Omaha daily bee., 1874-04-30
BINLEY AND "46."
BY BRET HAR1E.
From Frank Leslie's Weekly

From Frank Leslie's Weekly
Upon wasatch's peaks OF snow,
light holds illimitable sway,
Where but a single hour ago
The crags and chasms, high and low,
Resplendent shown with day.
From out the sky no star ray shines
Upon the awful solitude;
While moaning through the tossing pines,
Like some unqufet spirit ; brood,
The winds sweep 10 and fro,
And seem in saddened mood
To breath q wall OF woe,
At first they oaly sighed,
But now they moan and sob
And since the eventide,
Tneir maddened Iulses throb,
In Quicker, faster flow,
As their heeting footsteps glide
Oer the cold expsnse Of snow.
And all tie upper air
Is filled with drifting clouds,
While bends that reytl there
Are weaving shifting shrouds;
Tossing in endless vhiri,
They reel in goblin mirth,
And then the shrouds they burl
On tempest's wings TO earth.
q o
Twas ,Ieven O'Clock near Bridger's Gap,
In a s:-tioa that swLyei in the t=mpssts
sweep,
Where a lightning jerker enjoyed his nap,
When 2 call from the Canyon broke his sleep,
| And he caught the words from the subtle clicks,
sSend Binley down here with 10"
s. on Binley had NJ ounted his iron steed.
Aud the fires Of the furnace glowed again,
As the pJnderous monster devoured its iced,
And rcl ed from the side track on to the main,
Out on the night where The snowfakes fell
Out : haze the blasts of the tempests roar,
Ri. lev sh .uted his friend farewell,
As he opsned the throttle valve one notch
more.
Then over the winding track te sped,
Where the pathway with chasms and erags
wss lined;
The glare OF his graft aght CLEANED ahead,
And the snow like "A brides veil streamed
behird,
And soon the sound of the cianking steel
Was drowned in the echo.s from hill to hill;
He felt the engine sway and reel,
But the throttle went oae notch further still.
And down the grade like a courser feet
Plunging through mountains OF drifted snow,
Ia engine plsws through the crusts OF sleet,
And hurs a tn, usand feet below
The pouder0us masses that block lis way
Throws them far to the left and right,
Ints tue dark obliviOus night,
To reach the canyons by bre k OF day.
And now old Binley feels the thrill
That the soldier feels when he meets his foe;
He opens the throttle valve wider still,
And his furng &c burns with a fiercer glow,
As the piston flashes in faster stroke;
Bu. firm as q rock stands the engineer,
n in ishonest cid heart Of oak
There beats not the slightest pulse OF fear.
But As the engine is running slower,
Though its pathway lies on a level grade;
And then a tremor comes stealing Ger
Binley's hand on the THROTTLE laid
There's s'acsing up on the driving wheei,
While the engine struggles with human will
Then slowly ceases the clank Of ste,l,
AID the painting monster Is standing still.
!. Thicker and faster the drifting snow
Throws round its victim its winding sheet
And Quenches the glare of the headligh 5 glow
As Binley muttcrs, Il give up beat"
4 q o q q . g =
Next morning a snow piow forced is way
E To tine spot where the buried engine lay
They hewed 8 path through the frozen crust
And then Was the CHASTITY story told ;
There sat Binley b side his trust,
With his hand on t1e th;ottls valve stif an
l cold.