Weekly Trinity journal., 1873-12-13
kATIE-S LANTERN.
BY W. o. SToDDARD.

fashioned farm house at the foot of the
rocky ledge had most picturesque posi-
tion. Away to the southwark wound
and smiled the fertile valley, goodly
portion of whose acres appertained to
Grandfather Crowninshield,- and along
the edges thereof swept the curves of the
railway, after what seemed its birth in
the cloven ledge so very near to Katie
Crowninshied's home. As for Katie her
self, with her sweet, fresh face, and her
merry brown eyes, the little valley and
her nesting home were all the world to
her-all, indeed, that she had ever known
for she had been but wee thing when
Grandfather and Grandmother Crownin-
shield became father and mother to her,
in place of those whose faces she could
hardly now remember. Neither did it
ever occur to her that she was in any
sense an heiress, for she seemed rather
to belong to the valley than the valley to
her; while the idea, if anything had
brought it to her mind, that her good old
grandparents were not to live forever,
would have turned the brightest June
day to the gloomiest December.
But in these latter years, one great en-
tity had painfully struggled into Katie's
world, with an apparent mission to unite
the valley with the great unknown, which
lay beyond the hills and lodges. Katie
hol hn ra,roo1 - pl,N ~, L.,
granite wall, watching it curiously from
door to window, and listening for the
dull reports Of the blasting charges, until
the barrier was pierced and the railway
crept out and found its way through the
valley; and, ever since the trains began
to run, she had connected with them the
idea OF life that was almost human.
She had waved her handkerchief enthu-
sa;tically to the very first train, and
haG been literally responded to by pas
sengers and conductor and, although
she had been then little girl and was
now young lady, she never yet dreamed
of any unmaidenly boldness in giving the
same white signal of welcome, at times,
when the great railway mystery came
rushing out of the cloven wall. There
was one train in particular to which Ka-
ties attentions were pretty well restricted
"a through express which went by at 8
O'Clock in the morning, and there was an
other from the same direction again at s
O'Clock at night. With the latter, for a
very long time, Katie had felt no sort of
sympathy, since it could, as she thought,
neither see nor acknowledge courteous
greetings, while from the former, just as
surely as her own "good morning - fut-
tered above the garden gate, SO certainly
would there be ffeeting flash of white
to answer her from the platform of one of
the cars, or even from the engine itself,
for that, too, happened. And Katie
knew very well that, in these latter days,
at least, her answer had always come
from the same hand. A tall, erect, man
ly fellow he was, dressed in dark blue
cloth and Katie had been we'll aware
for good while that he was the conduc-
tor of the train, but she had never yet
been near enough 10 speak to him, or get
any clearer notion of his face and its
meaning than might be given her in
those swift but almost daily glimpses.
When or how he found his way back to
the beginning of his perpetual journey,
was a question that Katie never asked
even of herself. 1t was enough that ev.
cry morning the swift train brought him
out of the unknown country beyond the
hills, and added, a something, that had
grown to be very pleasant, to the peace
and quiet of her day.
There was something very noteworthy,
even to railway men, about the manner
in which the road broke in upon the val
ley. A deep cut, sharp curve, and a
heavy down grade, combined to make
the precise point where the conductor
had learned to look for Katie's greeting
an interesting one and her white ker-
chief may even have seemed to wave
species of congratulation at his repeated
safe passage Of what might at any time
have shaped itself into danger.
BE that as it may, the railway "cut"
had brought to Katie Crowninshield,
among other results, shorter and easier
path to the home of her aunt, her mothers
sister, who lived just little way beyond
the ledge, and who was never satisfied if
too many days passed by without bring
ing the sunlight of Katies face across her
threshold. And SO Katie had gone and
returned, many and many time, by the
narrow path between the granite walls.
She had learned to walk the rails like
rope-dancer. and she knew the time of
every train too well, as she often :old
Aunt Betsy, ever to get herself caught in
the cut. Even if she should, she said,
there were ever SO many places where
she could Chamber up on the rocks al the
side, and be entirely safe. Nobody in
that peaceful region dreamed of fear at
being "out after dark" and again and
again had good Aunt Betsey detained her
pet until night had fallen, although her
only company homeward was her little
star OF a lantern. 1t was a neat little lam
tern, with sort of piquant and winning
character Of its own, like everything else
that belonged to Katie Crowninshield.
and she herself was half inclined to make
a confdant of it.
In fact, Katie's lantern found its own
occasion for putting on almost the sem
blance of personal friend. There came
a day when Katie's handkerchief Autter-
ed in vain, and then another, when even
4 ha ranlv chn tocai,,o1 g..