The Emporia news. [volume] (Emporia, Kan.) 1859-1881, 1877-04-20

man lives behind mel was teliin'
We as M. % that night was dead
square agin goin' ahead but when
L threw her back seems like she
knew her biz, aud how much laid
on her dom of il well. Women.
agin. Is ingines. Grabbed, crooked,
caBtankerOus cusses wen they don't
want TO. but where it's works OF
goodness or mercy call on 'sm and
they're right there. No. % toek
hold on that reverse with q grit that
l never see in no ingine afore. She
put all there was into her In every
turn, aud the whole affair took less
time than I'm g tellin' of it till the
danger was by.
When we stopped within twenty
feet of the light, which was swiDgin'
still, backwards aud forwards, slow
ly across the track, / SEE to Crazy,
who's got that lantern ? Knew it
couldn't be the trackman, for we'd
Just met him three miles below, and
'cept him there was nobody nearer'n
ten miles at that time o. night. So
/ gifts down from the machine and
runs up the road. As comes up
sees little figure in white. 1t was
iIlaSsWingin' of the light, back
wards and forwards, slowly across
the track. He was in his night
gown, just as he got ont of bed,
hadn't no hat, and was barefoot.
The sleet had froze in his hair, and
his nightgown was stiff with ice.
/ comes up te 'im-well, I was took
that way couldn't speak. An he
kept swingin' the light, backwards
and forwards, slowly across the
track, and he sez to me, he seq, You
and mes perds, isn't we?' 1 looks
at i'm a mint. His eyes was open
and looked queer. He was deadfast
asleep. Crazy ketches me or I'd
gone over, which il were my knees
seemed weak like. Then I sets
down on the rail, and Crazy picks
up the child, n huggin' of i'm up
busted right out cryin,, he did.
The conductor and some of the
men got-out of the cars and come
where we was. 1t was sleetin' still,
n CROWN bitter cold. The boys
carried the baby into the baggage
car, where there was a stove, aud
took off his night-cloths and wrap
ped i'm up IN blankets and great
coats. There was a doctor on the
train, and he ses if we kin git i'm
back to bed without wakin' of i'm
up, p'raps it wouldn't hurt i'm; but
if he was to wake, what with the
wet N the cold, n the fright, like as
not it might kill i'm. So the bows
takes i'm up to carry i'm to the
house. and ! followed along, but /
couldn't hey carried a kitten. The
doctor he tells i'm to be keerful and
not wake i'm, for it was as much as
his life was worth. So Crazy takes
i'm, and two of 'em holds blanket
over i'm to keep the sleet off, m one
goes ahead with lantern, and two
or three more about with lanterns,
sos to light the way. Wen we got
to the break it was just as expect
ed-track, road, culvert, everything
gone, clean as if cut out with a
knife. The water was pitchin' down
the run six feet deep, carryin' big
rocks and boulders that bounced
and bumped from side to side and
up into the the air, clear out of the
water. 1t was awful to look at.
How the child got over the gap,
which was at least 90 feet wide. l
don't know. A tree he'd come down
and lodged crossways, and suppose
he must hev gone over that. Wen
we come to it we was most afraid
to try it, for if you slipped off the
log it was all day with you. 1 didn't
like to trust the boys, and l ses to
Jake: Crazy, you won't drop the
L. y 10
into the break, and SEES: Latham,
we'd all be down there, every moth
er's son of us, but for your little
pard. I'd drop my soul first
Well, we got i'm home safe at last.
Mary was asleep when we got to
the house, and scared as bad as me
when she heard what was up. We
put i'm back in his bead, and, sure
enough, he never walked up. Next
mornin' they threw trestle over
the break, and trains was runnin
sgin. Bat the doctor stayed with
US. Jest out of his head, you know
but he seemed anxious. Seemed ss
though he took to the child. Don'l
wonder at that, neither. Most eV-
erybody did.
watched by i'm all that night,
and towards day 1 got out all his
old Christmas things and set 'em on
to table near the bed, where he
could see 'em the fret thing. But a
fever came on i'm, n wen he woke
up he was out of his head. speaks
to i'm, and ses, How goes it, Pard !?
But he didn't know me. That was
Thanksgiving Day, you know, n ]
sat there by i'm. hopin' every mint
as he might come round, so / could
give i'm his things and we could
hev our holiday jest as we used to
do. But he kept gettin' worse from
hour to hour.
He was sick jest a week aud wan
derin' and wild from first to last. !
stayed with i'm all the time, for /
hadn't wits enough left to handle a
machine, aud the boys sent word
not to bother myself about business
n they'd see me through. So be-
tween 'em they did my duty and
No. 30 went up aud down in her
regular runs jest as if l was at the
lever myself. You know I was
tellin' about the water tank near
the house. 1t didn't used to be
uSS0 IL uCAls OGb Ia0l WOcA 9OOIIf6u
as if there wasn't train either way
that didn't git out of water jisi
there, and some of 'em would come
over TO see about the boy. And
their wives Kept sendin' nice things
and they was all poor people, too.
You see, somehow It travelled about
what little P4rd had done, stoppin'
the train that night, a he such q
mite of child. And it got into the
newspapers, and the President OF
the road came up to see i'm, and all
that. But he jest went on from day
TO day, for death struck i'm from
the first moment as he stood there
in the winter rain.
From his talking while he was
delirious we found out pretty much
all how it was. reckon he heard
the storm in his sleep and the -oar'n
of the run, and that set i'm to
dreamin'. OF course he knew il
was my night, and l had often told
i'm what bad place il was and
what to do if anything happened
never thinkin, that he'd go to- dom
of it hisself. But he gits up in MS
sleep. takes his lantern and goes cut