Mower County transcript. [volume] (Lansing, Minn.) 1868-1915, 1883-11-28

ID AGOlc e4S5us Auu Gne1r WaGCul0R W1GQ
is OF some use, while mine cannot help
poor jim"
He had some need of help as the even
ing wore on, though he but dimly real
jzed it. Getting verything in readiness
for starting was harder work than usual.
There was dull pain in his eyes and q
throbbing in his temples.
"Fhis trips rather rough on you,
Jim remarked fireman, half question:
ingly. half commiserstingly.
Rather" Jim laughed family. "I'm
stiff and used up, but I'll get over it
when we're fairly off expect"
When the station, with it's dim and
dancing lights, was left behind, however,
and the long line stretched away straight
before them, his occupation became but
q mere routine so treacherously familiar
that it would scarcely hold his eyes or
thoughts. Mechanically he attended to
his engine, with his mind travelling far
away from it to Dell. and then running
oddly into a confused memory of the
speaker at the depot, until the swift
movements of the polished rods before
nim seemed the motion of gesticulating
arms, and the sound of his ears resolved
itself into a measured repetition of mean
ingless words" Crooked and straight!
Right side up!'
Hello! Caught myself mapping, I
do believe! Jim Barclay, what are you
aoo.,? See here, Bill" ito his fireman
-"just keep an eye on me, will you ?"
the young engineer shook himself,
looked about him aud stood stiffly
erect. He whistled tune vigorously to
assure himself that he was wide awake.
What drowsy rockaby motion the
train had? Even the jar and rattle
seemed TO lull and stupefy. though he
stood erect at his post. he was glad
this sort of work was nearly over, for he
did not see how tue desired promotion
could be much longer delayed, and then
such calls as this would be fewer. He
was looking an1ious]y forward to the
day when he could carry the lopged tor
tidings to Dell. Dear little giri, how
her face would brighten What a
cosy, happy home she would make and
she said the curtains wouldn't cost any,
thing, and the hammock on the porch
to rest IN. Lights ? Queer where the
lights came from, unless why, yes. al
most to station, of course. Dell must
have put bright light in the window.
Alas Bill had climbed back over the
tender to look after a suspected hot-box
on the after truck.
Shrek after shrek of warning from a
steam whistle aided the flashing signal
lights, and at last forced their meaning
upon the benumbei brain. With a low
cry Of horror the engine was reversed,
but TOO late to avert the crash that fol-
lowed as the two freight trains were
piled upon each other in common
wreck.
What possessed you to run in that
fashion, man? We're you drunk or
crazy?" demanded more than one rough
voice as jim stood by the track. But
he only gszed with blanched face at the
scene before him and answered them
nothing.
Observation-Disclosures miraculously,
it seemed-no one was seriously in
jured," as the morning papers said in
chronicline the occurrence. Under the
same glaring headlines they al CON-
mended the promptness of the company
IL dlsmissing "the engineer whose cr,m-
inal carelessness caused the disaster,
and who, as neatly as can be learned,
was comfortably sleeping at his post,
and so neglectful of all signals -
These were the tidings which reached
Dell instead of the glad word for which
she had waited.
"What they say is true, after fash
ion, said Jim, simply and sadly. ~
was to blame for it-ard yet I wasn't,
for was not fit to make the run, and I
told them So"
There was no one to chronicle his
years of faithful service, or the "crim-
lnal carelessness, if not cruelty, which
had placed him in such position; but
these things were we'll understood among
the many workers in that railroad town,
and they acknowledged to each other,
with ready but helpless sympathy, that
it was trough on poor JIM"
Rough it surely grew as the longdays
came and went, and the hope of rein
statement grew DINNER. GAL those
missing men, who couldn't be found
when I needed single nights rest,
seem to have turned up once more, and
they can spare me indefinitely" he ex-
planned to Dell, with pretence of joe
ularity that scarcely covered the bitter
ness. The brave little woman tried to
comfort and encourage him, though the
dancing light had gone out of her brown
eyes, and new grave lines were deepen
ing about the young lips. The little
house they Lad planned seemed so like
the shadowy ghost of dead hope that
neither cared to talk of it any more,
and, indeed, Delps ingenuity found full
occupation now in combating the vari-
GUS wild schemes which Jim, in his des.
peration, was constantly forming. He
had been away to look for employment,
but business was dull every where at
this season, and, moreover, grown up in
that railroad town, where all interest
and industry centered in the shops and
tracks, he had belonged to the line from
boyhood; he could do but the one thing,
and there was but little chance for sit.
uation elsewhere while the shadow of
the great corporations disapproval
seemed to follow him in all his efforts
like blighting frost.
So the bright autumn leaves dropped
from the trees, leaving only brown and
barren branches; the soft haze faded
from the hille, and the narrow iron
track, stretching away over the frozen
earth toward the cold gray sky, looked
to Dell's sorrowful eyesa fitting emblem
of the dreary ife-road that lay before
her.
I'm going away Tomorrow" Jim
was saying, as they passed slowly over
the bridge and down toward the town.
"Pve shown idiocy enough in waiting
here for any chance or justice. l mean
to 60 as far west as I can make my way,
and III come back when I've some good
word to bring-if that time ever:comes. I"
It was useless to combat his purpose,
there was nothing better to offer. The
girls wistful gaze strayed with dreary
persistency to the track again. What q
hard, narrow road it was, stretching on
to it's cherries goal the far-away wintry
horizon!
Down on the walk by the round house
. knot of loungers had gathered. Icha-
bod Turner'S wanderings had brought
him thither again-the place seemed to
hold some peculiar fascination for him