Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-11-15

AS Il Dhu lut cOHuuClOT was
her son, and very proud and fond of him
the old lady was. She told us many tales
about his wonderful goodness, his kind
heartedness and unselfishness, and when,
after we had left the next station, the con-
ductUr approached us, we really felt as If
we were already acquainted with him, and
were disposed to be as friendly with him
as with his mother.
He stopped to exchange few words with
her, and, as she was talking with us, we
very naturally all fell into conversation to-
gcther. lie proved to be an intelligent
man, who had seen a great deal of life, par
ticuarly on railroads, so his conversation,
to me at least, was very entertaining. A
mong other interesting things he explained
to us the signs and signals used by railroad
officials upon the road. One of these sig
nals-the only one need mention here
he said was as follows:
When a person standing in the road, or
front of, or by tho side of car, throws
both hands rapidly forward, as If notion
ing for the ears to go backward, he means
TO give information that there is danger
ahead" "When you see that signal given,
madam" said our conductor, "if the cars
don't obey It by backing, do you prepare
yourself for flying leap, for the chances
are that you will have to practice it before
long"
lie spoke lightly, but noticing that the
ideas suggested were not very pleasant
ones to me- he changed the subject, and |
soon forgot the little feeling of discomfort
his words had occasioned. The old lady
did not travel with us far. She stopped at
way station some twenty-five miles west
of Lancaster, where she informed us she
had a daughter living. Her own home
she had already told us, was in Lancaster
whore she lived with a married daughter
who kept boarding house. She gave us
one of her daughters cards, and Joseph
promised if he ever had occasion to visit
Lancaster he would try and find her out.
with mutual kind wishes and cheerful
adieux we parted. The old lady was help
ed out of the train by her son, and we saw
her moment later upon the arm of an
other gentleman, whom we supposed to be
her son-in-law, walking briskly up a little
hill that led from the station to the heart of
the village. Our own journey came to
conclusion in due time, and the last I saw
of the one eyed conductor was when he
stood on the platform of the cars helping
us out with our baggage, which he had
carri ed for us from where we had been sit
ting.
1t is not my purpose TO detain the reader
with any details of my private history fur
ther than is necessary to give just COM
prehension of what is to follow. Two years
had elapsed before I was called upon to
take the second journey, to the events of
which what have already narrated forms
necessary prelude. This time journeyed
alone from Harris burg TO Philadelphia, up
on visit TO my parents, whom l had not
seen since my marriage. I had been hav-
ing good deal of trouble. / was i'll for
long time after my baby's birth, and before
had fully regained my strength my little
boy was taken i'll. He had the whooping-
coug gh, and after had nursed him through
it the whole summer, he took cold in the
fall that brought it back upon him and f.
nally killed him. was so weak and mis-
cradle myself that I could not struggle
with my grief as l should have done; l
pined and moped and wasted away until
the doctor said that if did not have a
change of scene, or something, that he
would not answer for my life.
| did not want to leave home and the
dear remains of my lost baby; and above
all, did not want to leave my husband,
for, in my foolish dependency, 1 felt
foolish dread that he was to be taken from
me. 1t was impossible, just now, for him
to leav his business to go home with me;
they were executing a heavy order at the
foundry, which kept all hands working al
most night and day. He promised that he
would join me as soon as he could but af-
ter what the doctor had said, he would not
hear of my departure being delayed a min
ute longer than could not be avoided so he
wrote TO my father that | would be in Phil
adelphia on a certain day, in order that he
might meet me at the depot; and having
put mo in the cars at Harrisburg, and see
ing me safely started on my journey, he
knew that there was very little doubt but
that I should reach Philadelphia after a
comfortable, uninterrupted half-day's ride.
All how different was the trip from the
one had taken two years before! How
different was 1.-THE an-iaced, hollow-eyed
invalid, in my mourning -robes-from the
shy, blooming girl in her bridal array, who
found so much to amuse and interest her
in that brief Journey Nothing interested
me now, nothing amused me; ; all was wea-
risome and monotonous. leaned from
the car window as long as could catch the
last glimpse of poor Joe, who, "wth a
smile on his face, and a tear in his eye"
stood upon the platform waving his hat to
me as we moved away.
After that sank back in my seat, too
sad and despondent even to cry, and lay
there as we sped along, thinking of moth
er, caring for nothing but the memories
from which was trying to escape. l did
rouse up little as the condu approach
cd to collect my fare-the remembrance of
the one-eyed man and his nice little moth
er recurred to me the first time for many
months. This conductor, however, was
not my old acquaintance, being a salow,
dark-eyed, cross-ooking man, as different
as possible from the other one. felt lit
tie disappointed at first, but alter he left
me | leaned my head back again and
thought no more about the matter.
After n while ! fell into dose, which
lasted until the call of "Lancaster-twenty
minutes for dinnerw ringing through the
cars aroused, and informed me that we
were Just entering the city. / sat up then,
sleepily and languidly. 1t was a warm dav
In early October, and the window of the
ear was lowered l leaned my elbow upon
the sash, and looked out upon the scene be-
fore me- As | was thus gazing, drowsy
and indifferent, neither caring nor thinking
much about what | saw, noticed a man
upon the roadside, a little in front of the
car in which l sat, gesticulating violently
with his hands and arms.
The next minute l was sitting bolt up-
right in my seat, my heart leaping almost
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