, 1872-03-07
The Rescued Child. or, the
Conductors Srory.
N RABEccA HxzDxa DAs1s.

ConoucforS Srory.
n RAsEccA Hx1Dna DAVE. ?
GOOD arabic land ?''
Yee. Sir. I replied. and Il you plsase
to look at it in the way Of scenery, it's
as pretty bit Of land a.. you'll find in
Kent county. That stretch now ahead
see. By the way, there VAS . queer
thing happened ON the track just three
years ago come Thanksgiving. It oc-
CURED in this way =
This branch road, you see, was built
for the local peach business. I was put
on rs conductor of the first train that
was run. By George! how the engines
woke the country up! The stations
used to be crowded with yonng fellows
in fashy neckties, and their sweethearts
nice. modest little girls, loaded with
cheap finery. who had made up parties
and come down from the interior to see
the train 60 by. Every old farmer on
the route thought he owned the engine,
(the Gen. Jackson it was, and knew
each separate car as well as he did his
own cattle and sheep. They would treat
their wives to few miles ride, as you
town people would run over to Europe
with yours.
Of course, Sir, / was at home here on
the road in two weeks. Everybody call
cd me Dick. There were scores Of
places where could drop in for an odd
meal. 1 began to doubt whether they
were my uncles and cousins OF not. All
the old fellows got free passes over the
road, and forsook their corners by the
tavern fire for the baggage car. There
they smoked day after day. and told
queer stories Of their neighbors' fami-
lies, for the benefit of everybody that
chose to listen. I knsw all the gossip
by heart directly. II was Just whom the
peaches were in bloom, too, when went
on the road, and was soon punching
open buds with my thumb-nail, and
talking learnedly of EARLY Blush and
Morris whites with the rest. It's Gu
rious sight to see that pink flush, above
the early spring mud from one end of
the State to the other, and to think that
crop is the one mattsr of life and death
to the people.
The peaches had come and gone, when
one day, about month before thanks
giving, an old fellow came on board
with his family, who had pass for two
down to st. Georges. I saw at glance
he was none of my usual dead-head
squad. A thin, wiry old man, white
headed, but as active as boy of sixteen,
and with the true Delawarean knack of
finding out friends and showing himself
friendly. He was reporter on some
Philadelphia penny paper, and had his
notebook out every minute, pumping
me about the Wilmington whipping-post,
oioan's fish-breeding experiment, and
the condition of the freed negroes.
"Makes items makes items - he
said; "pushes the paper wonder rfully in
to local circulation.
He had been a doctor. or lawyer, l
forgot which, in New York, and was
starved out, he told me-so he took up
journalizing. He did not impress me as
man of ability; and besides the poor
old fellow was worn out. It was high
time for him 10 lie by and loaf with the
others in the baggage-car.
Newspaper work." he said, "pays
handsomely, compared to my own pro-
fession. We get on quite comfortably
on my salary; quite comfortably"
noticed, however, that both he and
his women folks were thinly and shah
billy dressed. I did not pay much at-
tertion to the women, but there was a
boy, Dar, :tne old mans grandson, IA
little chap of four years. that I took a
fancy to from the Arst. He had an ugly
face, but I think one of the most hon
est and lovable / ever saw.
Tanner-that was the old mans anne
told me he had brought his wife and
daughter down to keep Thanksgiving in
this village, where they had lived years
before. 1--WE were all younger and
cbeerfuller than now," he said "and
thought, may be, with the old, place
would come back some of the old feel
ing. There are other ways of keeping
the feasts than with stufing the stom-
ach, you know r
thought to myself it would be as
well if the stomach had its share of re-
joicing. Tanner, cheerful as he was,
looked hunger-bitten. Four people
could not grow fat on eight dollars q
week, which found was his salary. He
hired vacant house for month. There
it is-that one near the hill. The fami-
ly went to housekeeping in some sort Of
xay in it, and he used to run up on Fri
day evenings to stay With them over
Saturdays, which is thenewspaper mems
Sunday, as you know. We grew to be
very friendly. I fell into the habit of
watching with him for Dan, who always