Buchanan County bulletin. [volume] (Independence, Iowa) 1869-1891, 1875-10-01
A Railroad Incident,
Boston Advertiser.

was the little history l built up fol
her in my own brain from a word OF
two that / heard between her and hel
young husband at the station as he
put her into the carriage with an af
fectionate farewell. l always watch
with great interest the farewells and
greetings of my fellow travellers.
and have fashion of thinking out
for myself the whole story of then
previous life from the little hints
get III this way. 1t is to me as if ]
were permitted to open the second
volume Of an interesting romance,
and allowed to read only one short
scene in this, and asked to guess as
nearly as possible from this one scene
the previous course of the story and
the characters of the actors in it.
The youngest was an infant OF
about three or four months old-very
quiet and good; the other was a
pretty, restless little girl of three,
who could not be still single mo-
ment, and kept the careful mother
busy by her questions, wants and
childish prattle. She was not at all
bashful, and soon talked to US also in
such Il natural, coqucttish, conde-
scending way that we were quite in
III love with the charming little lasse
and begged her mother not to check
her innocent advances to us.
When we had been travelling to-
gethcr for two or three hours, and
began to feel quite like old acquaint-
anccs, while the train was going at
full speed, the mother half rose from
her seat to place the little girl, who
had LETT her place, again on the oppo-
site seat. How it happened | have
never understood; it was one of those
accidents which seem impossible,
and, in fact. only happen once in a
hundred thousand times; but just as
she stood half erect, holding her
sleeping baby upon one arm, and her
little, trolicsome maiden somewhat
awkwardly on the other, the little
girl made one of her sudden, quick
movements, and in an ninstant she was
gone from our eyes.
What moment! The poor moth
er stood fixed and rigid in exactly the
same attitude, her arm still bent as
though around her child, gazing with
wide-open, fixed eyes ut the place
whence she vanished She seemed
literally turned to stone; with the
rest Of us the case was almost the
same. How long this lasted do not
know; doubtless it seemed to us
much longer than it really was. Then
the young mother seemed to come to
herself, and made sudden move
ment as if she would spring through
the window after her vanished darl-
ing, nov far away. | caught her
quickly fast and held her, while the
kind young lady who sat opposite to
me took the baby from her arms, and
we all began to talk together, no one
listening to the other, about what
was to be done to her. Somehow we
managed i'll our excitement to do all
that was possible; tie guard came,
the train was stopped, and the moth
er, without speaking to one of us, or
even looking at us, lett the train, sup
porting herself on one arm of the
sympathizing guard, while he held
the still sleeping baby fast i'll the
other.
OF course the train must 90 with
increased speed to make up for the
moment OF delay, so there was no
chance for us to see more of the poor
bereaved mother. "Telcgraph to us
at the next station" said one of the
railroad funtionaries to the guard
Yes, yes, be sure to do it immediate
ly," cried 4 dozen voices; for i'll some
mysterious way the news of the acci
dent had run through the train as it
by electricity, and a long row of SYM
pathizing faces watched from the car
riage the disappearing forms of the
mother and guard.
''It will take her half an hour to
reach the spot, and it is just thirty
five minutes now to the next station y
said the stout gentleman in the cor
ner, taking out his watch and hold
inc it open in his hand, his eyes fixed
upon it. He had struck me as one OF
the most selfish and disagreeable old
gentlemen possible; scarcely answer
ING polite question from neighbor,
and then in the shortest and grutfest
manner possible; he had seemed com
pletely absorbed by his newspaper
and snutf.box, not having noticed the
little fairy in any way except to
glance at her now and then with a
savage expression rs a clear, childish
laugh had disturbed his reading
Now his whole soul seemed to be
fixed on the watch before him, and
he ''chided the tardy flight of time
again and again in words more torci-
bic than ornamental.
There was a would-be-dandy in one
corner; light, straw-colored gloves, a
slender cane, an infant mustache, and
an cye-glass stuck in one eye, seem
to be, in his opinion, tokens Of vast
superiority over the other travellers;
and he spoke very little, except oc-
casionally to make some supercilious
remark OF ask some question about
third class travelling apparently to
produce on us that he was a young
nobleman or prince, perhaps, in dis
guisc, seeing for himself how ordina-
~ people Jared. What a change had
come over him now; the eye-glass
hung dangling hither and thither;
with the kid gloves of which he had
been so dainty, he had grasped the
dusty facing Of the door, and was
straining his gaze, first backward,
until the poor mother was no longer
to be seen, and then forward to the
next station, where news was to meet
us.
Now at last we are there; the train
halts, and one of the guards runs
quickly into the little Office over
which "Telegraph" is painted. Every
body who can possibly get his or her
head out of the window on that side
thrusts it out. There is moment of
intense suspense; here comes the
guard again with dispatch in his