The Elk County advocate. [volume] (Ridgway, Pa.) 1868-1883, 1882-10-05
A BOYS STORY.

1t all came of my having a railwa,
key and being made to take music les
sons.
thompson gave me the key wher
he was leaving last term. 1 don't
Know how he came by it, or what good
IL was to him, as he never saw a train
except when he went home for the
hoildays; but he was always talking OF
the convenience of having such a
thing when you are travelling, and
limiting at the mysterious penalties the
company might inhict if they caught
you using it.
lie gave it to me in exchange for a
bit of Letty's hair (she's nv sister.
and Thompson was dreadfully in love
with herr and a scrap of the bonnet
trimmings she wore in church. Istole
That, but had to ask her for the hair,
and she brought out whole bundle
and said l might trade away the lot if
chose. "Hair wasn't worn much
.now."
Music was another thing altogether.
Herr Otto Finke was an Old friend of
my fathers, and lived at Luckboro,'
our market town.
lie took fancy to me-bother me:
and actually persuaded my father and
mother to let me come over to Luck
boro' every market day, with my
father, for a lesson in German and
music. l didn't mind dining with him
first Cuncommonly queer messes we
had, and lots of jam with them but
the music was simply disgustin GIN
the holidays, tCo!)-and the lessons
generally ended by Finke getting to
the piano himself and warbling songs
of his Vaterland by the hour. He did
so once too often though-and now |
have got to my story.
We used to come and go between
Mosslands and Luckboro' by omnibus.
There was Mosslands station on the
line between Luckboro' and London.
but my father never went by it if he
could help it. When he did, though I
had the key with me l never dare use
it, and began to think had made a
bad bargain with Thompson.
One Tuesday, however, last winter.
Flnke got so carried away by his own
sweet singing that he kept on long
after | ought to have started to meet
my father, and then got so remorseful
that l thought he was going to crv:
or perhaps want to keep me all night.
"Look here L said, "it doesn't mat
ter. There's train that gets in as
soon as the bus. l can catch it if I
run-good-byew And off l scudded.
one arm in and one arm out of nv
top-coat, for | was sure he'd object, or
want to see me off. had money, and
there was train which came up long
before had seen all / wanted about
the station.
l made dash at a carriage. 1t
wasn't locked, as half hoped it MIGHT |
be, and in scrambled, but was nearly |
blown out again by volley of the |
strongest language l ever did hear.
The train started and jerked me down |
into seat before I'd time to get my
breath. was not used to bad express
sions, and my fellow-traveler's remarks
made my blood run cold.
There were ladies in the carriage.
but he didn't seem to mind that. He |
had red, scowling face, with heavy
red eyebrows and bloodshot eyes. All |
the rest of him was a mass of railway |
rugs and wraps. l had tumbled over
his toes into the middle seat opposite.
where l sat scared and speechless, till |
1 caught the eyes of the lady next to
him fixed on me.
Ugh! such bad old face A tight,
cruel mouth, with all sorts of coil-lines
about it, and wicked, sharp gray eyes
that screwed into one like gimlets. L
didn't care much for Redface by this
time. / didn't believe he would "twist
my neck and chuck me out of the
window" as he suggested; but hated
her all oyer at once, from her sausage
curls-grizzly-gray, two on each side
to her hooked claws of fingers that
were twitching away at her knitting
needles, in and out of big gray stock
ing.
"Hush, Sammy" she said quite
sweetly; "the poor child means no