Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1882-09-03
a small station and very few people
stopped there.


railroad crossed a drawbridge. Polly
liked to watch the men open and shut
the draw as the boats in the river passed
through. There was foot-path over
this bridge, and Polly had once crossed
it with Aunt Mary. They had stopped
to speak to the fagman, who was pleasant
and good-natured. He told Polly where
she could find some beautiful white
lilies in pond not far away. That was
more than week ago, and the flowers
were not then open, and now as Polly
ran down the road she thought she
would have time to gather some for her
parents before the train arrived.
When Polly reached the station she
found no one there, and, on looking at
the clock, saw that it was only ten min
utes past 4, SO she had twenty minutes
to wait. Then she ran on quickly.
The fagman stood by the draw, and
Polly saw, some distance down the
river, small vessel coming toward the
bridge. She ran along rapidly, and as
she passed the fagman he called out:
"Going for the pond lilies? The
pond was all white with them when I
went by this morning"
eyes, sir; I want to pick some for
mamma and papa. They wrote me
letter and said they were coming in the
| next train" =
"You don't say SO! Well, guess
you're glad. Look out for the locomo-
tive, and don't take too long picking
your flowers, and you'll have plenty of
| time to get back before the train comes
| in"
Polly thanked him and ran on. In
about five minutes she reached the
pond. How lovely the lilies looked.
with their snowy cups resting upon the
dark water But their stems were long
and tough, and the most of them grew
far beyond her reach. She contriyed to
secure four. Polly was sorry to leave
so many behind. but was afraid if she
fingered too long she would miss the
train So, gathering up the blossoms,
she pinned them to her belt, and scam
pered back toward the bridge.
The boat had just sailed through the
draw, and the man stood ready to close
the bridge when Polly came up. He
looked over at her from the center of the
bridge, and called out with smile:
Couldn't you get any more flowers
than these? III had time to go to the
pond, you should have as many as yon
could carry
Polly smiled back at him, and then
began to watch him as he made ready to
turn the great bridge back into place for
the train to pass over. His hand was
already on the crank, when rope dang
ling over the edge of the bridge attracted
his attention. As he tried to pull it in
it seemed to be caught underneath.
Polly watched him lean over to get a
better hold, when, to her great horror,
the piece of railing to which he held gave
way.
There was sudden scream and q
great splash in the water. But before
the waves of the swiftly-fowing river
closed over him Polly heard the cry:
"The train the fagp
| Doom 1ik&1o Do11x, Oh xroo
for the poor mans safety that for some
moments she could think of nothing
else, and ran backward and forward,
wringing her hands in despair. AS he
arose to the surface she saw that he
made frantic gestures to her, and pointed
up the road from which the train was to
come. He seemed to be able to keep
himself above the water with very little
effort, and Polly saw with JOY that the
accident had been observed by the occu-
pants of the vessel. The man in the wa
ter struck out toward the boat, and Pol
~ could hear shouts and cheers from the
men on board.
All at once she was startled by the
far-off whistle Of the approaching loco
motive. In moment she understood
the meaning of the fagman's gestures.
She looked at the open space and then
at the bridge. In five minutes or less
time the train would come dashing into
the terrible chasm. Polly's hair almost
rose on her head with horror. It was
as much as she could do to keep her
There must be some way to avert the
awful calamity. She ran swiftly along
toward the rapidly-approaching train.
Lying on the ground just by the small
wooden house where the fagman gener-
ally sat Polly saw red flag. She re-
membered having heard that this flag
was used in case of danger, or when
there was any reason for stopping
the cars. She did not know whether
there was yet time, but she seized the
flag and flew wildly up the track.
"Oh, my papa oh, my mamma !"
4