The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1890-12-05

comes and there she sits, all alone. till 2
o'clock in the morning, reporting the huge
black freight trains that go laundering by at
intervals. and keeping the Southern Paciilc's
single track clear; standing, so to speak,
between those noisy, screeching, spark
darling monsters of the night, that they do
not crash together and hnrl their en-
dangered train-crewS into eternity.
Mrs: 0. l.. Pease was as popular in
Phoenix society as any of tile bellies that
now reign in her place. She flew into spasms
when darkness caught her ont somewhere,
unatt ended. She did not know then how
brave she could be.
When the man who held her destiny in
MS keeping came along, wooed and won
her, there was no hesitation about accom-
panying him to the important railroad sta
ton at ella Bend
But it was lonely down there and. for oc-
cupatlon, she studied telegraphy. 1t looked
wild for her to attempt that art which
lordly man spends years in acquiring. But
in a few months she had mastered it. and
when the night operators chair fell vacant
she dropped into it,.
The early evening hours are not so weari-
some. Trains are moving; next mornings
news paper dispatches are passing over the
| wires; operators at other stations ia Tx and
perhaps exchange some pleasantly. She can
hear it all, even tD ''ha-ha" a laughing
agent along tho line signals to show he is
smiling and to let her enjoy the joke as well
90 b''hSNit' SiuPu pCoplV Cul tain uhu
joke as pleasantly hundreds of miles apart as
ordinary acquaintance can in their own par
| lors.
But as midnight crawls along the merry
repartee subsidies; trains do not run SO
| often; only the Instruments click, click
and the sober cloak of darkness outside the
| office answers her wish for morning.
| Suddenly black, rolling-eyed face is
pressed against the window pane just over
| the sleepy wolnan's shoulder. She starts as
cl fret rsrxl,y in
| ming countenance. But finally she rerog-
| nlZes old Boss" the eX-PhGnician negro
who is occasionally sober, but nearly always,
as now, drunk. He has had dispute with
| some one and now wants to come in and
| check the old trunk he has dragged, with
| many stagger, TO the depot, for his old
| Phoenix home.
Finally lie consents to 90 away and call
around next morning. SO the startled little
| lady settles into her usual composure.
But listen! Hear that stealthy tread
| softly entering the passenger-room opposite
her flee. Who is itp What does lie want?
| VIII he slide back the ticket-seller's shut
| ter, thrust in his gun and bid her stand with
| hi nds up, whereby the road to he railway
company'S safe vii! be open for his jimmy
and other cra ckSmen's tools? Tie question
| must be answered, and at once. With noble
nerve she grasps her lantern, unlocks her
| door, walks fi.mly out upon the platform
and into the presence of her robbers 1t is
| Only d HaInltSS tramp, however, WHO wants
a warm place to sleep in. But he can
stay there. Quietly she tells him to CO. and
| he goes, down to the c0al-shed or elsewhere
| beyond her jurisdiction.
The feminine fiber is not yet sufficiently
tested A red distorted Indian mug next APP
pears. He branashes the whisky bottle
| that has fired his crazy brain. He motions
| for the lady operator to come out and join III
| the orgie. Perhaps on her refusal the whisky
bottle will go crashing through the wind ow,
and its hundred pieces be buried in her pale
but beautiful face. This time her husband
hears the disturbance, rushes in, disarmS the
| iuddled savage and packs him of into the
| sagebruSh.
On another occasion the alarm came from
a treache!ous drunken Mexican. His knife
shot back the rays of the Office lamp as he
tried 10 force open the dcor. Then our
heroine thought decisive action imperative.
| SEEING the little 22-caliber Smith & Wessnn
pistol that lay conveniently upon her desk,
| she marched to the door and convinced that
Mexican she would shoot if he did not
yam0Se. He had seen her practice shooting
by daylight, and remembered how bottles
lost their necks with every discharge. SO
! he, too, mapped out q different spacial orbit.
Thus night after night this plucky woman
sits at her post alone, ignorant OF the new
terror some brutal rutiian has in store for
her. But she has gained a confidence in heI
power of resisting all attacks. The little
pistol giStens on her desk under the lamp
light. 1t is ready to speak on an instanrs
| notice. While the ueraidS lady friends
sleep peacefully in well-guarded towns, ap-
| pretending no danger, one Phoenix woman
watches, sixty miles away on the desert,
| rejecting Il thousand railroad lives, and
| holding her own self secure by the con-
seriousness of duty done and the calm pluck
that conquers brute force as mind every
| where trlumphS over gross matter.