The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1884-05-24

She glanced carelessly, aimlessly out OF
her window. The Noon Express was
laundering around curve near the open
lot where the children were at play hslf
an hour ago. Here and there a head
was thrust out of a car window. A cry
of warning, a piercing cry, followed by
others as shrill and sharp caused Mrs.
Britt to rise and advance to the window
Then suddenly Mrs. Britt's pulses
seemed to stop, her heart swelled as if
it would burst. She strove to cry out
but her tongue Glove to the roof of her
mouth.
There, fair in the path of the rushing
locomotive, standing motionless as
though paralyzed with fright, stood her
baby boy, Benny.
Sky and earth were blurred together,
as Mrs. Britt tainted dead away.
The open lot was not large enough
for Benny. His venturesome little legs
had marked out new territory beyond
the fence line; beyond the railway, up
nearer the hillside. While the nurse
was listening to the soft nonsense which
flowed from a loiterer's tongue Oscar
and Grace heedlessly pursued Bennyon
the new ground. When the train swept
round the curve the nurse was nowhere
to be seen. The eldest children were
on one side of the track, Benny on the
other. Benny started to meet
his brother and sister; Gree
was endeavoring to meet him s6sn
Oscar held her firmly, shouting to
Benny to run back. So Benny stood
dazed in the middle of the track while
the locomotive swooped down upon
him
Nelly Moore was smiling in self
satisfied way over the bit of PAPER with
the curious marks and curves on it,
when the prolonged whistleof the loco
motive attracted her attention likewise.
She looked quickly across the vacant
lot. 1t was deserted. Then she de-
serted the children on the hillside.
"rll save the child if | die for it,
she exclaimed between Der set teeth as
she sped across the open lot.
Those who witnessed her subsequent
actions from a distance averred they
never beheld mortal Lessen distance as
rapidly as Nelly Moop in that mad
race for a human life. Men at dis
lance shouted warninely. Passengers
on the train seeing people on the streets
making motions, crantd their necks out
of car windows.
The supreme moment in the life OF
Nellie Moore presented itself then and
there. She realized that the chances
were against her; thai in all probabili-
ty one. perhaps both, would be killed.
If she had time to grasp and throw lit
tie Bonnie from the path of the locomo-
tive, its cruel wheels would grind her
remorselessly. How often had she
shuddered at spectacles presented neal
that spot? The laws of a great State,
powerful and far-reaching though they
were, were not as powerful as the rail
way lobby that exempted the great cor
poration from the outly necessary tc
the erection and maintenance of that
simplest form of preventive-an in
closure. The corporation plowed its
way through flesh and blood as if they
were things of less moment than the
machinery that mangled human forms
pcyOuu IcCOSn'ItOn'
The passengers looking out, and the
witnesses on the street turned shudder-
ingly away as Nelly Moore sprang upon
the railway and tossed the child far
from it. The many wheels revolving
stopped with grating sound, and a
score of men rushed to the spot where
the maid-of-all-work lay writing and
gasping in a heap.
I'm next deaths door-take me
home" she gasped, when they lifted
her tenderly.
Il would never have behaved that,
sur, if | had not seen it with my own
eyes" said tine-looking, straight
limbed young fellow, whose dress and
accent indicated the new-come Irish
man. He was vsibly affected. Hi,
voice trembled. He did not attempt tC
restrain his tears as he looked after the
group bearing Nelly to her mistress
residence.
''What did you say her name is?" tC
lad standing near, who was talking
with the volubility of youth to those
around him.
"All aboardm the conductor shouted
as he walked leisurely toward plat
form, The young Irishman looked a
the motionless train, turned again tC
the group of horror-stricken people
near, and again asked
"What name did you say, my lad?'
''Nelly Moore. She lives with Britt.
over there, and -"
The mans strong hand grasped the
boys arm with vise-like grip as hC
bent over him. His lips were drawn
his face ashy pale, his eyes staring
wildly, as he exclaimed:
cit can never bet is not possible
there's some awful mistakenly lad
-
His features worked convulsivelv, hi
grasp relaxed as he staggered back
and James Moore, who had neve
known either sickness or fear, swooneC
and would have fallen had not friend
ly hand caught him in time. When he
regained consciousness he said:
Take me to her. If there's life il
her, she will remember her brother
her only brother, Jamie. The mercifu
God will not let her die without seeing
without speaking to me-"
But Nelly Moore to all all appearance,
had looked her last on things earthly
She was cropping feebly, very feebly il
the night which precedes death. Per
haps the morning would never dawr
again for her.
When James Moore sat down besid
her he lifted her unnamed hand to hi
lips, kissed it through binding tears
stroked il gently and with STREAMING