The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1885-05-15
VEDDED TO THE ENGINE,

a man with gray hair, closely cropped
and clean shaven chin, sat upon the
drivers seat Of q locomotive standing in
the yard. His eyes were keen and gray,
and de- pltc his SCARED cheek, rugged jaw
and flru nsouth. there was gentle, even
sad, expression upon his face He wore a
blouse and oyeralls. and eyed his locomo-
tive carefully. He was the engineer
waitiag for Jhe signal to back up and
"hcok on TO the last express.
"Suppose y9u think a good deal of your
machine, don't you2' remarked an ad-
miripg bystander
Think a good deal Of herr Why do
you say so?'
The bystander, not encouraged by the
engineers manner. left the cab and walked
around the engine aduiriug the bright
rods, pipes and mechsuism-the silent, yet
breathing thing of power. Soon he saw
the man ia blouse and overalls crawling
under the machine with an oil-can in his
hand Some oil was dropped in a cup here
and there, d valve or two inSL ted, a nut
frightened or examined, and in another
moment the engineer stood by the
strangers side He had not forgotten the
latter's query, for he said
SO YOU think Ike her, do you?"
And then nfter pause and il a lower,
ulDfE ul-lt ltON lDne-
Why shouldn't ike hers She is the
only thing on earth have TO love"
Touched and interested by these words
and by the manner in which they were
said, the stranger made inquiries tending
to draw rhe old man out. He succeeded.
No. / have nothing else to love, - said
the rugged engineer; =" live upon my en-
glue and for her She is all the world to
me. | am without vie. child or relative
| am alone in the wOr!d-uay engine and
me. Every trip | make with her ! call my
bridal tour. OnCe-but no matter about
that And the grey head Julpcd aside.
once you said, went you tell me
what that means -
"Once," replied the engineer, his
voice more husSy than befcre-' that
once means much 70 me It's nothing
to you And vet and yet it will do no
harm to tell. Il il no secret. There is
nothing 70 oe ashamed Of
Here he engineer drew from his blouse
pOcNet big silver watch and glanced at
its face.
Il have eight minutes before the gong
sounds" ne contin led, e aud in those
eiEht minutes viii tell YOU what has
: been an eternity for me. Sixteen years
ago was youIlg engineer of thirty.
EOd thoUCht me older. OF course. but I am
Cn.y fotty-six. | was then euQaged %
you how much / loved her what hopes
and ambitions / had for tie future Just
then ! was promoted from a freight to a
2 passenger engine but was trfneferl ed to
: The western end of the road. That caused
parting. bat we sTran2ed that ! was to
be e ne three mo l5hs and then retu n for
my BRIDE. The three months ass-d slowly
enough you are not OlC snd perhaTs
your own eSI erlsH re VIII tel yoI what
putiPIce 2in- mast la { Ueen. But
saved IN! meEe- pgO id~d little home
St he eno of Ny rua, aud was happy.
No. y lt o-z .ay IN a le4Ce those
were tie p, I--r 81. - Of nv lie. / knew
/ lad r.yaLfol TIE lady affections, but
even this did not worry me, 50 great was
my confidence q her.
- " hen the three months were nearly
up ] applied for leave of absence, and one
night was on the ucNt run TO the last be
fore l should go East 70 my wedding
The night was dark and : Ormv. At b
Station | had orders 10 lass, without
stopping, No. q, v hich was to be side
tracked for me. Our orders are to slow
up little for such Tas -ings and sound the
whistle. | did so as ! al proached, but
heard no answering signal, and supposed
all was right. But Just as / rounded the
curve leading to the station heard warn
ing signals from the whistle and saw a
man With lantern running toward me
and swinging his red lamp across the
track. y st coDd glance showed me the
rear car OF 10. S Rnding haI on the sid
ding and haA Oh the main track. II had
been Ge q lei by tie ice at the frOZ. There
are times when man thinks with the
RAJ idity OF lightning, and this Is what
hasbetl through my brain. In making
the siding NO. D was a minute or two lat e,
and AT the last second the mist ap had
occurred at the fro9 What in twenty
81, Unds more would have Gecn a
clear track for me wes now hlocS by a
sleeping coach, pro ooably filled with pas
seugeTs unconscious o. their danger. In
the distance / had to run, my heavy train
could not be stopped, and a collision was
inevitable. What srould | do AS |
said all this came to me ike fiash. At
the same instant 1 deCi.led what to do, and
began doing il. Ny course was as clear
to me as II / had thought il out by the
hon FfeTr fFaa CaH ~ 10 of ha ms sfaFa
/ saw the danger gnal ! had shut of
steam ana set my brakes hard down.
The next second / reversed my engine.
The result, o. course, was great check to
our s. eed. The set brakes MAKE the long
train BEGIN t. drag after us lEe a heavy
weight Then | set my lever ahead once
more, and pulled the throttle wide open.
She bounded like a hare, broke the
couplings between the ender and bag
gage car, and in twenty seconds more
not again sh I Oil steam and reversed, set
ting he brake hard on. If you were an
experienced railrCaI man you would uu-
derstand why all This was done A lone
engine can always be stopped quickly. In
this case we stopped our engine almost to
a stend-still forty feet from the sleepirg q
coach. Back OF us Was the heavy train,
coming like an avalanche despite the
brakes. But by opping the engine on
aheai | made the locomotive receive the
brunJ of I. e train shock instead Of the
coach That was my aim and / sue
ceeded. BEFORE the tram crashed into the
tender my fireman jumped aud WAS safe.
Having done all that man could do | was
about TO follow him, tut a glance ahead
at the sleeping car seemed 10 strike me
numb. | knew the coach was safe from
seri8tIs in iury and also the passengers in
IN, own train. h only danger was in
my cab where in q few seconds would
come tie crash But could not stir.
lost all feeling but that OF vision. saw"