Roanoke daily times. (Roanoke, Va) 1886-1890, 1889-12-31
MY JOURNEY TO TEXAS.

FoRr LINCOLN. SANTANA, Vegas county, Tex,
April :, 1872 Dear Elsie; yenturcd 10 suggest q
year ago 20 our respected sister. Lavina, that it
would do you harm, and some Others great
deal OF good, ii You spent summer with me. You
remember the answer You were delicate, Texas
was the land Of chS, and | was not n tit peccon
To be guardian OF so irrcprcSSibc q subject as my
small but obstreperous sister. What you wished
did not appear Gatil il was too late, so my plans
were r,.;!icsS!y crushed and Lavinia trumphed.
This time write 10 you, not Lavinia. You are 10,
my dear, and il an American woman is ever going
TO have her own way she begins NJ 10 Will you
come this year! And Will You come at once? The
wife wants You, want YOU and as for the boy,
10 See ''Auui Elsie" is the dearest wish OF his
heart DO not expect \ favorable reply. have
too much respect for the power OF Lavinia's will
aud authority Yet this letter shall so. Y0ir
loving urotner. ADDISON WYNNE.
: S-lf you can defy the powers that be, write
az crce 50 that | u.ay meet You Mt Santana. The
cars will carry you there will come rs far as
Hobart junction ii | can Are you afraid OF the
Journey, A. W.
Would so: or course would. Did
the foolish boy think there was only one
will in the family: The dear old fellow,
il he really wanted his useless, frivolous
minded little sister, he should certainly
have her. Lavinia was shocked at the
idea. OF course. but it was of no use. l
said must so, and went.
sent word, as / was told, the next
day. and two weeks later was rolling
out of Chicago in sleeper of the Chi
cago, Burlington and Quincy railway,
speeding westwardS, fairly embarked
upon,h journey of five days and five
nigh, son the cars and thirty mile drive
sss9 that,
- How was watched and cared for and
waited upon by the railway officials.
Conductors of trains have faults, 1 sup
pose. but they were very good to me.
They got my tickets; they told me where
TO change: they brought me coffee; and
until got to Hobart Junction, where l
hoped to find Addison, might have
been-l really was-surrounded by an
army OF protectors and friends. l looked
anxiously up and down the platform at
Hobart, but. alas. no Addison was to be
seen
Well, | had come more than 1000 miles
alone AsSurediy was capable of con-
veyiug myself fifty, and he would not
fail to be at Santana. So there was moth
inc to worry about. Nevertheless. when
found that there was only one day car
going on from Hobart, that | was TO DE
the only woman on board and that the
pace at which we were TO travel would
not be more than ten miles an hour, be-
70 RI
sank little, confess, for it was 2
o'clock in the morning, and was very,
very tired. There was change of con-
ductors, too-a change for the worse.
The boss" of this train was large,
roughly dressed person, with hairy
face. who stared at me as he arranged
my bags and wraps upon 4 seat in front
in way that was scarcely polite and not
at all reassuring. When he had finished
his work he growled out in 4 sruff voice:
Going TO Fort Lincoln this trip, be-
lieve::" | replied with dignity that the
commandment of the fort was my broth
er. and then, leaning back in my seat,
closed ny eyes and pretended to Slum-
Der. This hint was sufficient, and to my
great JOY. after another prolonged stare,
the man went about hisbusiness. When
was quite sure of this I opened my
ewes and looked about me. 1t was a
very shabby car; badly furnished, badly
l,chted and badly ventilated; smell of
stale tobacco smoke about it, which
made me feel quite sick. l became very
cross and gloomy. Addison ought to
have met me before this. He knew /
was alone, and must be aware what an
emigrant car was like. Perhaps this
was a practical! joke-he always liked
practical lokes-and he hoped to fright
en- me. Well. he had not done that, at
anv rate. There was nothing to be
frightened about.
The men in the car scarcely noticed
me at al. and though my conductor was
gruii. his face was not forbidding-and
he knew Addison Soothed by these
thoughts closed my eyes in good ear
nest and tried to sleep. l was accus-
toned to travelling now, and soon
dropped into an uneasy doze and began
10 dream. | dreamed Of q face had
not seen for long, long while-the
face of an old schoolfellow, Eric Proctor
by name, who had gone out west some
time AGO. and was often mentioned by
Addison in his letters. Eric was nice
boy before he went west, clumsy, over
grown youth, but very amiable and
good natured, with great head of yell
low hair, and simple, honest, blue
eyes. l don't know why dreamed
of Eric now; perhaps it was because
he was the only person 1 knew in
Texas besides the family; but 1 did
dream of him very wildly. thought
had arrived at Santana, and found him
on the platform instead of Addison. He
looked very much older than he used to
do, his face haggard and worn.
He did no. speak to me, but, taking
my hand, led me away until we were out
of sight Of the station, and then lifted
ME onto a horse, which had appeared
from don't know where, and we were
galloping away a: q tremendous pace. !
begged him to let.me so, but he shook
his t,2d and spurred on faster. l began
to feSe'cold and queer, as if he were
made of ice and were freezing me.
All at once he stopped with q
sharp jerk, and with cry flung me
away, and felt myself falling, falling as
If from some great neight-and awoke.
The train was still. We had pulled up