The Republican journal., 1886-07-22
The Engineers Story.

II,
neer, as the trHin slowly crc,leda long, gradual
grade. You're atop of the Rocky Mountains
now. ma'am."
Emily Vaughn looked tJ right and to left,
and was conscious OF 4 feeling of di>appont-
ment. She had pictured the top Of the Rocky
Mountains as something quite different from
this. Here were no froWiing heights OF sud-
den gulf,. only wide rolling plateau, some
distant peaks which did not look very high,
and far ahead Il glimpse of lower levels run
ming down inlo plains. 1t seemed hardly
worth while to come so far for so little.
Really" She said. but where are the
mountains" They don't look nearly 50 high
Il, they did Yesterday"
''Naturally. ma'an." responded the engineer
things don't appear high when You're a>
high a> they are. We're atop. YOU know.
But there's no look-otl, no wonderful dis
tancr. ~ from the top of Mount Washington.
| confess am disappointed.
Its Kind of queer. said John scott with
dry chuc>c. ''how folks from the east Keep
alluding to that ere little hill ~ if it were the
standard of measurement. We don't think 50
much OF il this way. Why. ma';tm. yoll'rc
about 1000 feet higher this minute than if you
stood at The top of that little >huc> of Mount
Washington fli:tt ihry all hink SO much Of
Miss Vaughn smiled. iut >hc experienced a
shock, nevertheless. The New England mind
does not easily accu>tum itself 10 hearing its
Sarred mountain thus spoken against.
"IIHNr You ever seen Mount Wa>hington:"
She asked.
"oh. bless You. yes" replied John Scott,
cheerfully Il was raised over to Frycburg,
and grew mp alongside of it. thought ii was
pretty biz concern when was = boy but
now lie closed the sentence with a short,
expressive laugh.
Miss Vaughn changed the ~lbi'c. She was
not offended. She had grown tn like this
rough. @ood-naurrl engineer in the course of
three days journey during which, favored rs
a relative of the directors of the road. she had
several times been privileged to ride. as now,
in tho engineers cah, for better view Of the
country.
Have yoa been long ON this road" She
asked.
Pretty near ever since it opened run the
third through train that came out from
Chicago, and haven't been on the line since.
winter or summer. except for three months.
when was laid up with broken lrg.
"l'hi> must look very differently i'll winter
said Miss Vaughn, noting the treelc>> distance,
and the SHOWS still glinting on the higher peaks
to the left.
You may believe il docs. That first wear.
when the >noW-shed> wasn't built, il was ter
rible. was running that train that stuck in
the snow seven ,layS-perhap> you'll rcmcn-
hcr about it il WAS in all the papers. | >han't
ever forget that. not if live to be ;t> Old rs my
grandfather. and he didn't die till he was ninety
odd"
Tell me about it," said Miss Vaughn. per-
>ua>iveiy, seating herself on the high side
bench of the cab. with that air Of attention
which is 50 rntcine 10 the story teller; amll>c-
al l,,t, :,
monotony of the overland journey to Califor-
mia: besides which. Miss Vaughn dearly loved
story.
"Tierc amt much to tell" said John scott
with something of a feeling which prompts the
Young vocalist to complain of hoar>ene>s. Il
amt any hand at telling such things. either"
Then won by Miss Nau@hn'- appcalingcye>, he
continucd
I'VE ran all fair and on time till we was
about 200 miles heyOnd Omaha. Then the
snow began. 1t didn't seem much at first.
The women folks in the train rather liked it.
They all crowded to the windows to see, and
the children hurrahed. Anything seemed a
pleasant change after the Sagc-bru>h. sup
pose. But rs it Went Oh coming and the drifts
grew deep. and the ears had to run slow, the
Older ones began to look serious. and can tell
you that we who had charge of the train left
50.
I'VE WAS Just between two of the feetlin.
stations, and put on all the steam we could
hoping TO push through to where provisions
could he rot at in ease we had to stop. But it
wasn't no use The SNOW kept coming. |
never saw it come The flakes looked is biz
as sauccrS, and the drifts piled quick. that
when we finally stuck, in about ten minutes no
one could see out of the windows. The train
would have been clear buried over if the break
men and the porters hadn't zone the whole
length over the roofs every half-hour, and
swept il OF with broom> and >hovels. We had
Il lot Of shUvclS aboard, by good luck, or moth
ny else could have saved Us from being bank
ed up outright. But it was terrible hard work.
| can tell yGu. There wasn't no more laughing
among the passengers by the time ii come to
that. and the children stopped burrahing."
"Oh. the poor little things. What did they
do: Were there many on board: Was there
plenty for them to eat =
That was he worst of it. There waSh't
plenty for any one to eat. We had stuck Just
midway Of the feeding stations, and there
wasn't great deal of anything on board be-
sides what the passengers had in their lunch
baskets. One lady She had a tin of condensed
milk, and they mixed that up for the babies
there were ten of 'em-and so they got on pref
ty well. But there was about five other child
rem, not babies. but quite little. and | don't
know what they would have done if it hadn't
been for the young lady"
The Young lady, said Miss Vaughn. look
ing up with some surprise. for with the words
curious trcmblc had come into the engineers
voice, and a dark flush into his bronZcd face.
"What young lady was that:'
1t was moment or two before John Scott
answered the question.
Il don't know what She was caled,' he
said slowly. 81 never knew. She was the
only one on the train, so we ust called her the
young lady. She was travelling alone but her
folks had asked the conductor to look after
her. She was going out to some relative of
hers-a brother, ] guess-WhO was sick down
to Sacramento. That was how she came to be
there.
Were the children under her care:"
"No maam; she was all alone. as | told
you but she took them under her care from
the very first. They had their fathers and
mothers along-thrcc of them had. at least and
the other two had their mother and Il nurse
girl-but somehow no one but the young lady
seemed to be able to do anything with them.
The poor little things We're half starved you
see, and there wasn't anything to amusc 'em in
the dark car, and one of them. who was sicklv,
fretted all day and most all night, and the
mother didn't seem to have no faculty or no
backbone TO her; but when the Young lady
came round, that sick Young one and all the
rest would stop crying. and seem just As chip
per As if il was summertime out doors and the
whole train full of candy.
81 don't see how she did it." he went on.
meditatiyely. throwing a shoyclful of coal in at
the furnace door. ''Some women is made that
way. | suppose. As soon as we saw how things
We're going. and how bad they We're likely to
be, that girl kind of set herself to keep along.
She had a mighty gentle way with her, too.
You'd never have guessed that she was so
plucky. Plucky!B BY George, never saw any
thing like her pluck"
"Was she prettyE' asked Miss Vaughn, urg-
ed by true feminine curiosity.
"Well. don't know if you'd "a called her SO
or not. She was 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 it kind of sang when she felt hap
py. She looked you straight in the eyes when
she spoke. | don't believe the worst man ever
lived could have told that girl lie if it had
been to save his life. Her hair was brown.
She was different from girls in general, some
how"
81 think that we may say she was pretty"
observed Miss Vaughn, with a smile.
Il 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 a lake, and you seemed to feel
as if there was depth to it. And the farther
you went down, the sweeter it got. She never
made any rustlins 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