St. Landry democrat., 1883-03-17
THE ENGINEERS STORY.

Business had brought me to the little
town OF D., among the New Hamp-
shire hills, and here, much aga nst my
will. / was deta ned for several days,
VIII le waiting for instructions from my
employers. The nearest periodical
store was twelve miles away. and, with
out books or papers, time hung heavy
on my hands. .a
The only break in my monotonous
life was the arrival of the trains twice a
day. and in the dead calm of my exist
ence this little ripple of excitement be-
came as much to me as the opera under
more favorable circumstances. Ii was
while lounging upon the platform that
] became acquainted with George Sea-
forth. engineer on the B. G. " NJ. Rail-
road. He was a man about thirty five
an educated man, but sensible and
clear headed. His home was in Con-
cord, where he had a wife and two chill
dren. He ran from Concord to D..
and for two hours, while waiting for
the down train" he was in - - 4 t
The acquaintance, at first begun to-
while away an idle hour, on my pat.
at least, grew to a strong liking, and to-
day there is no one among my acquaint-
ances for whom feel a. greater respect
and esteem than for George Seaforth.
He had been ON the cars since he was
sixteen. first as train-hoy, then as brake-
man, fireman. and for the last ten years
as engineer. v
You must have had some strange
adventures in that time,''' I said, one
dav, aswe sat upon the platform Of the
little station. waiting, for the train.
TRANCE adventures he repeated.
taking his pipe from his mouth, and
looking meditatively across the green
fields. Strange adventures You may
well say that. sir. We train men are
ALWAYS having adventures. = sas
..Snppo e you tell me some Of them. !"
] suggested. a
Well looking at his watch. las
there plenty OF time. ] donst mind tell
ing you of one queer oneEI had six years
ago, come all, though don't often
speak o. it; for you see when mans
been ace to face with death, he can't
talk of it very well. =
Isettled myself on the rough bench
that did duty. as chair, as comfortably
as could, took q fresh cigar, and be
1T happened in this way. was run
ming the old Lion from Lee to Fairtown.
If Won know ANYTHING about New En-
gland, You know that September's a
gre month for fairs, and this particn-
lar September was no exception tpsthe
general rule. We had lots Of extra
work to do. but, as We had extra pay
there was no grumbling. 1t was toward
the last of the month that the tair at
M came OF Two or three extras
were put on. timed SO as to run between
the regular trains. Jim Turner fire Il for
ne then. Jim was as good a fellow as
ever lived, with but one fault he
would 90 off on "a time once in a
while. He didn't do it very of en-. and
as he'd do more work than any other
man ON the road, the company kept
him. But Jim had been pretty sober
lately believe he hadn't drunk any
thing for as much as x months; so I
K I'd of got out OF the habit Of watching
him. and he went and came pretty much
as he chose.
Well, we got along all right this
time, till almost night we stopped at
D. for wood and water. While we
were waiting March, the depot-master,
came along, and says he: .Seaforth, Il
want You to do me a favor. n
~. in hat is ii n y y SAYS I, for March
and | were pretty good friends. n