St. Paul daily globe., 1888-06-01

MZZ6 %SSsytena very late.
,@A MfSE&y 1t was midnight
" %zz&sTGaSaSI1s when he unsteadily
V found his way to
the bar and laid down his last penny
for a satisfying drink.
He was feeling miserable and gloomy.
The mortgage on the farm had not
proved as profitable as he thought it
should. Then he was beginning to
feel old, and the farm work was hard
for bones that always ached and
throat continually dry.
"Well, WELL" he muttered as he reeled
out into the night, "things have got to
change. Felia must go to WORDSWORTH S
what she needS-and Ill go to the city,
Up the railroad track to the road that
went over the bluff was the shortest way
home for him, but dangerous one for
drunken man. POmpour took it STUN
bling over the ties. and once pitching
into cattle-guard, from which with
many curse and groan he finally got
out.
Half the way was over and he began
to feel drowSy. 1t would not hurt to
take nap. The night was warm. He
threw himself down on the railroad bed
and in an instant was asleep.
The night freight that passes old
Frontenac an hour after midnight makes
no stops until Lake City is reached.
The grade is down, and the heavily
loaded cars go booming, swinging
through the hills and forest at thunder
bolt speed.
Pompour in his mental condition had
forgotten when he laid down that it was
near. He did not hear the faraway
whistle, that the hills broke into hun
bling of the rails, nor hear the low
moaning that ran through Mother Earth
as if she labOred.
He could not see tightening of the
sky as the clouds caught the reflection
of the glare of furnace and SmOkestack
of the on-cOming train. The whip-poor-
wills called, the rails shook and jostled
him, the ground trembled, blaze of
light shone down upon him, but he
slept.
Whistle and tight-set brakes, yells
from the startled trainmen, were of no
avail. C-r-r-unch, and the great drivers
were upon him.
He woke; he screamed in awful
agony. Something was crushing and
cutting and beating the life out of him.
His head was yet free from harm, but
the wheels and the beams and the sharp
rods caught his body up and thrust it
down: Twisted bone and flesh and
muscle into awful shapes. Ground him
into the dirt, sent his life blood spatter-
ing out to stain the dew; finally tossed
him helpless. crushed beyond recogni-
ton, into the ditch and went on.
1t was of no use to pick him up; totry
to make man out of the mass that was
carried SO tenderly to the station. Those
who bent over the dirt and blood and
torn clothes heard an oath, the name
''Felia' and the spirit of PompOur had
gone to its judgment.
EPlia af tho farm bnnCn cot 10no hot
evening with Mr.. Eaton answering his
questions as to her life. Beyond the
marvellous resemblance she bore to his
wife he could find no clue to her identity
as his daughter. She gave him such
positive proof as to heI parentage that
when he rose to go he was forced to
confess that while the mother had been
his wife yet the child was the daughter
of Farmer POmpour.
He said to her as he offered his hand
in parting:
Your mother was my wife and de-
serted me, as know now, falsely be-
HeVing that l was untrue to her. When
she left me she took our child-a girl
three months old-and to this day | have
never seen either of them. Felix Gray,
business agent of mine, stopping
at FrOntenac, saw you. He knew the
story of my life, and from your resem-
blance to the picture l carry believed
that he had found the right clue.
came here on his advice. Let me tell
you something elSe-don't start. Felix
loves you. He is coming back. l shall
stay here until he comes. You will
count me as your friend, won't you?
Il will help your father out of his
troubles, and when you know Felix and
he knows you, and everything goes as
we have planned, then, my dear, We'll
talk of something else. Your face has
TOO many dear memories in it for me to
ever forget you or your interests
The dogs in the farmyard began to
bay, first loudly and then in lower tones
as they recognized who was coming.
Felia threw open the door and
the farm-handS walked in, carving
on rude shutter, all that there was of
Pompour. Their lonely journey through
the forest with this CHASTITY burden, had
blanched their faces, and Felia, before
they spoke, OWNED their message.
She pushed them aside, and dropped
to her knees by the side of her father.
Rude hands had brushed the dirt from
his face. She looked on the open ewes.
that stared with hideOuS terror at the
ceiling; she saw the parted lips and
broken teeth; the blood that trickled
from the CHASTITY cuts.
Mr. Eaton caught her, and motioned
Tile men 10 take The body into an outer
room. Then he gave all his attention to
the prostrate girl. He won her back to
consciousness, and for her wild grief
gave words of comfort and cheer that
sottened the blow. She sat with him
all that night, and when the morning
came, it was decided that she was to he
his adopted daughter at least.
The next day POmpour was buried in
the village cemetery, and Felia, bidding
good bye to the old farm, went down to
Lakeside, preparatory to going East
with Mr.. Eaton. Gen. Garrard, the
white-haired host and courtier of Lake
side, may have wondered-may not have
Seen-but Felia blushed rosy red when
Mr. Eaton led her up and introduced to
her, Felix Gray"