The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1877-02-09
RAILROAD TRAPEZE.

and blowing off steam at the water tanl
of little wayside station-a beauty anG
marvel of brass and iron and steel
strong beyond simile, making play OF
the hundred coal cars it drew swiftly
along, with its eye piercing hedarkness
as MONDAY sun, with its breath OF
feecy steam and heart of volcanic fire,
and John Lathrop stood with hand
upon whistle and throttle waiting the
signal to Ego ahead"
1t was midnight, and the dead OF
winter. The music of the Christmas
bells had died away, the glao 'cclaim
that welcomed the New Year, Ny been
hushed and the holy lessotsEsY love,
charity, and good will that had been
preached and Song were fast being for
gotten i'll the rush and roar of business,
in running the mad race for wealth and
following the spendthr1ft dictum of ever
changing fashion.
The spasmodic charity that breaks out
at such times had run Its course. The
poor had been warmed and fed and
made happy for day, and would be
scarcely thought of until the year had
completed its cycle, and the holly and
ivy and evergreen were twined and
festooned again III parlor and hall, and
wreathed about the notices of Christ
ian remembrance hung upon the walls.
Plenty had gloriied itself in the Civ
ing. and poverty and vice and crime
must live upon the recollection of what
they had received until the coming of
another Christmas and the dawning of
another year. Aye, wealth had given
and plumed itself upon its liberality
In aims house aud PRISON q hearty feast
had been spread. The duty of the rich
had been done, and-well-nothing
moro could be expected of them |!
Fashion had bel 4 fairs, and given balls,
and made itself merry while indulging
III ostentatious almsgiving, because it
was :" the proper thing to and
subsidized. The sensation of the thing
was over, all its attractiveness lost, and
now Mrs. Grundy and Flora McFlimsey
and tho rest OF the creme de la creme
must think OF themselves. Strange,
how suddenly forgetfulness of others,
suiferiugs comes-how soon the
spasm of yearly charity passes-how
speedily the heart of humanity again
Turns into stone But "the poor we
have always with you;' and can they not
be helped at any time ? That may not
be sound philosophy in the eyes of
heaven, but it ia in the eyes of fashion.
Johu Lathrop, engineer of No. 80,
was thinking of these things in a some.
what cynical manner as he peered out
of the cab window into the biting cold
and sleet burdened air-thinking of the
hard winter - the almost starvation
prices to which wages had been reduced,
and, more than all, of his humble home
and bright eyed little boy of half a
dozen years, who was then dreaming
that papa" would be home to break
fast and spend the next day Sunday
with them.
"lt's hard to be poor" he said,
brushing the icy frost from his heavy
beord and mustache, land it does
& en- es if the company might be q
little more liberal after the way they
worked us and piled up stamps during
tho Centennial. But"
"Johp, here's tramp" sang out the
framen from the interior of the water
tank
Ihat's nothing new" was the an
swer. "They were as plenty all sum-
mer rs bachberries.
but the poor fellows half starved
and frozen, and begs go hard for ride. y
"Rideg Humph Aud get sent up
for thirty days If any of the big guns
of tho road find il out !"
"The light from the open furnace
door shone full upon the face OF the
tramp as he stepped from the desolate,
icy tank where he had paused to gam
something of shelter, even II little OF
warmth. A rapid sign passed between
him and the engineer, and the latter
continued:
"Come aboard. I'll take the chances.
don't think the conductor will give me
away, and mighty clear of the brakes
men showing their faces more than they
can possibly help such a night as this.
Anyhow, I'm not going to leave a fell
low being TO staxve and freeze to death,
ioIall the railroad companies this side
GCanada. Blessed il 1 do Come
board, old fellow"
The tramp obeged the summons, and
jiscanty clothing and numbed hands
and feet and pinched-up face told how