The aegis & intelligencer. [volume] (Bel Air, Md.) 1864-1923, 1881-02-18
miscellaneous.


n GOugn-loOkluB HiuH i tS, perhaps
am We amt all of us responsible for oul
outside husk no more than horse. chestnut
or n hazel-nut is The kind of life | lead
can't be lived in white kid gloves and dress
coats. l wasn't brought up with many adj
vantages, and I'm only brakeman on the
Rensselaer, and Saratoga line. Old Jones
was telling you about me, was he, sir? He'd
better hold his tongue. There's more prof.
table subjects of conversation than | am
But old Jones means well enough, and if he
told you to ask me how that stripe of white
hair came on my black name, amt the man
to 90 back on him. Oh, you needn't beg my
pardon, sir | don't mind talking about II
now, though the time was when | couldn't
speak of it without big lump coming in my
throat
We hadn't been married long, Polly and
me, when it happened Polly was trim,
bright-cyed slip of a girl as ever you'd wish
to see. She was one of the mattresses in the
Albany lunch room; and the first time | ever
set eyes upon her | made up my mind to
make that girl my wife. So, when they rails,
ed my wages, took heart and asked her if
she would have them with me, with we'd
ding ring thrown into the bargain.
ado you really mean it, Jake?" said she,
looking me full in the face, with those dark
blue eyes of hers, that are like the skies at
night -u ..-7- 60.
II do really mean it, Polly" said l.
"Then," said she, putting both her hands
in mine, "Ill trust you. I've no living rela-
ton to advise me- so can only take counsel
with my own heart"
So we were married. Irented little one
story house, under the hill on the height,
that overlooked the Hudson--a coy place
with Il goodsized wood-pile at the rear, for
winter meant winter in those parts, and the
snow used to be drifted up even with our
d0or-yard fence many and many cold gray
morning. And everything went smooth un-
til Polly began to object to my mates at the
White Blackbird, and the Saturday evenings
I.spent with the boys, after my train was
safely run onto the side track at the juno.
ton.
"Why, Polly, girl" said l, "where's the
harm? A man can't live by himself, like an
oyster in its SHE'LL and social glass never
yet harmed any one"
NO" said Polly, mot q social glass, Jake,
but the habit. And if you would only put
every five-cent piece that you spend for
liquor into little Bertie's> tiny savings
bank"
"Pshaw |" said l. "pm not drunkard,
and never mean to become one. And no
one likes to be preached to by his wife, Polly
Remember that, my girl, and you'll save your
self deal of trouble" .st
kissed her, and went away. But that
was the beginning of the little, grave shadow
that grew on'my Polly's face, like creeping
fog over the hills, and that she has never got
rid of since,
II was a sore point between us what the
politicians called vexed question. ! felt
that Polly was always watching me; and /
didn't choose to be put in leading strings by
woman. SOL shame to say It'll went to
the White Blackbird oftener than ever, and
didn't always count the glasses of beer that
i drank, and once or twice, of q particularly
cold night, let myself be persuaded into
drinking something stronger than beer and
my brain wasn't the kind .tlat could stand
liquid fire with impunity. And Polly cried
and / lost my temper, and-well don't like
to think of all these things now. Thank
goodness they're over and gone
That afternoon, as | stood on the back
platform of my car, with my arms folded and
my eyes fixed on the snowy waste of flat
fields through which the iron track seemed
to extend itself like an endless black serpent
looked my own life in the face. made up
my mind that / had been behaving like i,
brute.
what are those senseless fellows at the
White Blackbird to me" muttered |, las com.
pared with one of Polly's sweet bright looks /
| will give the whole thing up. I'll draw the
line Just here now. We shall be off duty
early to night. III 90 home and astonisl
Poliyw
But, as night fell. the binding drift of a
great storm came with it. We were belated
by the snow which collected on the rails, and
when we reached Earlduie there was a little
girl, who had been sent on in the care of the
conductor who must either wait three or foul
hours for way train in the cold and cheer