Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1886-11-15
The Young Lady.

the engineer, as Ine Train SLOWLY cTOSS-
ed a long gradual grade. You're
atop of the Rocky mountains now,
ma'am.
Emily Vaughn looked to the left
and right, and was conscious of a
feeling of disappointment. She had
pictured the top of the Rocky noun
tains as something quite different
from this. Here were no frownlng
heights or sudden CULTS, only wide
rolling plateau, some distant peaks
which did not look very high, and
far ahead glimpse of lower levels
running down into plains. 1t seem
ed hardly worth while to come so far
for so little.
Really! she said. But where are
the mountains? I? They don't look near
ly so high as they did yesterday!
Naturally, ma'am, responded the
engineer; things don't appear SO high
when you're as high as they are. We
are atop you know.
But there's no look off, no wonder
ful distance as from Mt. Washing
ton. | confess l am disappointed.
It's kind of queer, said John Scott
with dry chuckle, how folks from
the East keep alluding to that ere
little hill as if it were the standard of
measurement. We don't think SO
much of it this way. Why. a'am,
you're about 1000 feet higher this
minute than if you was at the top of
that little shuck of Mt. Washing
ton that they think so much of.
Miss Vaughn smiled, but she ex-
perienced a shock, nevertheless. The
New England mind does not easily
accustom itself to hearing its sacred
mountains thus lightly spoken against
Have you ever seen Mt. Washington
she asked.
Oh +, bless you, yes replied Johr
Scott, cheerfully. | was raised ovel
to Fryeburgh, and grew up alongside
of it. / thought it was pretty bie
concern when / was boy, but nov
He closed the sentence with short
expressive laugh.
Miss Vaughn changed the subject
She was not offended. She hat
grown to like this rough, good natur
ed engineer in the course of the thre
days journey, during which, favore'
as a relative of one of the director
of the road, she had several time
been privileged to ride, as now, il
the engineers cab for better vie,
of the country.
Have you been long on this road
she asked
Pretty near ever since it opened
+ I run the third through train tina
came out from Chicago, land | haven
been off the road since, winter O
summer, except for three month
when I was laid up with a broke
. leg.
., This must look very different i
: winter, said Miss Vaughn, notin
+ the treeless distances, and the snow
y still glinting on the higher peaks t
the left.
g You may believe it does! This
first year, when the show sheds WASH
built, it was terrible. / was runnin
that train that stuck in the sno
seven days-perhaps you'll remen
s Der about it; it was in all the papers
| shan't ever forget that, not if
: live to be as old as my grandfathe
l. and he didn't die till he was ninet
u odd.
Tell me about it, said Miss Waugh
- persuasively, seating herself on th
- high side bench of the cab, with tn;
air of attention which is so enticin
II to the story teller; amusements al
l. few and far between in the long mt
6, notony of the overland journey
:! California besides which, Mi
Vaughn dearly loved story.
- There amt much to tell, said Jof
st Scott, with something of a feelir
lie which prompts the young vocalist
complain of hoarseness. | amt al
lie hand to tell of things, neither. The
j. won by Miss Vaughn's appealir
= eyes, he continued =
We ran all fair and on time till '
was about two hundred miles beyoI
:, Omaha, Then the snow began.
wv don't seem much at first. The W
ar man-folk in the train rather liked
I'd They all crowded to the windows
see, and the children hurrahed. An
re thing seemed a pleasant change aft
e the sage-bush. l suppose. But as
~ went on coming, and the drift gre
IT deep, and the cars had to run slo
the older ones began to look seriou
pc and | can tell you what, we who h
he charge of the train felt so.
'e We was just between two of Il
nd
nd feeding stations, and we put on
the steam we could, hoping to pu
n. through to where provisions could
is got in case we had to stop. But
Id wasn't no use. The snow kept CO..
hd ing. | never see it come so. L
= :, flakes looked as big as saucers, a
the drifts piled so quick that, VIII
''s we finally stuck, in about ten minut
), no one could See out of the window
3 ;, The train would have been clear bl
,or led over if the brakemen and t
lg. porters hadn't gone the whole leng
ol- over the roof every half hour a