Mineral Point tribune. (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1869-1938, 1872-11-21

car would crush into car, the wreck lie
over burning engine, and Charley be
ground and charred under them all
| o, sublimely selfish woman, She
flew over the track like thing on wings
/ Ii was life and Charley, or death with
Charley The headlight flashed up
/ through the dusk There were match
es in her jacket; she scraped them on q
rail, and tore off her apron. Oh, they
wouldn't ignite, and the cotton would
but smother. 1t is rolling down on her
swift as air. Bless the loom which
wove the cloth that made the cotton
apronl She tossed il, blinking and
I blazing about her head, walking slowly
backward. The red-eyed fury roared
down at her, but can't terrify woman
when her mind is made up. 1t should
! un over her before it should reach the
and heap.
She was seen. The engine rent the
evening with its yells the brakes were
on-her lasso had caught tit could
now be stopped IN time. She darted
aside, but the current was to strong for
her. She was dizzy; fell, and clutched
In the wrong direction. Poor, poor lit
tie fingers.
Now the people pour out they run
here and there. Women are crying
perhaps because they wern't hurt. The
engineer darts along like a mailman,
| looking under the train. There doz-
en- feet before the engine, rises a sand
hill. Everybody wants to know how
they were stopped before they rounded
the curve.
Here she is " shouted Charley,
strlding up with limp bundle, like a
king who had sacrificed to the good Of
the State. "She showed the signal,
and stood up to it until I saw her
until we almost run her down There's
half the fingers cut off her left hand !
There, what do you think of that now,
for a woman who saved you all "
holding up the mutulated stump
"God bless it prayed an old gen,
tleman, taking off his hat
amen, roared the crowd. With
one breath they raised three shouts
which shook the sand hills until they
came down handsomely a second time,
Charley standing above their enthusi-
ism with the fainting child in his arms,
like a regent holding some royal in
FAINT.
4" Let me see her, sobbed first one
woman than another. So Charley sat
down and let them crowd around him
with ice water, cologne and linen for
/ bandages. He even gave the men a
glimpse Of her waxy face, just unfold
ing to consciousness. Like all West
ern people they wanted to pour out
! their heart in ga purse" Madgie hid
her face on Charley's blouse, and
''would take none Of it..
He carried her home at the head of n
procession, which stopped before her
/ grandfathers hut had cheered her
last appearance. SO do people froth
up in gratitude.
An hour afterward, when the neigh
bors were dispersed, and Caspar stood
convinced that ian ingen" might JCt
be the best brace for Madge's nerves.
when her hand was dressed, and her
grandmother was quavering psalm in
the corner, Madge turned such look
on Charley as even that stout-hearted
fellow could not stand. He leaned
close to her, and not having yet washed
the smoke off his face, was as Vulcan
like lover as you could dosire. But
Madge always saw the god, not the me-
chanic.
son, Charley how can make lit
tie nest for you now9 Alter the feeling
of tonight is over you viii wish that
you had married anybody rather than
n manned girl !"
Unwise Madge, She drew her fate
upon herself. / do aver that to this
day her noise is much flattened by the
yice-Gke punishment Charley made her
suffer for that speech.
When he came in next evening, he
laid a paper in her lap, and watched
the pale face expand and blossom while
she read deed of gift to her of the
prettiest cottage on the prettiest street
in the city. The company which Char
ley served, and which could do hand
some things as well as thoughtless
ones, begged her, in hattering note.
to accept the gift as small acknowl-
edgcment of their obligations to her.
"How could she make little nest
for him2" asked Charley, looking at
her through trimming eyes.
Why, with her hands, after all, ,
answered Madgie, CRYING.
and this Will always bethe prettier
hand of the two," said that foolish
fellow, touching the bandaged one.
----------~.s. r~-------
CRIMINAL SECRECY. The martinets
of the medical profession insist that 1t
is beneath the dignity of regular ply
.. l. 1 tAaA,. ~