The Morning herald., 1877-09-15
Story Of the Engineer,

It was red ribbon meeting, and the man
was a locomotive engineer, bronzed and
strong, and having eyes full of determine
ton. He signed his name in bold, plain
hand, tied red ribbon in his button hole,
and as he left the hall he said: .t
AS the Lord looks down upon me, I'll
never touch liquor again!"
''Have you been hard drinker ?" queried
man who walked beside the engi-
neer.
"No. Fact is, I was never drunk,in my
life. I've swallowed considerable whiskey,
but I've never went far enough to get
drunk. shouldn't miss it or be the worse
off for an hour if all the intoxicating drink
in the world was drained into the
ocean" ..
'But you seemed eager to sign the
pledge" .. &c.
$50 I was, and I'll keep it through thick
and thin, and talk temperance to every man
on the road" - . ss.T., !. ~ - '+ssI.
"You must have strong reasons 2"
"Wel, if you'll walk down to the depot
I'll tell you story on the way. It hasn't
been in the papers, and only few Of US
know the facts. You know run the night
express On the b road: We always
have at ieast two sieepefs ind ceach, ana
sometimes we have as many as two hundred
passengers. It's a good road, level as
floor and pretty straight, though there is a
lad spot or two. The night express has the
right o way, and We make fast time: It's
no rare thing for us to skim along at the
rate of fifty miles an hour for thirty or for
ty miles, and we rarely go below thirty.
One night pulled out Of Detroit with two
sleepers two coaches and baggage and
mail cars Nearly all the berths in both
sleepers were full, and most of the seats in
the coaches were occupied. 1t was dark
night, threatening all the time to rain, and
| q lonesome wind whistled around the cab
as we left the city behind. We were SEVEN
teen minutes late, and that meant fast time
nll the way through"
"Well, he continued utter 4 moment,
Everything ran along all right up to mid
night. The main track was kept clear for
us; the engine was in good spirits, and we
ran to D. as smooth as you please.
The express coming east should meet US
| fifteen miles west Of D., but the opera
tor at the station had failed to receive bis usual
| report from below. That was strange, and
vet it was not, and after q little oonsulta-
! ton the conductor sent me ahead. We
were to keep the main track, while the
other train would run in on the side track.
| Night after hight our time had been so
close that we did not keep them waiting
over two minutes, and were generally in
sight when they switched in."
"When we left D. we went ahead at q
rattling speed, fully believing that the
other train would be on time. Nine miles
from D. is the village of Parto. There
is telegraph station there, but the opera
tor has no night work. He closed his Office
and went home about 9 o'clock, and any
messages on the wires for him were held
above or below until next morning. When
I sighted the station saw a red lantern
swinging between the rails. Greatly as
tonished, pulled up the heavy train and
got q piece of news that almost lifted me
out of my boots. It was Gods mercy, as
plain as this big depot. 1t was the opera
tor who was swinging the lantern.-He had
been reused from sleep by the whistles of a
locomotive, when there wasn't one within
ten miles of him. He heard the toot!
toot toot! while he was dressing, and all
tbe way as he ran to the station, thinking Re
had been signaled .Lo there was no train
there. Everything was as quiet as the
Grave, The man heard his instrument
clicking away, and leaning his ear against
the window he caught these words as they
went through to D:
oFor eads sake, SWITCH ths Eastern sx-, s,
press off au!ek!" Engineer on the Wes'
l. '.'a s}2,,,. ,.. e,s'g y dEa'b' ae fAPsl'S .