The Sunday morning news. [volume] (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1886-1891, 1889-09-22

httle1---
''But. father" Jack interrupted, I'll
have more than myself to support, or soon
will have. Ta-father, Mary has promised
! to marry me. :"
Jacks voice faltered, though he was not
usually tinid In the presence of his father.
! Jasper looked up with puzzled face.
1 ''For the life of me / can't understand
| what girl can see to admire in big lout
Of fellow like YOU" he said. at the same
| time bestowing upon his hrawny and
! grimy son look which belied his words.
"What does the girl love you for?''
! II don't know, father, said Jack BASH
| fully, and bowling his head as if to look at
| the water gauge. II don't know, unless it
Is because she thinks | am to be an en-
ginecr some day. think that's 1t. She
| wouldn't love me, Pm afraid, if were
to leave the road. I'm just sure she
wouldn't"
Jack said this without guile. He be-
lieved it, and his father believed it, too.
The old man smiled under his gray beard,
so greatly did the artless compliment
| please him. And so, almost without an
effort, and without realizing how elo-
quently he had pleaded his cause, Jack
won his fathers consent to his remaining
on the engine. He was to marry the girl
he loved, and had his fathers consent to
marrying as quick as he liked. Of course
Jack was very happy, and whistled little
| tune as he opened the furnace door and
shoveled huge scoops of coal into the
glowing frebox.
Mary Clifford was pretty girl. She
had great brown eyes, which looked out
from under brow of marble whiteness
Her home was near the railway track,
and there Jack had first seen her while
taking occasional rides with his father
before mounting the footboard as fire.
man. Mary used to stand out at the
front gate and watch the cars go by. A
locomotive was her ideal of strength and
beauty. Jasper's old engine was resplen-
dent with brass trimmings and orna-
rnents, and these, kept as shiny as good
housewives silver, and glistening in the
sunlight had caught both the eye and
The fancy of the big eyed maiden and
done more than half the wooing for the
boy who SO proudly rode by his fathers
side. Once E-when the accommodation
stopped near her home to wait for the
passing of an EXTRA" to crafty her
curiosity she came out, and was urged to
| visit the locomotive cab and sit on the
| engineers perch, and her bravery was
tested by an invitation to mount the
/ pllOb UT COWCdbCll0I hl1Q IldO OONh W
the railway crossing, half mile away
She was equal to the occasion, and
| thought the odd ride such rare sport that
for many day after, and even after she
/ had grown to DO q dignified young lady,
/ she longed to repeat the experience.
4 Well, the wedding day was set, and all
preparations were duly made, Jack con-
tinuing meanwhile to fire" No, 451 for
bis father. Jasper was becoming familiar
| with the new engine, but the electric
| headlight he could not endure without
| many words of grumbling and many fore
! holdings for the future. TO add to his
| troubles at time when he was little able
to bear new burdens, he was transferred
! from his old run on the accommodation to
an express train Most men would have
taken tlis for an honor, but to old Jasper
it was an affront which he could not for
give. Nor could he help it, either and SO
he took the new run, which ambitious
Jack was glad to get, and between them
they made very good time night after
night.
A couple of weeks before the wedding
day Jasper and Jack were on their way
west on regular trip, when they were
again stopped at the side track near
| Mary's home, to pass belated freight
train Jack looked IN vain for a light in
| the Clifford house. for it was near mid
night just before the freight came
/ laundering along, and while Jack was
busy sboveling coal, old Jasper was star
tied by catching glimpse of something
| which looked to him like human form
| stealing through the darkness toward his
| engine, but he instantly attributed the
delusion to the bothersome electric head
light, turned his eyes away, and soon
afterward opened the throttle and re-
sumed his journey. 1t was moonless
night in December, and the snow, softened
under the rays of the sun at midday, had
now been frozen and crystallized on the
I ground and along the earthworks of the
railway, so that the brilliant rays from
! the electric headlamp set the course with
! pretty to look upon but exceedingly
troublesome to the eyes of the veteran
engineer.
An hour later red light at Miller's
Station caused Jasper to put on the brakes
and come to a stop.
There's the train order, )" said the tele-
! graph operator, appearing at the cab
window, ''and here's private message
for Jack"
''My God, fatherl" cried Jack, reading
his message before Jasper had deciphered
the first words of the train dispatcher's
order on the yellow manifold paper, 'read
that What shall we dor
Jasper took the dispatch and read:
MARY Clifford has disappeared. Search
parties are out. Come home"
Jack was frantic, and wanted to jump
off the engine and start back on foot, But
old Jasper had better idea.
"Wait till we get to Smithville, he
said, land there you may ask the fireman
of No. to take your place, while you
take his and return home. That is all
that can be done. my boy"
| They were two very sad men who rode
away in the cab of engine 451. They had
| not word to say to each other. Each
was busy with his own thoughts. Jasper
was thinking that his forebodings were
beginning to bear fruit, and that the new
engine and the electric lamp had brought
bad luck at last. Jack was trying to think
what in the world had become of Mary
| Clifford.
The train was rapidly approaching Buck
Hill tunnel, the fierce rays from the new
lamp filing the frosty rock cut with
dazzling array of crystals, when both
father and son suddenly uttered an ex.
clamation of horror and turned their faces
toward each other at that instant the