The Vancouver independent. (Vancouver, W.T. [Wash.]) 1875-1910, 1876-09-16
A Strange Warming.

were we'll loaded. I was behind time.
and very anxious to make certain
point, therefore | was using every cXer-
ton. and putting the engine TO the ut
most speed of which she was capable.
was on section of the road usually
considered the best running ground,
when Il conviction struck me that |
must stop. \ something seemed to tell
me that to go ahead was dangerous, and
that l must stop If l would save life. l
looked back at my train, and it was all
right. | strained my eyes. AMI peered
into the darkness, and could see no sig
nal of danger. nor anything betokening
danger. and there l could see five miles
in the daytime l listened to the work
ing of my engine, tried the water. looked
at the scales, and all was right. l tried
sidered childish fear, but, like Ban
quo's ghost. it would not down at my
bidding, but grew stronger in its hold
upon me. ] thought of the ridicule l
would have heaped upon me if did
stop; all was of no avail The convic-
tion-for by this time it had ripened
into a conviction-that l must stop,
grew stronger. and l resolved to stop.
l shut off, and blew the whistle for
brakes, accordingly. came to a dead
halt. got off, and went ahead little way,
without saying anything to anybody
what was TIE matter. had my lamp
in my hand, and had gone about sixty
feet, when l saw what convinced me
that premonitiOns are sometimes posi-
BILE. then dropped my lantern from
my nerveless grasp, and sat down on the
track, utterly unable to stand. for there
was a switch, the thought of which had
never entered my mind, as it had never
been used since had been on the road.
and was known to be spiked, but which
was now open to lead me off the track.
This switch led to stone quarry, from
which stone for bridge purposes had
been quarried, and the switch was left
there. in case stone should be needed mt
any time; but it was always kept locked.
and the switch rail spiked Yet here it
was wide open, and had l not obeyed
my premonition-w arning-call il what
you will should have run into it. and
at the end of the track, only about ten
rods long, my heavy engine and train.
moving at the rate of forty-five miles an
hour, would have come into collision
with "a solid mass of rock. eighteen feet
high. The consequences, had I done
81, can neither be imagined nor de-
scribed; but they could, by no possi-
bility, have been otherwise than fatally
horrid.
This IS my experience in getting warn
ings from source that know not. and
canhot divine. 1t is mystery to mo-
"A mystery for which 1 am very thank
ful, however, although l dare not at
tempt to explain it, nor say whence it
came.
A YOUNG widow is. perhaps, the most
interesting object of nature-or in art.
She is matronly beauty and maidenly
freedom combined. She is too sweet
for anything! Mrs. Browning says that
you must spoil man to make a poet;
and certainly man must be pretty thor
oughly spoiled before he can leave a
widow. Poets, statesmen. heroes and
philosophers have each felt the intlu-
ence of widowhood. Its quality is not
strained. 1t falls alike upon the Just
and the unjust. None can escape it.
Edward plantagenet welded the widow
Elizabeth Gray, though he knew she
brought civil war for her dowry. Ned
Waller, Joe Addison, Sam johnson,
George Washington, Napoleon Bona
parte, John Wesley, Tony Weller, Ben
Disraeli. and all the boys married wild
ows. Henry the Eighth was so fond of
them that he took two; and King David
was so pleased with Abigail, the widow
Of Nabal, whom he took to wife. that he
turned Bathsheba into widow on pur-
pose to marry her. When the old widow
Naomi connsels the young widow Ruth
how to lay snares in the harvest fields
Of her kinsman and spring her net on
the threshing floor, we know at once
that the wealthy bachelor Boaz might
as well cave.
FIsTULA IN HORSES. -Having been
harrassed and troubled so much by fis-
tula among my horse stock, and having
found remedy, l will give it. 1t is
safe, quick and sure, and thus applied:
Put your horse into break or stall
where he cannot move Take an iron
twelve inches long or longer, sharp
pointed, and three-eigths of an inch in
diameter; heat to a white heat, find the
tistnla, and run the iron right through
1t. Then put a small piece of caustic
IN each shoulder, if both are affected,
and turn your animal on the pasture.
Keep the place creased with any oint-
ment to keep off the flies. R. l.. r.,
Rap'dS. L., IN country Gentleman.
GRAVY FOR CHILDREN. Fora pint of
gravy Won want lorfva cpno,,r,,1 &c