Democratic messenger., 1888-09-15

vessel coming toward the
bridge. She ran along rapidly.
and as she passed the flagman
he called out:
Going for the lilies? The
pond was all white with them
when | went by this morning"
"Yes. sir | want to pick
some for mama and papa.
They wrote me a letter and
said they were coming on the
next train"
"You don't say sol Well,
! guess you're glad. Look out
for the locomotive, and don't
take too long picking your
flowers, and you'll have plenty
Of time to get back before the
train comes in"
Molly thanked him and ran
on.A In about five minutes she
reached the pond. How love-
ly the lilies looked with their
snowy cups resting upon the
dark waters. But their stems
were long and tough and most
ofthem grew beI jher reach.
Polly was afraidh e fingered
too long she won't miss the
train. So gathering up the
blossoms, she pinned them iiito
her belt, and scampered back
toward the bridge.
The boat had just sailed
through the draw, and the
man stood ready to close the
bridge when Polly came up.
He looked over at her from
the center Of the bridge, and
called out with a smile:
"Couldn't you get any more
flowers than those Ii | had
time to go to the pond you
should have as many as you
could carry"
Polly smiled back at him
and then began to watch him
as he made ready to turn the
great bridge back into place
for the train to pass over. His
hand was on the crank, when
a rope dangling over the rail
ing of the bridge attracted his
Datts0jon. As he tried to pull
it III it seemed to be caught
underneath. Polly watched
him lean over to get a better
hold, when to her great horror,
the piece of railing to which
he held gave way.
There was a sudden scream
and great splash in the wat
er. But before the waves of
the swiftly flowing river closed
over him Polly heard the cry :
The train-the flag =
Poor little Polly! She was
SO alarmed for the poor man $
safety that for some moments
she could think of nothing else,
and ran backward and forward
ringing her hands in despair.
As he rose to the surface she
saw that he made frantic gcs-
lures to her and pointed up
the road from which the train
was to come. He seemed to
be able to keep himself above
the water with very little effort,
and Polly saw with JOY that the
accident had been observed by
the crew of the vessel. The
man in the water struck out
toward the boat, and Polly
could hear shouts and cheers
from the men on board. All
at once she was startled by
the far-off whistle of the ap.
preaching locomotive. In a
moment she understood the
meaning of the flagman's gcs.
lures. She looked at the open
space and then at the bridge.
In five minutes or less the train
would come rushing into that
awful chasm. Polly's hair al.
most rose on her head with
fear and horror. 1t was
as much as she could do to
keep her senses.
There must be some way to
avert the awful calamity. She
ran swiftly along toward the
rapidly approaching train. Ly-
ing on the ground, just by the
small wooden house where the
tlagman generally sat, Polly
saw a red flag. She remem.
bered having heard that this
flag was used in case of dan,
ger or when there was any
reason for stopping the cars,
She did not know whether
there way yet time, but she
seized the flag and flew wildly