The Arkansaw traveler., 1885-12-19
THE BROWSING LOCOMOTIVE,
tPeeks Sua.I


 tPecks Sua,I
 "Well, if you had been where | was last night you would be just as cross as am" said A man 10 hts ~ife, who had told him hs needn't be 90 cross. when he said the breakfast pancakes were too tA,ck, and too sour and too tough.
 "Oh, don't knos." sAid the wife, ss she told the girl to put some moro hak- ing powder in the pancake batter and htsle water to tAia tt. "rou were on sleoping-car last night, and yoa always sleep better there tAAn you do at home |"
 "Yes, sleep well enough ~hen the CATS arc movtag, but wc gos tn o the dc poi hom St. PAal ., three a. m and when the cAs stopped woke up. wanted to sleep satsl morntng as the cars stopped hera, and so l rolled over to Yo 10 sisep. It was just as quiet as death around the depot, until 6 switch engine began to monkey around sw,tcAiag cara. D,d you evcs try to sloep wAen Aa cid COW wtth a bol oa was browsing around the street, oT m a garden TAen yoa know how |, IS. Ina, switch enstne would b. heard away up ia tho yard hall 6 mile away, rinGing her bell like a eew nibol,aK a cab page, thsa she weuld wotk up Aesfes, Aad cosld hear her 'chsw, cAsw,' and snort as though she had wAllowed tar. nip and got choked- Thea she woald hitch ou to . Car or two, And move away l would get ht,ie nearer asissp, wksa she would come back slowly, theu step and blow her whistle, as a COW ~ouid bel. low, and eoaldnt get It out of my mind | naf .sA al d ipg about Eot0G dogE iR;o the pss;#:e baIsfboted, to drive up . drove ot loco motives to be nllked. had them sut- Iouaded, and thesr eow-cAteheIs all pointed towards the cow-yATd on the old farm, and they would suck thsiT beads out sideways to nibbls grAss. and would yell at them, aad one ugly old locomotive with one hoIn would turn and Iuu into ntindle locomotive ana she would ruM asay o6 In the woods, and would have to go aitcr her. When 1 had go, her back into the road, all the rest ot the To- comotives weSe acting up. oae wAs paw. ing the groand AAd believing, another running her horns into the gIoand Aad throwing dirt ovoT her back, while others were rearing up and hookiag, and aciiuK just Ike a iot et cattle. TAe oAly ons that had sense wac the old bell locomo. tive, and she started risAt along towards the house as soea as ! came est oi the woods, and the Isat TeluctaHtly followed It was hsTd work so get the ~h0le drove oi locomotives through tas gate et the old bare yard, Ia Ay sleep. becasss some would block the way oi e.hsrs, bat AnAlly the hmed man began to set oat pails ot slop and bran VI asa, And the locomotive with the bell en ran its w.cAtcAsr clear down in,o ,he braa mash, and thsa the hircd girls came oWt with milk pals and stools and told the locomotives to hoi,t. and then they sat dovn righ, by the ,en- der and pretty soos hsssat.s milk from tAe locomotives s,rsamisg into ths tn pals, asd the girls said, 90. boss, aud 1 "ent to sleep. Say, pass thsm paacskes !"
 Well, [ declals," said tAe Daa's wife, as she passed A,m the cakes, and pushed the maple syrup towards him, you mu.t have been drinkisg. lt does Aot seem to mo that . sane mAa cosld imagine all that kind of foolisAsess, even ii hs was half asleep. 4 locomstivs is about as much like COW As you srs liks an angel"
 "What do yoa thiskr saiA the old man, As he smptisd the syrup over his cakes. " When ] woke up ,his morning and raised the curtain and looked out of the window. there vas that locomotive sB A sidetrsck right beside the sleeper, and the engineer w.s rigAt down under IL wih an oil can, just where l ieh the hired girls in my dream, but there was no pail Of sloos, DO farm, no bareiooted boy, no nothing but an old man in a small box. stall trying to put on his pants bshind A curtain, with . woman In the berth over him calling the porter to bnng a fire es- cape 90 she could get down, asd she had no shoes os stockings On. and her corset was ons of those old-ixshioDed ones such as you used to wear, mother, at the tune Lincoln was elected, and her arms were bare clear to her shoulders, and there were dimples in her elbows. and"
 Hush, you old fool. No wonder you couldn't sleep," and the family arose hom the table as one maa.