The daily intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Territory [i.e. Wash.]) 1876-1881, 1876-10-02


smoke-stack"
g But you haven't been in the ash
issx :" laughed the company. little
de.isivels
Not exactly" replied the old man.
very gravely. bot under il. and
partly. too. very near it, Bu. | tell
you, I've been by when a splendid tra u
Of magnificent cars. full Of people in
high spirits. with one jolt befrr--be-
fore YOU coald lift your hand Ia your
pipe or light maieh--was nothing but
hep Of kindling wool, AMI brok q
scr@~s and pieces Of axles and wheels.
out Of which and cries for hep. while
despAiring men ssood round il wripging
their hs.nis aud locomotives. like kit
tens on a root. lea ped down ihe bank,
and rolled once. twice. ihrre times over
sud over. wheels up and smoke-s,s,ck
underneath, and oil was steam. frag-
ments, fire. Kissing and shrieks bat
never in tive-andthirty years ra,lroad-
j ing has my heart stood 81 still as il
did under the ash box
Tell Us about it, Uncle Zim. tell
us" cried voices one could SEQ were
used To making themselves heard above
the claiter. rattle, and clank Of the loco
motive.
Well. well I'll DO it, he replied,
as he slowly nndid bis tobacco-pouch
and began To fill his short pipe"
though don't like to go over the story.
To this day there's always something
turns over here under the third rib here
when think Of it,
You see, boys, the hands that work
cd this pouch in those days came near
being the hands Of widower then, and
my Carl and Julia wern't born yet.
though you might even then have called
me Stou, Franz"
But what's that to do with it,
Uncle." asked the circle.
Well then, in the d-'s name,
light up your plagued elegant cigars.
They suit you dolls in glass cases. as
the short-pi pipe suits us stout fellows
under the free heavens. Pass the glss-
ses this way, and then hold your Jaw
till get through:
:" 1t was upon New Years eve, in the
year ls45, thirty good years ago. and Q
devil Of storm. driving snow and
slset mixed together. | was . young
fellow; I'd been married about year.
You know the station is horrid place
for service Let . storm come which
way it will. it always sweeps clear
across the square, that's As open and
level as the top Of this table. In to-
ward the town there is little cut with
two tracks. one or the other Of which
always chokes up in the first hour Of
drifting snow. Just as you get through
the cut. in the third house in Garden
Street, behind the old-mills that we Of
ten cursed for nuisance. because we
always had to shut off steam going by
for fear Of the sparks from the chimney
catching in the shingle roof, l lived
with my Louise. aud Franz, just born.
who is superintendent now over at
Rudrich's.
So. on Sylvester 1S4j, came
into the station with heavy freight.
train from Griesthal, after standing for
fourteen hours on the engine in . storm
st six below. l WAS frozen stiff as an
icicle, and glad enough, you bet, to get
hold of the Sylvester punch. 1t was
getting dusk already as came in. ard
through the whirl of glistening flakes,
SAW the station with its hundreds on
hundreds Of lights, like huge Christ
mas-box A poor Christmas for
me There were collected through the
holidaysa u regular town of cars, somt
thing like five hundred of them. and
they'd got to he all made up 50 that
everything could be off directly after
New Years. Hardly had got of my
engine in the engine house when up
comes the station master. and says to
me:
"'Hanser is taken sick, and you will
have to take No in his place.
Ten thousand thun,lers.' said I;
but hope il wont last till midnight.
Mr.. Station master. for then must be
at home or there's i'll luck for the New
Year
'Fiddlesticksr said he, 'only you
he sure you're on hand. and away he
was gone in the driving snow.
Il thought I'd taken the matter more
to heart than II was worth. and laid the
cold shiver that crept over my skin
10 the uncanny blast that came snort.
ing at me as l came out with the eu-
gine The whole air was full Of fine
snow, and. as the wreaths Of it drove
like white ghosts across the engine. l
could hardly see the smoke stack.
TGcncluiei 7o-seosToa.l :