The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-04-14
Selected Storp.
The Engineers Story.

he Rocky Mountains now, ma'am."
Cmily Vaughn looked to left and to
hit, and was conscious of feeling of
appointment She had pictured the
of the Rocky Mountains as some
ng quite different from this. Here
re no frowning heights or sudden
fs-only wide, rolling plateau, some
tant peaks which did not look very
h, and far ahead glimpse of lower
els running down into plains. 1t
med hardly worth while to have come
far for so little.
Reallvln she said. " But where
the mountains? They don't look
rly so high as they did yesterdayp
Naturally, ma'am," responded the
yineer; I" things don't appear so
h when you're as high as they are.
IRE atop, you know"
But there's no look-off, no wonder
distance, as from the top of Mount
hshington. l confess / am disap-
nted."
It's kind of queer" said John Scott,
h dry chuckle, 4" how folks from
East keep abiding to that ere lit
hill, as if it were the standard of
asurement. We don't think so much
it this way. Why, ma'am, you're
but two thousand feet higher at this
mute than if you was at the top of
1t little shuck of a Mount Washing
that they all think so much Of"
Miss Vaughn smiled, but she expert
ted shock, nevertheless. The New
gland mind does not easily accustom
elf to hearing its sacred mountain
ls lightly spoken against.
Have you ever seen Mount Wash
Eton?" she asked.
Oh, bless you, yes" replied John
pitt, cheerfully. " was raised over
Fryeburg, and grew up alongside of
/ thought it was a pretty big con-
In when l was boy, but now"
closed the sentence with short, eX-
essive laugh.
Miss Vaughn changed the subject.
was not offended. She had grown
like this rough, good-natured engi-
err in the course of the three days
lrney, during which, favored as a
alive of one of the directors of the
nd, she had several times been privi-
red to ride, as now, in the engineers
b, for better view of the country.
Have you been long on this road?"
asked.
Pretty near ever since it opened. /
the third through train that come
from Chicago, and 1 haven't been
the line since, winter or summer,
cept for three months when l was
d up with broken leg"
This must look very differently in
nter," said Miss Vaughn, noting the
eless distances, and the SHOWS still
nting on the higher peaks to the left.
You may believe it does! That
BIT year, when the snow-sheds wasn't
lit, it was terrible. l was running
at train that stuck in the snow seven
ys-perhaps you'll remember about
it was in all the papers. sha'nt
err forget that, not if 1 live to be as
as my grandfather, and he didn't
till he was ninety-odd."
Tell me about it," said Miss Vaughn,
rsuasively, seating herself on the
Oh side-bench of the cab, with that
of attention which is so enticing to
e story-teller; amusements are few
d far between in the long monotony
the overland journey to California
sides which, Miss Vaughn dearly
ved story.
&c There amt much to tell" said
I'm Scott, with something of the feel
g which prompts the young vocalist
complain of hoarseness. 81 aint
Y hand at telling things, either
len, won by Miss Vaughn's appealing
es, he continued:
GO We ran all fair and on time till we
hs about two hundred miles beyond
naha. Then the snow began. II
dn't seem much at first. The women.
TX in the train rather liked it. They
crowded to the windows to see
ID the children hurrahed. Anything
emed pleasant change after the
ge-brush, l suppose. But as it went
coming, and the drifts grew deep
ID the cars had to run slow, the Older
hes began to look serious, and l car
III you that we who had the charge OF
e train felt so.
"We was Just between two of the
eding stations, and we put on all the
cam we could, hopingto push through
where the provisions could be got al
case we had to stop. But it VAIN
use. The snow kept coming.
ever see it come So The flakes looked
big as saucers, and the drifts piled
quick that, when we finally stuck, ir
bout ten minutes no one could see out
the windows. The train would have
ben clear buried over if the brake
en- and the porters hadn't gone the
hole length over the roofs every half
BUR and swept it off with brooms and
bowels. We had a lot of shovels
board, by good luck, or else nothing
build have saved us from being banked
outright. But it was terrible hare
ork, can tell you. There wasn't NJ
lore laughing among the passenger
y the time it come to that, and thu
hildren stopped hurrahing."
ooh, the poor little things! Wha
id they do? Were there many OF
oard? Was there plenty for them t.
at?n
"That was the worst of it. Their
Fasn't plenty for any one to eat. W.
ad stuck just midway of the feeding
Iations, and there wasn't a great dea
anything on board besides what tn
PASSENGERS had in their lunch-baskets
Pne lady she had a tin of condense,
blk, and they mixed that up for tn
abies-there was ten of 'em-and 8
hey got on pretty well. But there wa
bout five other children, not babies
ut quite little, and / don't know wha
hey would have done if it hadn't beef
or the Young lady.n