Rock Island daily Argus. (Rock Island, Ill.) 1886-1893, 1889-02-16

Jem only mIttered something ina low tone,
to which the gentleman retlied, "Oh, mol
you'll see him tomorrow"
~ shall be Il right, Jem; do 60 Stevens,
take him away;" and the guard, putting his
arm through Jems, almost dragged him to
tie engine.
As soon as be had gone said to the gentle
man who was looking down at me as II he
felt for us both, "Wn you lift me up, SIR, to
see him startr
He knelt down beside me and raised me
very gently, till was leaning against him.
I watched the train back from the siding,
and In few minutes it came up on the main
line, poor Jem leaning over to look at me as
| it passed. waved my hand to him, In
| spite Of the pain the slightest movement
gave me, and that was the last time saw
my dear old en- gine
could not help giving moan as my new
friend laid ne down again, and, oddly
enough, as if ne knew what was thinking
of, he said: "One thing is far better than
driving an engine, friend Dick, and that is
being the mean Of saving a soul from ruin"
l said, Thank you, sir" and tried to
smile, but didn't make much Of it.
Now I must see about getting you into Q
more comforta Die place than this, he went
on cheerfully; and find out what the dam
age is All you have to do is to keep per-
fectly still and not trouble your head about
anything"
It was lucky found such q good friend,
or think she uld never have got back to
Wrotham alive, for even with his skill and
care l was so exhausted as to be scarcely
conscious of anything, and for some days
was too i'll to bear to sec Bessie or Jem l
did not think m yself should get over it, nor
did the doctors, and 1 fancy it was rather a
surprise to them when l began to mend; but
day after day and week after week went by,
and no one said a word about my getting up
again.
1 knew very veil what that meant, and
long before the kind people round me had
made up their minds to tell me outright what
it was, had read the truth In poor Jern's
face. Poor Jenl he was terribly punished
never going to be able to walk againl
1t was hard ough to bear at first, but l
tried to think how much worse 1t might have
been, and would not let myself grumble.
How we had come within such q hairs
breadth of q terrible accident no one seemed
able to explain, and after various examina-
tions the matter dropped, though it was
allowed that was not to blame This was a
comfort to me; but was sorely troubled as
time went on what was to do when / was
sent out of the hospital / should not be able
to earn my living in any way, and when the
little money l had put by was gone l saw
nothing before me but the workhouSe. Ihad
TO keep my thou, hts to myself as the slight
est hint OF this made Jem SO miserable; but
after a while my kind friend the doctor told
me they could dc no more for me, so l told
Jem he must find room for me, at all
events for q few weeks, til could see what
to do.
He bad one sill ready for me, Jem said, to
my surprise, III ! could put up with living
with him after and there poor Jem broke
down, and had to assure him over and over
again that would rather be with him than
anywhere else. he would not tell me any
thing about it, but one day he carried me of
to his house. and there, to my establishment,
found Bessie For, would you believe it, siri
it only shows THAT good souls the women
are-Jem had gone to Bessie and told her
what he had done, and that, though he'd
never touch a drop again, he couldn't ask her
to have him now, because he must spend every
farthing he had in making a home for me;
and if Bessie diin't say, she thought she
could take care o; me better than he could,
and, II he liked, they would try togetherl So
u
me, and got room ready for me- with every
thing to make me comfortable, and We have
been together ever since. Neither Of them
grudge me anything, or care about the trouble
/ am to them, and no one could be better
cared for than am, or have q better brother
than Jem
Bessie and l have got bit Of a secret, too,
just now, for my good friend dropped in the
other day with London doctor, and after
pulling me about and poking me all over they
told me they thought it wouldn't do me any
harm to stand, an /, though should never be
able to walk far, | might get about in the
garden ON crutches. So some day Bessie and
mean to surprise lem by meeting him at
the gate as he cones home from work, and
who knows but af Ter bit may get as far as
the station, and have look at the engines
againi
Tberel the storm is over, sir, and hope
your coat is dry. Want to catch the O'Clock
fast to town, sir9 Why, Jem will be driving
you'll He's the best driver and the steadiesf
man on the line, Is our Jem, and as good a
fellow as ever csn be- Good-by, sir, and
very pleasant journey to you