The Lebanon express. (Lebanon, Linn County, Or.) 1887-1898, 1890-06-20
LEBANON. OREGON FRIDAY. JUNE 20 1890
.rHE AR.aRAkE DID lr.n
An EnRineer's Heroism aud Modesty In
DiSclaiming Credit Therefor.

Disclniming Credit Therefor.
We went winding up the mountains,
says writer in the Philadelphia Item,
our massive engine drawing ms up the
curving grades without an apparent
effort. We had crossed an iron bridge
and made curve. at the end of which
another was In sight. winding TO the
left. and from the track cottage home
stood In the shadow of the hills. Look
ing past IL to point just beyond. which
was visible from my side of the engine,
| saw and excitedly exclaimed: "a
child on the trackr'
At the exclamation John sprang from
his seat. One glance down the track
and his face became pallid. A child. 5
years old perhaps. stood midway be-
tween the rails and not 100 yards from
the engine. looked from John TO the
child. Ii stood facing us. clapping its
little hands MS it was wont to do from
its mothers arms. perhaps. at the pass
ing OF the cars. In another instant l.
was thrown forward. almost pitching
through the glass window in front. Al
the same moment | heard a scream. a
woman's voice. and with arms aloft and
face paralyzed with terror the mother
stood upon the steps of her cottage.
twenty yards from the engine, which.
under the pressure of the air-brake,
was humping and jolting fnriously.
looked for John; his seat was va
cant; again ahead; the pilot was within
twenty feet OF the child, the train still
in motion, too rapidly TO be checked
before reaching i'll ! shut my eyes;
my heart stood still. Again the moth
er's heartrcnding scream. and opened
my eyes TO see the child tossed several
feet In the air. My head swan as
averted my eyes. and faneied heard
the crushing of the little form by the
now slowly revolving wheels. when in
husky tones ] heard a mans voice ut
ter, ssThank Godr'
/ opened my eyes, and standing upon
the pilot was John Akers. holding in
his arms the child. its face wreathed IN
smiles. The engine was now at stand
still. From the cottage the father came
with blanched face aud trembling
steps. The child. in merry accents.
called out: WANT to ride. papa?" lie
took his baby from John Akers' ex-
tended hands. and. folding her in his
arms, sank down on the earth beside
the track.
John clambered back to his perch
and sounded the whistle. The passen.
gers looked out of the windows. won
dering what had occurred. A trem-
bling hand drew the lever. which start
ed the engine. pulling and Kissing until
IL was going at full speed again. /
looked toward John-his blue eyes were
on the track ahead, but they were dim
med. Tears were on his cheek, as he,
perhaps, thought of what would have
been his feelings If his own little girl
had been the one on the track. Not
a word did either OF US speak until at
Christianburg. on the top of the Allie
ghanies. 1900 feet above the level, the
train stopped. As | started TO leave
the engine l turned and grasped john $
hand.
"You did brave thing. John-a no
bic act"
Twas the air-brake.' - he modestly
and blushingly replied; twas the air
brake that did it
STRANGE LAND.
Features OF Austraiia-FIowers without
Odor-No shade.
Australia is country In which ma
/ ture has established conditions un-
known elsewhere, SAYS the Boston
Journal, and where civilization must
nun Ht iAStlt W WHICH, IL
( finds novel and strange. Ii is a coun-
+ try full of absurdities in animal vege-
+ table. and human life. Its native race,
/ in point of intelligence and develop
/ ment of resources, is far below even
/ the cave-dwellers and the people of the
stone age of Europe. Its animals per-
! petuate types which disappeared from
/ every other part of the globe some
i millions of years ago. Its trees and
plants are representative of species
found elsewhere only in chalk aud goal
measures.
I Hardly anything here has the char
{ acter and quality of its relations in
/ other lands. Although the trees and
\ flowers are chiefly those of the temper
4 ate zone. the birds are. for the most
! part, of the tropics. and flash the gor-
4 geous colors of the parrot and the
4 cockatoo through the dull foliage of the
/ sad-toned eucalyptus. The birds have
/ no sony, and such notes as they possess
seem like wierd echoes from a period
/ when reptiles were assuming wings
and filling the tree-tops with a strange
i jargon, before heard only in the
+ swamps and fens. The flowers have
no scent, while the leaves of every tree
are full of odor. The trees cast no
shade, since every leaf is set at edge
/ against the sun, and shed, not their
leaves, but their bark. which. stripping
off in long scales, exposes the naked
wood beneath. and adds to the ghostly
effect which the forest already holds in
the pallid hues of its foliage. The
contour of the country is of one that is
but newly risen from the waves. Its
thousands and thousands of square
miles, level as table and set with nc
/ other growth than the gray eucalyptus.
looks like the uplifted bed of some
great sea and is as monotorous as the
unrelieved expanse of coast itself.
Here and there are low hills. which
show in their sides and in the country
about them the evidences of ancient
lava flows. Elsewhere are piled up
masses of powders, which show the
long-ago courses of glaciers over the
face of the land. Everything seems
prehistoric. hoary with age, and for.
gotten. To the traveller from other
lands an impression comes that he is
visiting country which had ceased in
its development long cons ago.
The Richest Actress.