Alpena weekly argus. [volume] (Alpena, Mich.) 1871-1893, 1874-05-27

son. The ship which brought him
from Australia had been delayed
by severe gale on the Atlantic,
but now he was safe in England,
and intended shortly to come and
see us.
"Safe !" remarked John; "no
one nowadays can reckon upon
that, with long railway journey
before him"
John slightly exaggerated, of
course, but that autumn the col
lisions and accidents of all kinds
had been something fearful. Not
day passed but fresh collisions
recorded, and, with a morbid inter-
est, John used to read them and
make my soul quiver by the re-
marks-"Such might have been my
case, Jane. No doubt the fellow
was dead-beat. Only the mercy Of
Providence saves me from man
slaughter, or discharge through
negligence"
One oppressive warm evening, lie
had, while at tea, been reading
about more than usually terribly
accident, owning, it was stated, to
the signalman, who had been on
the lookout for sixteen hours,
making an error in the signals.
Putting the paper down, he ex-
claimed, "Jane, how often have l
felt as he describes, full of terror,
knowing how many lives might be
depending on me! How l pray
Uncle Thompson may help us, and
I may give the whole thing up!"
Rising, he put on his hat; he
went on duty at six. 1 watched
him anxiously. Never had l felt
more nervous, for / had observed
him nodding unconsciously to him
self over his tea. Indeed, he look
cd so depressed, l was half inclined
to ask him to let me go with him.
But / knew he wouldn't consent as
it was against the rules; while,
independent of which, the man
who temporarily filed his place
was the greatest enemy John had,
and would be sure to tell of him
if he did so. l knew Richard Ma
lin bore bitter enmity to my hus-
band, and would gladly do an i'll
turn to one whose rival he had
been. / was aware he never for
gave me for accepting John and
rejecting him, so l held my tongue,
spoke cheerfully as l could, as l
walked with him to the corner of
the road, and waited until / saw
him appear in the signal-box, when
retraced my steps.
l had never felt so nervously
restless as l did that night. l
could settle to nothing, so sat down
before the fire. kept light for
Johns return, and tried to divert
myself with my baby, but the child
soon slumbered, and l sat thinking
until | too slept.
The whole time l dreampt of
nothing but railways. They were
everywhere rushing and tearing
about me I; their shrill whistles
deafening my ears. / beheld the
express and the mail with q noise
less horror, rushing toward each
other, with lights seeming to laugh
with fiendish mirth then there
was an awful---a crash, and scene
of destruction. l was awol1e by
my own cries
Irritated at being so startled, ]
hustled about to forget the scene,
and l put Maudie to bed, and again
sat by the fire and dozed.
Scarcely had ! done so, however,
when there arose before me a shad-
owy figure of indefinite form,
pointing out of the window in the
direction of the signal-box.
moved restlessly, and put my
hands before my face to shut it out.
Finally, ] started, rose to my feet,
and I could have declared the
figure stood on tho hearthrag, in
The freight, only it gradually
melted into air.
Just then the clock struck half
past ten.
In half an hour the Wyoming ex-
press and the Henshar mail would
be due. At that l began to trem-
BILE violently, and, throwing on my
shawl, / determined 10 GO and look
at the sighal-box, and see if it was
all right.
White nists had risen since j
was last out; and above them,
risen from billowy sea, as it were
abont mile distant. arose the