :" and other weIl-meaning and be-
nignant exhortations.
Though intended, perhaps, helping me
over the course, | found that the more
they shouted the less inclined | was to
run, and the more decidedly did the loco
motive make terrible keadway against me.
To give up the chase, to submit to the cha
grin of being left, to lose my party and
my passage, to meet with disappointment
and not to meet with friends-all this was
bad enough but the thought of encounter
ing, all the way back to the depot, that
line of interesting individuals who, with
their cheerful exclamatiOns, had so feeling
ly encouraged me on my outward journey,
this was the bitterest pill in this unex-
pected dose. But 1t must be done so
tapering off gradually, l gave up the con-
test, and turned back to meet my fate, and
if Icould find him-the depot master,
whose biundoring statements were the
cause Of an my trouble Without search
that individual a,isauood 10 greet me with
the bland recogniti0n of fact that no one
could well deny Well, you got left, did
you ?" L replied only with the resentment
of a " silencing eye" If L looked as 1
tried to look, my photograph taken at that
instant would hardly be chosen to grace an
album gallery Of .. eminent divines." Sew
eral bystanders, seeking information, asked
with show of confidential interest IN my
case, in what wise the thing happened, and
others, wishing :. to point moral" advised
me to be on hand little earlier next time.
With returning breath, relief and words
came together, and | squarely charged the
railuoad official with all the blame.
spoke of his incompetency, in no measured
terms, recalling how after had placed my
party in the car, he had assured me that
there were full seventeen minutes to spare
before the train went out while here,
said |, with triumphant exhibition of my
watch. the seventeen minutes are even now
barely up, and vet the train Is gone and
out of sight.
After no little hot shot cast back and
forth with the usual variations and final
perorations Of d" YOU did and you didn't, -
you're another" &c, l asked him wheth-
er | would be risking another chance of
being left if | depended upon him to give
me the exact hour OF the departure Of the
nert Eastern train. " Eastern - exclaimed
he. Yes, Eastern" replied I, with a
decided upward and sarcastic infection.
" Why" quoth he, the train you've Just
been chasing with such poor luck, wasn't
an Eastern train, but the Western express ~
With much increasing confusion and ex-
citement | stammered out, Then where
in Joppa IS the Eastern train ?" Why,
there it Is" replied he, Just getting un-
der way at the other end of the depot; leg
it, or you'll lose that"
If ever L did make fast time. made it
then. passed right through that depot
like wind. l felt as if 1 were all legs.
One glance, however, at the rear door of
the last car as l was nearing 1t, came near
I being to much for me. L discovered the
group of my long lost frien6ls, whose forms
and faces seemed bursting with poorly sup
pressed aud ill-timed mirth.
/ As l reached safely the platform, the
fire that opened upon me could only be
equalled for its mercileSs effect by the fire
I in the rear from which l had providential-
/ lyfed. l heard jibes, and jokes, and jeers
l heard the hoarSe laugh OF tuiI-chested
men, the hysterical efforts Of mirth-ex.
hausted women They had all witnessed
my chase after the wrong train; now fear.
full lest indeed [ should overtake it, and
then rejoiced at my evident lack of what
+ jockeys call " bottom" as my speed began
to slacken and my chances with the loco
motive began to grow small by degree:
and beautifully less" They had witnessed
the " blowing up" administered to the de.
pot master, the strange procrastination IL
starting for the right train. until at length
/ it had actually started and l had entered
upon a second q" stern chase" Then they
feared | was left again, as they looked with
breathless interest at the unequal contest
of legs rerSus a locomotive. They had
witnessed my final triumph, but how grace
fully was welcomed, and with what feel
ings l received their peculiar congratula-
tion, leave my readers to imagine.