The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-05-21
LOVE AND LIGHTNING.
How the Danger to the Express
Train Was Averted.

Lefty Brooks put aside the white muslin
curtain and looked out of the little window
of the telegraph Office at Smyrna station
as the afternoon accommodation pulled
and ratified up to its stopping place.
"Who's come, sis?" spoke a very young
boy, whose likeness proclaimed near kim
ship to the girl, INT whose manner readily
determined him as that most unpleasant
variety of the genus, a privileged brother.
"Nobody you know, Sammy replied
the sister, vainly imagining that she had
thus satisfied an inquiry born of only too
shrewd Interpretation of the expectant
glance with which her face had greeted
the incoming train. "Run out and get the
paper"
80, mol Billy johnson amt running, and
of course there amt nobody there" re-.
torted the boy, n with this crudely
humorous allusion to the supposed favor
with which Lefty regarded a certain
young engine driver, he uncurled himself
from the table and tumbled out the door to
do her bidding.
station is but a small dot on the railway
map, and it's function in theIgreat economy
OF traffic and transportation is that of a
depot OF wood and water for the refresh
ment of the motive power of freight trains.
The iron bond of a long single track unites
in wedlock two cities who quarrel like hus-
a n and wife for supremacy as the COM
mercial metropolis, while similarly Joined
in indissoluble interests; and the little vii
lage, too far distant from either to share in
contingent greatness, and even lacking the
Independent Importance ola halfway sta
tion, quietly sleeps between its hills, with
it's river trailing off at one side, awakened
twice daily by the shrek of the fast ex-
press, and occasionally contributing a pas
senger to the leisurely accommodation
twain In rufnfax- fha,.a raoI-r own -
reason for its existence, and it h~ibernates,
its sub-tropical name being Knocked by the
reigning desolation. In summer there is a
certain awakening of agriculture and a re-
appearance of natives in cotton shirts and
p~antaloons. At this season, too, there is
the advent of the city scions of two of the
formerly great families of the neighboring
country, who keep green the memories of
their bucolic ancestors by occupying the
homesteads, stately in an old-fashioned
way, with two-storied columns across
their broad fronts, that stand on the
heights at the other end of the town.
Summer it is, nj the very heat of it,
when Miss Florence Van Amden shakes the
creases n the cinders from her pongee
travelling suit, after alighting from the
train, with a weary look on her yelled face
and q begrimed novel in her gloved hand;
and Lefty, from behind her curtain, knows
that this solitary passenger is Miss Flor
ence Van Amden as well as do Tom Porter
and his sister, who have come to meet the
traveller with b family carriage. For
although this lady is unaccompanied, she
has by no means come unheralded. Care
is necessary in the consignment of such
precious goods; n this is the reason that
Lefty, peering out from the window of the
telegraph office, wears a face o. which
realized anticipation rather than surprise
appears, as the travel figure sweeps
across the platform For Lefty is the re-
pository of all the secrets that. flash from
town to town along the humming wires.
She has but to turn the switch of the little
instrument resting on her desk, and there
pour forth prices current n political
nominations, orders for arrest on theiI
way to outstrip the criminal in his fight
and kindly messages of friendly appoint.
ment, brief tales of death and congratula.
tions on the coming of the ~first-born,a al
licked out in the unsympathetic monotone
whose dots and dashe and silences speal
words to her trained ear.
1t is the railroad that has given Smyrna
its telegraph; and Letty's occupation is 81
generally confined to the business of tn,
road-to receiving orders from the trail
dispatcher to 'sho1d No. Z" to "keep tn,
track clear for down special" or that "No
4 has the right of way to Marlborough
which it is her duty to copy in triplicat
and deliver to the station-master-that
purely social message, coming direct t.
Smyrna and stopping there, instead o
careering on to the end of the line, make
an impression on her memory Their
have been at least a score of these unusua
messages, all relating to Miss Van Amden'
visit, which Lefty has sent to SPUR
Porter's great house, until she at last be
holds the subject of so much dispatchinj
descend from the train.
Socially considered, Miss Van Amden i
a more important subject of description
than the telegraph operator at Smyrn
station. Especially would she be so wer
she at this moment attired in some one O
the toilettes hidden in the mountainou
trunk before which the station-master @
this unsophisticated village stands aghast
But all that Lefty sees, as the traveller lift
her veil to kiss Toms sister, n extends
hand to Tom himself, is a handsome dar
face s-urmounting a graceful figure, who's
good points have not suffered obscuratio
at the hands of any unskillful modist,
Then they all vanish with the rattle {
laughter and carriage wheels.
LEFTY settles herself back in her chai
with a little sigh, and plies a palm-les
fan, as If to blow away a bit of a cloud tbs
clouds do, on her pretty face. 1t might h
supposed that h is jealous, were her pref
illness sufficient to justify such indulgenc
in the luxury of feeling. And if her pin
cheeks and yellow curls have been reall
the attraction that has kept Tom Poptt
dangling with compliments about her pat
to and from the station all the season, it
only natural that she should feel a certai
anxiety on the introduction of black eye
and brunette beauty on the scene. Tom
attentions have already plunged the sta
tion-master into a savage gloom, who
outward manifestations take the form of
strange hostility to the baggage of innt
cent passengers; and if Squire Porter ha
known what terrible thoughts racked tt
soul of Billy Johnson, the ~engine-drive
he wsrd never have risked the safety
his family on the rails behind that one
Letty's lovers, who, to tell the truth, Wi
the most favored.
As the case stood, however, Letty's hea