Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1889-09-21
THE LOST VOICE.

shhck from The wofds great eesfxc battery,
after which It would Relapse into in usual
state Of torpor In other words, tie midday
train was shout 70 ctsae In, the one that
brought the mails, and the few pasenSerY
that came; the only oue, TO all in.enss and
purps=ss, for Shmhsrough WIS only mile
Of struggling hssiss-s set on branch rod a
the great Maasamisran and Midland railway,
and its honest fnhaEaEants were not disturbed
unless the whistle Of the might freight npusnd
them from their blc5lic dreann
The two gent.ener who lived In the neigh
torboest had driven over to get the faaIl. and
were waiting for IL in their buggiss; the far
iners had ted ttssir iauk koFass u the fence
and gone into the small house pinnast 10 an
extensive platform that served u once
store, po~toiiiee and station; the usual crowd
IT idle n,.ssross who never missed a train, not
even during harvest, had assembled And
now what should come rafting along the
crossroai hat a modest -rocka~ayT IL con-
tainesi three ladies and unique coachuan in
the person n Little eoiarel asiri u about IL,
who vas drs-s-i in pink calico, and as % her
exrrsnaiste-, war harefooced, and wore black
straw hat from beneath which a wilderness Ut
/ short piai,a bristlssi In the most eomical
I fashion. stop. stopl Floriadai where are
4 you gD.ngF called out one Of the LADIES'. In
( al alarrutsi tone. a. they crossed the trlsk-
Don't you hear the whistler Gn orr
I shouted another in q res8luts, author tatiye
voice
/ Goodness gracious alive! She viii kill US
/ all YETI exclaimed the third, bot for all
answer fl0rirBla who had solved in her own
person the somans rights problem, by know
Ing what shes doing and going straight
ahes.sl and doing il, and who, in spite Of her
age and sex, accomplished Jehu, drove
safely and cbsveriy around 10 thu back Of the
/ station and stopped where the ladies' eoaid
step out gu the platform With Rolling
I her immense prOtrlding eyes around at her
mistress, she said reproyingIy: Miss Stasia,
( Is, a-driving!" and, without further com
! ueft. tha PROCESS Of Decentralization began.
IL WIS IA process for all thrts ladies were
/ Old AMI more Or l,-ss difficult 10 extract from
the small carriage, but Florinda was einal to
] the e-'i.asiou. II was worth while 10 see her
guido Miss Anastasia foot TO the step seize
her hand and land her safely, then put up q
iar,laol for her and leave her To go back and
! fairly pull out Miss Elizabeth, who weighed
two hundred
There was sill the tiinid Miss Roberta, who
I.sred anxlo,Isiy ia the direction OF the old
horss's head and cried out He'll start, @ -
or do something, know hs will Go;hot
besist, florinsia; hold himp y.or
/
Roberta that there was no danger, II a'e
had d mortal dread Of horsehesh and nth.
bundle Of nerves. Florinda didn't try. ave
simply put one long, firm arm arcum
indys waist and brought her cut within tad-
feet Of her sisters with one determined sw or
collected in a twinkling the shawls and r..
