The Monitor., 1888-06-15

uOoI' NtAi morning i SAW LhdJ Jue Codl
and block was gone, and chucked off a
hunk that weighed sixty pounds if il
did an ounce. When we came back that
evening both the old woman and the gal
were standing in the door, and they waved
their hands at me. From that day on
was gone coon. l was all the time think
ing of that house and that gal, and guess
she was thinking of my black face, too,
for she was always on the lookout for my
train. The boys got on to it and tried to
rig me about the house, but none Of them
Poor? Why, they were as poor as poverty
itself, and wondered how they managed
to keep body and soul together, for there
was no man about the place, and they
seemed to be alone in the world. They
managed to stop up the windows before
winter came on and make the house look
a little tidier, as well as to plant patch
of corn and potatoes and gather them in.
kept them in fuel, and / canght several
Of the brakemen helping me at it several
times. They got so they called the place
Billy's palace, but they never thought how
soon | would have to put up there. 1t
was along in the spring of the following
year that we were running down the grade
with a train Of empties, when one Of our
side rods broke and sliced off my side OF
the cab. was chueked forty feet and
landed, with both legs and an arm broke,
at the side of the road a quarter of mile
from the crossing. Jim wasn't hurt bit,
but the tender was off the track, with five
or six iimmies piled on it, and the engine
was crippled. The nearest house was the
shanty under the willows, and the boys
carried me there to wait for the wrecker or
a passenger train to take me to town and
to the hospital. | was senseless, and
laid so for three days When | came to |
found myself done up in bandages and ly-
ing in bed so that | could look ont into
willow tree. lay there wondering
where | was when the door opened and an
angel floated in Leastw Use that is what
thought it was, and l hain't had no
reason to change my mind since-for it
was Lizzie. the gal that | had been max
ing eyes at for nearly year. She felt of
my forehead and took hold Of my one
good hand. telling me that | was not to
speak. didn't want to speak, for, weak
as was, | was happy looking in her
eyes. She stayed by me the biggest part
CT the time, feeding me and giving me
medicine, until fell asleep. l laid there
like man in a dream for days and never
opened my mouth to speak. The boys
would stop their trains and come in to see
me, bringing fIut and wine and good
things to eat, and between them they man.
aged to put the house in some kind of shape
too without disturbing me. When | be-
gan to mend they told me after the wreck
the doctor came up ON the first train, and
looked me over, said that | was a gonC
case, he thought. but had one chance il
a thousand, and that was to lie perfectly
still with good nursing. He wouldn'i
allow them to move me from the shanty
and they concInded TO let the old woman
and her daughter do the nursing, whilsi
they undertook to supply the house viii
everything needed. | stayed right there
for thirteen weeks, and for the last three
or four weeks sat ont under the willows
every day watching the trains go BY ol
looking up at the mountains. | was never
so happy in all my life, and l have heard
Lizzie say since that she was happy too
In our long talks she told me how hel
father lost his money and broke down in
health over mining speculation, and re-
duced them to such poverty that wheE he
died they were forced to take TO the only
piece of ground left to them, but that was
the prettiest spot in the state of New
Jersey, and Lizzie and talk aboat living
there when my railroading days are over.
You all know how the matter ended, for
most of you remember the wedding"