Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-12-26
SUPPLEMENT.
THE EsoINEEFD STORY.


NV. Ndkinkl
We were driving the down express
Will at the steam, at the coal
Over the valleys and villages!
Over the marshes and coppicesl
Over the river, deep and broad!
Through the mountainsl under the rad!
Flying along! tearing alongl
Thunderbolt engine, swift and strong,
Fifty tons she was, whole and solel
had been promoted to the express:
Warrant you l was proud and gay.
1t was the evening that ended May,
And the sky was glory Of tenderness
We were laundering down to midland
town
Il makes no matter about the name
For we never stopped thsre, or any where
For dozen miles on either side:
30 its all the same
Just there you slide
With your steam shut of, and your brakes
in hand,
Down tie steepest and longest grade in the
At pace that promise you is grand
We were Just there with the express.
When caught sight Of q muslin dress
On the bank ahead; and as we past
You have NJ notion OF how fast
A girl shrank hack from our baleful blast
We were going . mile and q quarter
plinute
With vans and carriages down the incline,
But saw her face, and a sunshine IN 1t,
Ilookd in her eyes. and she looked IN mine
As the train went by, like shot from .
mortar,
A roaring hetl-breath of dust and smoke;
And mu ell for q minute and then awoke,
And she was tehind u mile and
quarter.
And often saw her-that lady mean
That spoke OF before. She often stood
Atop o the bank: it was pretty high
Say twenty feet, and back'd by a wood
She would pick the daisies out OF the
green.
To fling down at us as we went by.
We had got TO be friends, that girl and ],
Though + WINS a rugged, stalwart chap,
And she ladyl I'd lift my cap,
Evening by evening, when I'd spy
That she was there, in The summer air,
Watching the sun sink out Of the sky.
Oh, Didn't see her every night;
Bless youi no; Just now and then,
And not at all for a twelvemonth quitA
Then, one evening saw her again,
Alone, as ever, but deadly pale.
And down on the line on the very rau,
While light, as of hell, from our wild
wheels broke,
Tearing down the slope with theig devilish
ciainors
And deafeuing din, as OF giant hammer
That srnote in o whirlwind Of dust and
smoke
All the instant or so that we sped to NEE
her
Never, Onever, had she seem'd sweeterl
I let veil the whistle, reversing the strok'
Down that awful incline. and signal'd tn
guard
To put on his breaks at once and HARD
Though we couldn't have stopped w
tatter'd the rail
Into splinters and sparks, but without avail
We couldn't stop; and she wouldn't stir,
Saving to turn US her eyes, and stretch
Her arms 10 us; and the desperate wretch
pitied comprehending Ler.
So the brakes let Off and the steam ful
again.
Sprang down on the lady the terrible train
She never fiinched We beat her down,
And ran on through the lighted length o
the town
Before we could stop to see what was dona
Oh, I've run over moro than onei
Dozens of en-, to be sure, but mono
That pitied as pitied her
II | could have stopped, with all the spur
OF the trains weight on, and cannily-
But it wouldn't do with iai like me
And she a lady--or had been Sirf
Who was shef Best say no more Of her.
The world Is hard; but I'm her friend
Stanch sir-down 10 the worlds end.
II is q curl Of her sunny hair
Set in this locket that wear.
picked it Oft the big wheel there.
Times up, Jack Stand clear, sir. fess
we're going out with the express