Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1879-10-23
WOODBURY., N. j., THURSDAY, OCTOBER %, 1879.

clivity-ever lodges, bushes. powders.
tripping against wheels, stumbling over
mass Of broken sidings, sinking ankle
deep in grain-Babcock and the doctors
followed with a confused murmur of,
Great strain y" nervous system ~
"a little something stimulating
The shattered Bucephalus had been
drawn out, and fires that had started up
from the scattered Goals had been
extinguished; but no man knew what
flames might be slyly creeping on be-
meath the mass.
The men working in the debris did
not observe Meb until her voice, like a
steel javelin, smote the sides of the
gully: Winnin
Involuntary every hand paused, and
the cry broke through the silence:
Winn, Winnm
Then, faint and feeble, only few feet
away-a little backs little beneath came
the response:
Here, Meb; here!n
Then clustered upon that part of the
ruins; they piled AK, and pulley, sand
lever-hfting wheels and trucks, tossing
aside grain, throwing off girders and
fragments of sidings.
Upon the track stood three petroleum
cars; a fourth lay half way down with
its stout guard broken, its sides batter
ed, but thank God! whole. A fifth hurl-
ed on the sharp projecting rocks, had
been rent, and poured its contents
through the wheat. A dozen grain cars
had been crushed anl piled in between
this place and the engine, but how rapid
ly the petroleum would penetrate, or
how quickly it might be ignited by some
unextinguished ember, no man could
tell.
A sudden pause in the work-they had
reached Winn. A silence like that fol-
lowing Meb's cry-they have drawn him
forth. Up the sides of the ravine strug-
gled the procession-stretcher woman,
physicians, men with adzes, axes,
shovels, crowbars.
No one observed a slender spire ofblue
smoke that curled up at the edge of the
saturated grain; but in less than ten
minutes all the wreck was a mass of
cracking, roaring flame flame blazing
up in red and blue points to the cool,
moon-lit heavens, tapping the weather.
beaten sleepers of the bridge and snap
ping through the branches of the over
hanging hemlocks; but Winn was safe,
safe upon the track.
He had lain with his lower limbs too
near the escaping steam. Fastidious
people, reading of the accident in the
morning papers, wished reporters would
spare the public such horri ble details.
The doctors administered brandy and
injected morphine, and Winn was un-
conscious of much pain. While the
train backed rapidly down to the Clinchy
turn-table he lay with his head upon
pillow in Meb's lap, looking up at her
silently. His eyes fell at length from
her face to her shoulders.
/" Oughtn't you to have worn some
thing thicker?n
"Oh, don't, Winn; you'll kill me if
you think OF me nowm
The first tears Meb had shed since
those elected by Mr. Charles Fordyce's
tender sympathy rained on Winn's up
turned face.
The Flyer" was racing through the
tortuous defile now. On and on to the
open plain again, and familiar buildings
rushed past.
We're almost home, Winn-homei
Do you understand"
Meb bent, covering one side of Winn's
face with her tears and kisses; wiping
it dry with the precious illusion that
had unfastened and dangled from her
throat.
The house was lighted, linen airing by
the fire, and Mrs. Weir moving about
with wet bandage around her head.
Railroad men thronged in, proffering
assistance.
Under the circumstances she can't
wish him to live," Mr.. Charlie Fordyce
had remarked upon his way down.
Once, in passing through the hall,
Meb encountered Mr.. Fordyce.
a Is there anything in my power to do
for you?" he inquired impressively.
Mr. Fordyce had nothing in his own
nature, observation, or experience, to
teach him the revulsion Of u healthy soul
toward any individual once instrumental
III diverting its sentiments from legiti-
mate channels.
AS he stood attitudinizing with his
grandmother's eyes, Meb turned and
surveyed him.
She hated his soft voice, hated his
great limpid eyes, hated him, hated him,
hated him!
"YouP Oh! yes, you might go to the
druggists. The doctor wishes to send.
If Winn dies there is nothing in the
whole wide world for which care"
Mr.. Fordyce shrank little. He had
expected nothing less than an oppor-
tunity to console her with an honorable
reticence in expression.
There followed weeks wherein the
rival powers of the ply sical world-life
and death-locked arms and contended
for dominion over Winn. Life came off
a hard pressed, wounded victor. 1t was
long after he was out of danger before
the man seemed to lift for observation
the remaining threads of his connection
with the world.
One morning when Meb, who had
been singing around the kitchen, came
in with beef, eggs and tea, he threw out
his hands and cried:
"Oh, Meb, why didn't you let me goP
1t was cruel to keep me-a crippled!
What can | ever beP"
Meb set down the waiter, grasped one
of the sick, corded hands and raised it
to her lips.
"Winn, Winn. I'm SO happy want
to sing all the time. You are living,
thinking, feeling human being in Gods
good world; and just to be that is worth
everything. Isn't itp 1t. is worth
everything for me. We shall get along.
Just see how large and strong my wrists
are."
Winn could have clasped three such
wrists between his thumb and fore
finger.
Railroad men are a generous set.