The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1881-11-04
I'd he ooin' bv the house. on the noon


a white rag or something to wave at me
and I'd see by the motion Of his lips
l couldn't hear for the noise OF the cars
that he was sayin' You and me is
pards, isn't we?'
As was tellin', Sundays l laid off; n
in the mornin', after breakfast, Mary
would fill up basket with some bread
n butter n meat n things, and we three
would 90 off into the mountains and
stay all day. We used to do this every
Sunday, and so Charley got to calm
it his pard's day. You see, he got q
notion that it was the best day in the
week COS l was alters home with him.
l didn't never 60 to church much-it
was long ways, and then l thought
Charley would get as much religion by
going around in the woods and among
the mountains, where the trees and
leaves were so beautiful and the rocks
so grand, as any other way. If they
don't tell us that the Creator who made
'em all is powerful and good, too. there
amt no preacher can do it.
You went up to the top of Pixies Peak
the other day. I've been there, too. n
I'd like to know if a chap can 60 up
there, among those awful precipices and
gorges, and look over the country for
one hundred miles and see the mount
aims around, and the plains way off in
front that don't seem to have an end,
and then look at hisself and say wheth-
er he does really amount to row of
pins. You see never was any Chris
tan, and never give Charley no SIGH
trainin', and sometimes think maybe
| didn't do quite right right by him.
But, Lord love you, stranger, when he
went among the angels, I'm just certain
there wasn't none of 'em had any clean
er soul an what he had.
There was a place, about three-quar-
tiers of mile from our place, where we
used to 90 a good deal Sundays, and
Mary would read the Bible to us and
sing. She was a good singer, Mary
was. We used to call the place " Dew
lis Rum" 1t was a sort of a creek,
but didn't have no water in it, 'ccpt
after a hard rain. 1t came down be-
tween two high mountains, where it
was steep as could be. When a storm
came up I've known it in half an hour
to have six feet of water in it. An then
it would bring down big trunks of trees
and great stones, roaring that way you
could hear it for miles.
It's got its name because it was such
an internal place. Often I've been
woke up at night by a heavy shower,
and I'd hear Devils Run bowling as
though it would tear everything to
pieces. There couldn't be no worse
place fixed for the road, if they had
hunted the whole country through, than
right there. There was sharp curve,
and on the outside of it was straight
up-and-down precipice for hundreds of
feet, so that if train went off it would
be smashed into kindlin' wood and ten
penny nails. DEVILS Run went under
meath the track, near the point of the
curve, through barrel culvert, and
once there came on hard storm, N
the trees n stone, and so on. checked
up the culvert, which wasn't large
enough, n the water damned up and
rose. till by n by the whole embank-
ment gave way, and twenty feet of the
road went rippin' down the mountain.
They found out the break before any
accident happened, and the culvert was
rebuilt, good deal larger than before.
But that place the whole road was
afeared of.
AS l was a tellin', if it hadn't been
such wicked place DEVILS Run was the
prettiest one on the whole mountain.
The bed of the stream was deep down,
n full of ferns and grasses that Mary
was alters gatherin', and we could set
there in the hottest day N the sun could
never find his way through the trees
overhead.
As l was tellin', Charley was born to
be an engineer. By the time he had
got to be six years old he knew the
name of nigh all the parts of a machine.
He'd learned all the signals that was
used on the road. He knew that red
flag or red light meant danger. That
a lantern, at night, swung backward n
forward. slowly, across the track would
bring a train up, all standin'. All that
sort O. thing he'd jest picked up his
self. He knew the sound of every
whistle and bell on the road, n could
tell what ingine they belonged to, and
l believe he knew the tread of No. 80
whenever she went by, night or day.
No. 20, that was my ingine, run her
about three years, and there wasn't
nothin' in Gods world couldn't git
out of her wen she was in a good
humor. We sort o. understood one an
other, and she hardly ever went back
on me. Once in while she did, and
then she was perfect cuss.
Yes! he was seven that winter. just
seven years old afew days before Christ
mas. After Charley got year or two
old alters made much of Christmas.
Mostly l contrived to lay off that day so
as to be home with my little pard. Some
of the boys was alters ready n willin'
to take my run that day-them as didn't
have no wives or children. They'd
come and say: " Now, Latham, there's
your little pard, he'll be wantin' of
you tomorrow, which is Christmas. So
I'll jest take your run down. An this
ere basket. why, the boys, you know,
they ses, we Amigo no chick nor child,
and we'll send this along to Latham's
little Charley"
The first time they did that l was
took back that way stood and CAPPED.
a lookin' around like a natural, and
couldn't say word. And the things