GELS they hal brought, bounced back lik,g
ball into the carriage, turned it sharp arouI
escaping the wheels Of wood wagpsAse
about an inch, bounced out again, ,knver
the reins, hitehed the horse and rejonet Jts
companions ks
4 The train now rolled in, and the thretes
Indies, who were devoted TO each otIesj ms
had never been separated for IA month -Aer
their lives, consumed much time In -
wells and embraces and cautions that, after
all, there would have been no immediate
necessity for anything Of the Kind, and Mss
Roberta would have missed her train had not
the sharp and practical F1orinda been ut the
helm It was she who called out, rather dis
respectfully il must lie confessed, stop dat
fooiishncss! Don't yer sec you gwine be left
Whisperatin' en- circumferatin right licre!n
and not content with mere words pushed
Miss Roberta briskly in the direction Of the
Indies car and got her on board. On the
platform, even that lady paused to say:
SISTER, dcar, be sure To feed my Rouen"-
This Sentence IL it had been finished would
have had ducks IN 1t, but it wasn't The
train started, aad with convulsiye lurch or
two, Miss Itol--rta disappeared inside. The
weather ben. that of the dog days the ear
Windows warr all up, and from one If them
Ms Roberta Jaw her two sisters waving
their hanikcrchefs She also saw Florinda,
who hil taken oil the black straw and was
nn,ri-hn ii in the air, her innuinerabe lit
tnfLs stap1ipgs plt otrniost
the Ks lhe the qiulls of the fretflI I,orcu-
pine, her voice sending after the Traveller a
last caution, Change kyars Mt Milford Miss
| knbrrta'
When the train crawled into Milford the
faithess conductor forgot her entirely. But
the ear was unanimously deserted by the pas
.cisers amidst most confusing banging Of
doors and rush of trains, and after having
male satisfa- tory inquiry as to whether that
was really Milford she followed the people
near her and soon found herself in "A huge
covered station. There were trains to the
right Of her and trains TO the left of her
There WIS a great crowd She made some
mora tim Inquiries, and the busy officials
only half heesng her, sent her first TO the
wrong cute, Wherc, after fumbling for her
tirs,t ani showing i. she cuEsorly
waved OFT o. another and finally reached the
| proper train at the last moment She saw
the people from afar streaming in, and just
| caught ~ with the procession Hold onl
Here's another" sad the conductor in Charge
| and clad enough she to find herself in
harbor once morn after the ai1tating iluctna-
tons OF tn last few hours. Now all was
Welt Shc hal only to get off at Sulithville
whele her aunt lived and would see that she
was ", lconrd properly. In two hours more
the Journey would be at an end
With th,~e reflections Miss Roberta settled
her wraps and parcels in the last seat at the
upper end Of the car, and took the empty one
facing it. Once or twice she turned around
to have a hook mt the other Passengers as they
took their places and then she sank back
against the well cushioned seat, and she
would herself have expressed it. addressed"
| herself 10 reading the excellent volume Of
| Hannah More provided by Miss Anastasia as
| certain preventive of possible dizziness. 1t
was not the first time she had read it by any
means, hut novelty in the atmosphere in
which She had been bred was not only not
ESSENTIAL even in the matter of books, but
considered vaguely dangerous. They had
always read Hannah More with pleasure,
and that a time would come in which
! they would cease to be "e,lifedT and lin
structed' bv her amusement was a mere
| giddy, violate side issue, without weight
/ AMONG grave, superior INNItSl nave
| struck al the sisters as all almost indecent
1 superstition.
| And so il was with serious satisfaction that
| Miss Roberta turned over page after page of
/ the volume in her hand which she was al
| lowel 10 dwell upon quite undisturbed, for
| except TO show her ticket when first seated
! her attention was not once distracted. In the
| COURSE of the next hour and half they
| passed. good many stations, at which they
stopped for a few minutes, but no one got
| into her car and no one got out, neither was
she annoyed by having :he names OF the
towns bawlad ut her from afar, she had
been OH the branch road. 1t Is possible,
though TO get enough even of the most sub
sfantial repast, and when she had finished
the twelfth chapter of moral reflections hu-
man nature began to assert itself, and Miss
Roberta groaned twice and began to look
about her again.
So little breeze sifted in through the win
dow that Miss Roberta was uncomfortable
enough, and seeing that a lady opposite twho
looked up from some knitting Just then and
SMILED pleasantly on meeting her gazel had
two palmetto fans lying by her, unused, Mis-
Roberta forgot her wounded dignity and ask
ell for the loan OF one.
The lady ignored her request calmly, and
with her portmanteau and shawl impruvised
a couch and laid down
-Well, do think these people are brazenl'
thought Miss Roberta Keep your old fan,