Western Reserve chronicle. [volume] (Warren, Ohio) 1855-1921, 1871-08-23
THE sWITCH.TENDER,S STORY.


brakesman, and if I had stuck to ii
might have become a conductor by
I this time-Who knows. Mycharaetel
was good and I've always been q
steady man, but you see 1t wasn't TO
be. I live only a little way across the
| bridge, in the outskirts of the town,
yonder, on the other side of the river
! "a small white house with elm tree
| in the yard-yOu can see it from the
other end of the switch.
$50 you think the liver Is very
| beautiful at this season of the year
Well, sir, 1 dare say it is. 1 thought
so once myself; but 1 don't take my
pleasure in looking at it now, nor
! have done so for many a day Its
green banks and its clear water, with
| The sunshine sparkling on it, only
makes it seem the erueler to me, as il
it laughed over the misery it had
caused to human beings; but my opin-
ions havn't got anything to do with
what you come tOask me about, so I'll
try and get to the point at once.
"It will be three years come Mon
day, the 18th of next month, which
| is May; that after eatin' my breakfast
and smokin' my pipe, which latter
operation 1 generally gifts through
with about seven o'clock, l started
across the bridge, taken with me my
little boy Willie, who was at this time
I Just risin' o five years. He was aw-
I fully tiekled at the idea of bein' al
lowed to go out with me, as his mother
kept him mostly around the house,
havin' like nearly all women, great
fear of the trains. l don't think, sir,
] I ever saw a finer mornin'-the sun
well nigh up, but not too warm, with
| a white cloud here and there in the
blue sky, the trees and grass green
and fresh, and glistenin' with the
dew, and underneath US the river
fioWin' bright and clear, just as you
see it now, sir. My heart felt light,
and havin' nothin' on my mind-l
had Just finished payin' for my house
/ the week before-I began to think on
comparin' my troubles with my bless
I ms that after all it W Ould be hard to
I find a better place than this same
mueh-abused world we live in.
"The timetable was little differ
ent then from what il is now. The
! freight train came down at 7:S0 A. NJ,
switched off, and waited for the ex-
press to go by, which followed in fif-
teen minutes later. l reached the
switch about ten minutes ahead Oi
! time-I always do-and sittin' down
on the tie, I filled q fresh pipe and
smoked away, while little Willie
gathered pei bles, and throwing3 'em
in the water, laughed and shouted at
the splasEes they made.
"Finally, growin' bOlder, be ven
tured to the rivers edge, and pluckin'
one of the lilies that grew there in
abundance, he came in great glee and
laid it at my feet. put the flower
carefully in my pocket so as not to
bruise it, intending 10 show it to his
mother. He lisped out that pretty
blue ones grew further down, and
begged to go and get one of them but
as it was almost time for the train,
refused my permission, and takin G
him some ten or fifteen yards from
the track, sat him down at the foot Of
a tree-the maple yonder-and bade
him remain there till called.
"The time for the train came and
passed, and still no signs of it. 1 grew
nervous and did not notice my boy.
Minute after minute passed away, and
at last when I began to be certain that
some accident had occurred, it hove
in sight Just five minutes before the
express was due, which 1 knew could
not be more than two miles behind.
I saw at once the cause of the delay I;
the train was unusually long and
heavy, and the engine number forty
II. Ill.
ed "Old Ricketty," was the worst on
the road. The switch was all ready,
but the train moved so slowly that
the last car had hardly left the main
track, when L heard the whistle oil
the express, and the next
rounded the bend at full speed.
knew that I didn't have any too much
time to get the switch in position, and
went at my work with a will, when
suddenly 1 heard a child's scream,
and turning round saw little Willie
struggling in the water. For an in
stant the sight of my child's danger
overpowered every other considera-
ton and sprang for the river, but
before / got half the distance the
hoarse whistle of the approaching
train rang in my ear like a trumpet,
and the thought of my duty, and the
hundreds of lives that would be saeri-
feed if I deserted my post, went
through my brain like flash of light
ming, while all the time there was a
feeling about my heart can't tell in
so many wOrds-I only knew it was
worse than death -beseeching me to
save my boy.
1.-THE whole thing couldn't have
lasted more than two seconds, and
how the one feeling got the better of
the other l never knew. / have no
recollection of turning back, but the
next thing I remember / was at the
switch working away like mad. 1
never had such strength. 1 felt that
1 could have wrenched up the solid
iron rails in my agony, and bent them
like straw; and / did not seem to see
anything about me distinctly, neither
rails nor ties-but dimly and vaguely,
as if in a dream, or at a great distance.
What did see as plainly as do now O..
although it was behind me, was the
clear and beautiful river flowing on
in the morning sun, and in the midst
of it little Willie weakly struggling
for help, while the bright, cruel waves
smote him in the face and laughed. /
had no ear for the nearing train, but
all L heard-or seemed to, for can't
rightly say-were his cries to his
father for help, growing fainter and
fainter; and then the horrible bub-
bling sound, as he sank finally, and
his last breath found its way to the
surface.
"At length the switch was in pOssi-
ton. and although it's a short job at
best, and / must have accomplished
it at that sine with a quickness 1 can
never again equal, yet it seemed long
er than the longest summers day ;
but it was done, and rushed to the
river and gazed eagerly around for
some sign that might tell me where
to plunge in to rescue my child but
there was nothing. nothing but the
sunlight that glistened brightly on
the little wavelets that smiled mock
ingly in my face as they hurried on
ward, dom 't'remember anything fur
ther. There was a great choking in
my throat, a hue weight of lead SEEM
ed to fall on my brain, and all was
black. When l came to my senses it
was three weeks afterward, with my
old woman-God bless her-sitting
alongside of me holdin' my hand in
hers. The doctor said 1 had made a
close miss of it and at first 1 felt sorry
that 1 had lived at all; but that didn't
last long, for I knew there was anoth-
er one-she who sat beside me-who
had suffered more than 1 had and
stood it nobly, so I tried to get better