Spirit of the age. [volume] (Woodstock, Vt.) 1845-1913, 1880-02-11

my newspaper In the little room whic'
served as my sleeping quarters,
Twenty years had passed since
found myself installed at Red Ravln'
as telegraph operator In the rallwa,
station, Being contented with tn
humdrum sort fife, and faithful Il
my duties, ! had come by degrees Il
attend all the work which tho place
required, That Is, | was tho tlckc
agent, the baggage master and thu
keeper Of the station, besides acting
for the express company and eont'nu'
ing my charge Of the telegraphkey
These combined labors made IL prett,
close tor me, but they all yielded a very
comfortable income and as ] wa'
troubled with no unsatislied ambition
| counted myself well fixed. As
have inlimated slept in the station,
partly to keep guard over the Com
pany's property, andpartly from choice
for being n bachelor and without kim
! had nothing to attract me elsewhere
Ny duties had grown q sort OF a Sec
ond-uaturc, and had lived in the li'-
tic town so long that the younger gen.
Grafton had come to speak OF me as
"Old Billy" That was l suppose
because my hair was getting grey and
my joints triac s'ifl.
The Red Ravine Station was
wooden building, about forty feet long
by twenty wide. II was divided into
two compartments, the large one be
ing for freight and baggage, and the
smaller for passengers. My own lit
lie room was only piece par,llioned
off from the frcigh. quarter, about ten
feet square, and connected by n door
with ,be box of an Office in the pas
sengers' room, which served both for
selling tickets and holding the iele-
graph key. In the latter apartment
also was placed the old fashioned iron
safe, in which I locked up valuable
express packages when any happened
to come to Red Rayine. The village
I ought to explain had grown up
entirely through the influence OF the
great irou-works of Eldridge & Rick
etscn. There we're rich beds of ore a
few miles to the north, and these ms
well as the big foundry. which employ
ed tour or FIVE hundred hands, were
controlled hy the firm | have mention
cd. There had been some trouble at
the works recently-a strike or Some
thing growing out of delay in paying
the men their wages. That is how
it happened that the $4,000 money
package came into my keeping for the
night.
Well, when had made all snug
about the station, and got off my wet
clothing I sat down comfortably with
my pipe and newspaper to enjoy my
customary reading. The storm out
side continued TO rage more and more
iercely, but within things were as
cosy as could be. | had blazing
fire in the stove, a cheerful light
and an easy chair, plenty of good to-
bacco-the one luxury in which | was
little Extravaganza fresh newspa-
and a bottle of good Holland gin,
wherewth to make my regular noe
turnal toddy. Certainly these were
pleasant surro undipgs tor an old fel-
low like me, and as a rule, they yeild'
ed as much solid comfort as man
has a right to expect in this world.
But that night all things seemed out
of gear, as I have said. My pipe
didn't sooth me as was its wont ; try
as might, ! couldn't get Interested
in the newspaper an uncomfortable
feeling OF dread-a feeling that some
shadowy but horrible thing was about
to happen possessed my mind ; and
even when linked upa toddy little
stronger than usual it tailed to bring
the reIlet had hoped for.
"It all comes of that pesky money
package mutlered to myself. "Why
couldn't it have got here on the ll,3O
and saved me the JoD OF keeping IL
over night I"
lust at that moment came terri
ic clap Of thunder, aud flash OF light
ming vivid enough TO make the lamp
seem dim. I had locked up the pack
age in the safe, and put the key
there was no combination lock-in
my pocket. 1t had occurred to me
often tha! Il person could open it ev er
if he was not skillful cracksman. II
was my custom to leave my doo1
open between my little room and the
ticket office, so that If Red Ravlne
was called on the telegraph key i
could hear it. The instrument had