St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1886-07-01


as we see how things were going, and
how bad they was likely to be, that
girl kind of set herself to keep along.
She had mighty gentle way with her,
too. You'd never have guessed that
she was soplucky. Plucky! By George,
l never saw anything like her pluck"
"Was she pretty 2" asked Miss
Vaughn, urged by truly feminine Gu
riOsity.
"Well, don't know if you'd "a call
ed her so or not. We didn't think
much how she looked after the first.
She was a slender-built girl, and her
face looked sort of kind and bright
both to me. Her voice was as soft
well, as soft as voice can be, and 1T
kind of sang when she felt happy. She
looked you straight in the eyes when
she spoke. | don't believe the worst
man that ever lived could have told
that girl a lie if it had been to save his
life. Her hair was brown. She was
different from girls in general, some
how"
81 think we may say that she aUas
pretty" observed Miss Vaughn, with a
little smile.
81 amt so sure of that. There's
plenty of ladies come over the road
since that | suppose folks would say
was better looking than she was. But
| never see any face quite like hers.
1t was still, like lake, and you seem
ed to feel as if there was depths to it.
And the farther you went down, the
sweeter il got. She never made any
rustling when she walked. She wasn't
that kind"
Another pause, which Miss Vaughn
was careful not to break.
81 don't know what them children
would "a done without her," went on
the engineer, as if talking to himself.
Then, with sudden energy 81 don't
know what any of us would "a done
without her. The only trouble was
that she couldn't be everywhere at
once. There was sick lady in the
drawing-rOOm at the end of one of the
Pullmans. She had weak lungs, and
was going out to California for her
health. Well, the cold and the snow
brought on hemOrrhage. That was
the second day after we was blOckad-
ed. There wasn't no doctor on board,
and her husband he was mighty scar
ed. He come through to the front car
to find the conductor, looking as pale's
a ghost. MY wife's dying said he.
'Ain't there no medical man on the
train p And when we said no, he
just gave a grOan. 'Then she must
die he said. Great heavens! why
did bring her on this fatal journey 2"
"'Perhaps the young lady'll have
some remedies suggested one of the
porters for we'd all got into the way
already of turning to the young lady
whenever things were wrong.
"Well, went for her, and you new
Ell see any one so levelheaded as she
seemed to be. She knew just what to
do and she had the right medicine in
her bag and in less than an hour that
poor lady was quite comfortable, and
her husband the most relieved man
that ever was. Then the young lady
came along to where l was standing
there wasn't nothing for me to do, but
| was waiting, for didn't know but
there might be-and said she MIR.
Scott, | am growing anxious about the
fuel. Do you think there is plenty to
last? Suppose we were to be kept
here a weekP
"NOw just think of it ! not one of us
dumb fools had thought of that. You
see we we're expecting to be relieved
from hour to hour, for we had tele-
graphed both ways, and the snow had
stopped by that time, and none of US
had any notion it was going to be the
Job it was to dig us out. Only the
young lady had the sense to remember
that it might take longer than we was
calculating on.
"Says |, IF we are kept here a week,
there won't be shOvelful of Goals left
for any of the fires, let alone the en-
gine.'
""Then don't you think says she,
in her soft voice, that it would be a
wise plan to get all the passengers to-
gether in one car, and keep good fire
up there, and let the other stoves go
out It's no matter if we are little
crowded. says She"
"Well, of course it was the only
thing to do, as we see at once when it
was put into our heads. We took the
car the sick lady was in, SOS she'd not
have to be disturbed, and we made up
beds for the children, and somehow all
the passengers managed to pack in,
train hands and all. 1t was a tight
squeeze, but that didn't matter so
much, because the weather was so
awfully cold.
"That was the way come to see so
much of the young lady. l hadn't any
thing to keep me about the engine, so
| kind of detailed myself off to wait on
her. She was busy all day long doing
things for the rest. It's queer how
peoples characters come out at such
times We got to know all about each
other. People stopped string and
and being polite, and just
showed for what they were worth. The
selfish ones, and the shirks, and the
towards, and the mean cusses who
wanted to blame some one besides the
for sending the weather.
there want no use for any of them to
try to hide themselves any more than
it was for the other kind. The women
as rule, bore up better than the men.
1t comes natural, l suppose, for
woman to be kind of silent and pale
and patient when she's suffering. But
the young lady wasn't that sort either
She was as bright as button all along.
You'd have supposed from her face
that she was having just the best kind
of time
81 can see her now, standing before
the stove roasting jack-rabbits for the
others supper. Some of the gentle
men had revolvers, and when the snow
got crusted over, SOS they could walk
on it, they used to shoot 'em. And we
were glad enough of every one shot,
provisions were so scanty. The last
two days them rabbits and snow water
melted in pail over the stove was all
we had to eat or drink.
81 suppose there was nothing for you
to do but watt" said Miss Vaughn.
"No, ma'am there wasn't nothing at
all for me to do but help the young
lady now an6 then She LET mo baln