The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1873-09-10
Catching the Early Train.

GatcalnS tAe EariJy irall g s I,
One Of. the greatest delights of 7.
boarding in the country for the ssI
summer is the pleasure a man de-
rives from his efforts to catch the s
early morning train by which he d
must reach the city for. business. =
When he get ont Of bed he, looks {,
at his watch, and finds he has s
plenty of time; so he dresses leis-
urely, and sits down to breakfast 81
| in calm and serene state of mind. sai
Just as he cracks his first egg, lie g
hears the up.train. He i I;s s ss IS
out his watch, compares ii b txlle .ss
clock, and finds that il isl Isl eleven
minutes slow, and that he has only &
four minutes left in which to get to az
the depot. In a; fearful; hurry her
tries to scoop the egg out of the.
shell, but it burns bis fingers; tie 9
skin is tough, and after foo7ing 2iI
with it for amoment itmasbes intoyt Z.
Ia hopeless mess, and he gets shis s:7
fingers smeared.. a6He drops the4aa
whole concern in disgust, grabs a.
hot roll, and .scalds his tongue with Will, : :,
a quick mouthtul Of coffee; then q
he stuffs the roll in his mouth, whileans
his wife hands him his satchel,, and Ias
tells him she thinks she hears the ~
whistle. He plunges madly around,
the room looking for his umbrella, - -
then kisses his wife as we'll as he z I
can with all that unswallowed bread ~
|distending his cheeks says }good.o
bye to the children in a lump, ard 81
makes a dash for the door,. Just i,
as he goes to the gate he finds that 4
he has forgotten lis duster, and he 9
charges back after it, snatches ii g
|up, and tears wnsthe gravel walk 81 /
ina frenzy. He doesn't like to rnnisss
through the village. because that d
would be updigniied; but he walks i,
|furiously. He goes faster and fast. :
er. Half way down he does hear y
the whistle for certain. He wants 3
to run, but he knows that heg will Il
start up the yellow dog. there by the
sidewalk he does. Then he actu-
ALLY sees the train coming in at the
depot, and he feels that he ata;sat
make rush. He does. The yel.
How dog becomes excited, and tears
latter him. six'otter dogs .join.thc
chase, one after another, and bark T
Ifurionsly, and trolic around his legs.
Small boys contribute to the excits-,E
ment as ne gees past, byswhistling,
on ther fingers, and the. men OF i
work on the new meeting house,
knock otto look at him and langh.
He feels ridiculous, but he must
catch that train. He feels desper-s
ate when he has to slacken up until
two or three women, who are on
the sidewalk discussing the servant
Egirl questionand the priceof butter,
scatter to let him pass. Hs arrives
within one hundred yards Of the
depotwith duster hyingfin the wind,s
coat-tail horizontal, and the yellow
dog nipp.ng at his heels, just aso
the train begins to move lie pnts5
on extra pressure, and ,resolyesstot
make that train or perish. He
reaches it as the last car is going
past. lie seizes the hand rail, is,
violently jerked around once orr /
twice, but finally lands on the step
on his knees, and is hauled in by
his coat-colIar by the brakeman,
hot, mad, dusty, with his trousers
torn across the knees, his sbins5
bruised, and three ribs in his anl-
brella broken. Just as he gets COM
fortably into the car the trainstops,
backs up on the siding, aud lies
there for half an hour, while the,
engineer fixes a broken valve. aaa