The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1884-02-14

"Why, DELL" He laughed, half
touched, half wondering. Il oughtn't
TO have talked such nonsense. Don't be
uneasy"
She smiled in answer, and the cloud
slowly faded from her face as she
walked on. A call for extra service
was no cause for serious trouble-all
these exigencies were so familiar to her.
Bell and whistle, messenger and dis
patch, with their always imperative and
often unwelcome orders, were part Of
her daily life. Jim would be tired and
worn out, of course. That had hap
pened ofteu, and would doubtless hap
pen again, but her thoughts turned to
pleasanter pictures of the future, to ar
ranging once more that tiny house with
its dainty rooms, which should be a
very haven of rest TO one who came
home weary. She paused OH tho long
iron bridge and looked down on the
network of tracks below, crossing and
interlacing in a seemingly inextricable
tangle.
The gray twilight of the short au-
tumn afternoon was already deepening
toward night, and the headlights of the
engines passing and repassing rs they
changed from one track to another,
shone out brilliantly. Men were run
ming here and there, waving their sig
nal lanterns and shouting hoerse orders
that to one uninitiated only mingled
confusedly with the heavy breathing of
the locomotives and the clangor of
bells. Farther back, looming III rug
ged outlines against the faint rose of
the western sky, were the great shops,
grim and silent. The brown eyes watch
ing from the bridge presently discov-
cred the figure they sought winding its
way in and out among the trains. He
did not look up, and the girl smiled at
the thought of watching him, herself
unobserved. Then her face grew grave
and sweet, with a passing fancy that so,
from their height above the din and
turmoil, the unseen angels looked down
upon our mortal life.
"Only, suppose, all the tangles and
bewilderments grow clear to them, as
am sure they do not to me-" she added,
with little sigh. "And their watching
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 re-
allied It, Getting everything in readi-
ness for starting was harder work than
usual. There was dull spain III his
eyes and throbbing in his temples.
This trips rather rough on you,
Jim?" remarked fireman, half ques-
tioningly, half commiseratingly.
"Rather!" Jim laughed family. "Tm
stiff and used up, but Ill get over it
when we're fairly of, / expect.
When the station, with it's dim and
dancing lights, was left behind, how
ever, and the long line stretched away
straight before him, his occupation be-
came but mere routine, so treacher-
ously familiar that it would scarcely
hold his eyes or thoughts. Mechani-
cally he attended to his engine, with
his mind straying far away from it to
Dell, and then running oddly into d
confused memory OF the speaker at the
depot. until the swift movement Of the
polished rods before him seemed the
motion of gesticulating arms and the
sound in his ears resolved itself into q
measured repetition of meaningless
words, Crooked and straight; right
side up!"
Hello! Caught myself mapping, 1
do believed Jim Barclay, what are you
about? See here, Bill"-to his fireman
Just keep an eye on me, will you?"
The young engineer shook himself,
looked about him and stood stiffiy erect.
He whistled tune vigorously to assure
himself that he WAS wide awake. What
a drowsy, rocking motion the train had
Even the jar and rattle seemed to lull
and stupefy, though he stood erect at
his pest. He was glad this sort of work
was nearly over, for he did not see how
the desired promotion could be much
longer delayed, and then such calls as
this would be fewer. He was looking
anxiously forward to the day when he
could carry the longed-for tidings to
Dell. Dear little girl, how her face
would brighten! What coy, happy
home she would make! and she said the
curtains wouldn't cost anything, and the
hammock on the porch to rest in.
Lights? Queer where the lights came
from, unless-why, yes, almost to sta
ton, of course. Dell must have put a
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 sig
nal lights, and at last forced their
meaning upon the benumbed brain.
With low cry of horror the engine
was reversed, but too late to avoid the
crash that followed as the two freight
trains were piled upon each other in
common wreck.
What possessed you to run in that
fashion, man? Were you drunk or
crazy?" demanded more than one
rough voice, as jim stood by the track.
But he only gazed, with blanched face
at the scene before him, and answered
them nothing.
"Fortunately -almost miraculously,
it scemed-no one was seriously in
iurcd, as the morning papers said, in
chronicling the occurrence. Under the
same glaring headlines they also COM
mended the promptness of the company
in dismissing "the engineer whose
criminal carelessness caused the dis
aStcr and who aS nearly as can be