Daily Republican. [volume] ([Wilmington, Del.]) 1874-1890, 1886-12-17
Tue WATcH's STORY
BY BENJAMIN NoRTHRoP,

= i
with its placard which told the in
quisitive passer by that 1t had bee
, presented by queen, there was 81
lenee after the watch had told il
story, as our readers were informe
one short fortnight ago. The queen
so the watch facetiously observed, wa
one of pack of cards, not the spous
OF reigning monarch, as the clarione
at first supposed.
made the clarionet felt most Justly az
: grieved.
. II noticed your impatient curiosity,
exclaimed the watch after a pause
land told you the wrong story Thu
! queen that gave me to my owner wore
no crown of gold. Her head was con
tent to be crowned with golden hair
but II was In her true blue eyes thai
one could see her royal nature. Hel
life will be crowned, however, by such
crown as never was worn on an
earthly monarch. She was the wife
OF q supplemented engineer employed
on the Straightline road, named Geo
Martin. He used 70 own me, and il
ever there was queen she was one
Do you want TO hear my real story?"
OF course they did, from the inquisi
tive clarionet up to the diamond king
in Its velvet-llned case. They wanted
to hear it very much. so after clearing
its throat the watch began.
"All theemployes OF the Straight
line road" explained the timepiece,
excepting the fireman and engineers
were on strike, aud perhaps this was
what made George Martin-the hus-
band OF my queen-the engineer o.
the night express No. 10, button up
his great coat more closely and pull
down his cap more tightly as the train
slowly pulled and rumbled out of
Salemville and started on its long
journey to Bordertown. Anyway,
whatever 1t was, mis- face was paler
than usual and he kept tighter hold
upon the lever as he peered into the
mist and the darkness which almost
hid the track before him.
Just such night as No. went
over the bank at Long Point water
tank, he remarked to Jim, the fire
man.
Pshawr returned the latter.
"'That's all right answered the
engineer, but l wish l was at home
with Queen Betsey and the girls all
the same
''Then he relapsed into silence, and
the train sped on, whizzlng past small
stations, shooting around curves and
rumbling over culverts, while the en-
gineer never for an instant lost sight of
the almost invisible track which
stretched out in two thread. like lines
before the flying engine.
"on the side Of hill there wandered
valley, which narrowed at places SO
that the roadway was crowded tor
room. Then again 1t widcned out
into small valleys divided into mead
ows, wheat fields, groves and pastures
while the picturesque houses Of the
farmers dotted the hillsides. just at
the entrance to this valley, on the first
hill which guarded the way like a
sentinel, was where the queen lived.
"Their lawn sloped gently to the
narrow bit of woods; through the
leaves in summer she could catch 4
glimpse of the lights of the flying train,
looking like company of will o.. the
wisps on a race for life, so rapidly did
they fash past the trees. Through the
same leaves he could see the lighted
lamp that the queen always lett in the
front window to cheer him on his
lonely way. Even in that passing
glimpse the lamp talked to him as only
lamp in the window can talk. 1t
told him to hurry on; to keep brave
heart; to keep his head clear, his eye
sharp, his ears keen, and to remember
always that some one was watching
for him, waiting for him and praying
too. The lamp did not confine itself
merely to conveying messages to and
fro in the gloom, like commonplace
electricity, even though these mes
sages did not come through the ears,
not through the eyes. and never
reached the brain before going straight
to the heart, which the most expert
electrician has never yet accomplished
with his subtle fluid. 1t had other and
still more wonderful gifts, possessed
by lamps in general ever since Alad-
din's time; but wise lamp, and all
lamps are wise, never displays mar
velous achievement to mankind except
at night time, and only then when that
specimen OF mankind TO whom it
shows this gift can sec its gentle rays
through the window panes of home.
II must be his home, too. Its charm
is broken in any other place.
.tRaci1na 4hn of fo1lyinn II
could paint as never mortal artist
painted, since the painters art was
known. Quick as a flash, the rays
which had pierced the darkness and
entered the engines cab set about with
invisible paints and brushes to per-
form their work of magic. Their work
was no sooner commenced than ended.
The walls of the cab, with their dirty
windows covered with grease and oil;
the polished steel levers, the gauge,
the bars and the wheels of the engine
were gone, and in their place were
neatly papered walls hung with pretty
pictures; the windows were as clean
as soap and water oft applied could
make them, and the curtains were of
spotless white.
"The floor was carpeted with in
grain oil neat ard CHEEKY pattern,
where the sunbeams liked to sport, es-
pecially when baby sported with them
"a pattern that was homelike by
lamplight. The picture didn't stop
with this A sweet-faced woman sat
in an easy chair rocking, by the side
of the dying embers in the CRATE, for
even in summer the nights are cool on
the hillside. Her hair was the color
of ripe corn silk and her eyes so blue