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

somehow no one but the young lady
seemed to be able to do anything with
them. The poor little things was half
starved you see, and there wasn't any
thing to amuse 'em in the dark car, and
one of them, who was sickly, fretted all
day and most all night, and the mother
didn't seem to have no faculty or no
backbone to her; but whenever the
young lady came round that sick young
one and all the rest would stop crying,
and seem just as clipper as if it was
summertime outdoors and the whole
train full of candy.
CT don't see how she did it," he
went on, meditatively, throwing a
shovelful of coal in at the furnace door.
Some women is made that way, sup
pose. AS soon 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 gen.
tie way with her, too. You'd never
have guessed that she was so plucky.
Plucky BY George, L never saw any
thing like her pluck"
"Was she pretty?' asked Miss
Vaughn, urged by truly feminine Gu
riosity.
well, don't know if you'd "a called
her so or not. We didn't think much
how she looked after the first. She was
a slender-bult girl, and her face looked
sort of kind and bright both to me. Her
voice was as soft-well, as soft as a
voice can be, and it kind of sang when
she felt happy She looked you straight
in the eyes when she spoke. 1 don't
believe the worst man that 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, somehow"
% 1 think we may say that she was
pretty" observed Miss Vaughn, with a
little smile.
GO 1 amt so sure of that. There's
plenty of ladies come over the road
since that 1 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 seemed
to feel as if there was depths to it. And
the farther you went down, the sweeter
it got. She never made any rustling
when she walked She wasn't that
kind"
Another pause, which Miss Vaughn
was careful not to break.
" | don't know what them children
would "a done without her." went on
the engineer, as if talking to himself.
Then, with sudden energy: "I 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 blockaded.
There wasn't no doctor on board, and
her husband he was mighty scared.
He came through to the front car to
find the conductor, looking as pale's
ghost. My wife's a-dying, said he.
Amt there no medical man on the
tramp And when we said no, he just
gave groan. Then she must die
said he. Great heavens! why did 1
bring her on this fatal journey?'
"' 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 never
see any one so level-headed 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
come along to where 1 was standing
there wasn't nothing for me to do, but
| was waiting, for l didn't know but
there might be-and said she: 'Mr.
Scott, am growing anxious about the
fuel. Do you think there is plenty to
last? Suppose we were to be kept here
a week?'
"Now just think of it! not one of
us dumb fools had thought of
that. You see we was expecting to
be relieved from hour to hour, for
we had telegraphed 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 remem-
Der that it might take longer than we
was calculating on.
Says l, five are kept here week
there won't be a shovelful of coal left
for any of the fires, let alone the engine.
&c Then don't you think says she,
in her soft voice, that it would be a
wise plan to get all the passengers
together in one car, and keep good
fire up there, and let the other stoves
go out? It's no matter if we are a lit
tie 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 tight squeeze,
, but that didn't matter so much, because
the weather was so awfully cold.
t That was the way come to see so
| much of the young lady. hadn't any
, thing to do 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. Peo-
, pie stopped string and ma'am-ing 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