Lewiston teller. [volume] (Lewiston, North Idaho) 1878-1900, 1890-06-12

hills in the distance, and the light of
lamps around which he imagined
happy families were gathered. And
vet nothing seemed real to him, and
he could scarcely believe that he was
not in a world where all objects were
and intangible.
Everything appeared to be fleeting
and evasive, and he b, gan to think
that he himself was but a shadow
and his previous life nothing more
than a dream, the latter part OF
which was an appalling nightmare.
There are conditions of extreme
peril when the mind of a sensitive
temperament is subject to aphenom-
enon in which time seems to be an
initiated. 1t often occurs, we are
told, to a person drowning, who, be-
ing resuscited, have said that their
lives were brought before them rs If
condensed in u panorama, as it were,
and in the few moments Ofstrangula-
all the good and ill of their past have
been flashed before them. We all
know from experience that to one
overcome by fatigue, in a sleep ofone
minute q dream has had existence
that called for an hour to relate.
This is what happened to Joe while
standing upon the roof of the cur; he
saw swiftly approaching the dim, huge
form of the covered bridge that was
to be his death. His life came before
his mind as in a flash of lightning;
and not only were the events crowd
ed into one horizon of his view, but
those events seemed to assume rela-
tions to each other that were not on
ly novel, but instructive to him.
Cleaning over all was not the light
of sin, but that ofweakness and folly,
and, as of consequence, a power yet
left him ofretrieving himself tugged at
his will, and urged the abandonment
of his purposed suicide. He saw how
in his early youth he had permitted
himself to become entangled in anaf-
fair with a vulgar. ignorant, and as
he now believed, a vicious girl; how,
in n moment OF generous impulse, he
had made the wretched creature his
wife: and so, without lifting her from
degradation, had been dragged down
to abject misery. Life with her was
intolerable to both. They had separ-
ated, although he yet supported her
in wantOn extravaganza that kept
him in poverty.
This was not sin; it was folly. The
sin came in when he caught a glimpse
of heaven on earth that might have
been, and was not. 1t was a griev-
Gus wrong to win the affections of a
poor girl he could never honestly
claim as his own. What right had he
to leave his work unfinished? What
right to throw away all chance of re-
trieving, in some way. his wretched
past? Why not bravely live on. and
trust to the good Father of all tor
the opportune redemption? Two
parts within himself seemed to con-
tend for mastery-one appealing to
his pride, the other to his better ma
ture. Pride won, and folding his
arms resolutely he awaited the horri-
BILE blow.
The train was on an up grade, but
behind time, and the engineer had
called for all the speed of which the
locomotive was capable. The long,
heavy cars, flying along at 40 miles
an hour, vibrated so violently that
nothing but long practice enabled
the conductor to preserve his balance
and remain standing. Every second
brought his death nearer and nea1e err.
He had braced himself for the final
blow, when suddenly the shrill whistle
of "down brakes" rang out, and the
reversal of the engine brought such
an unexpected shock that the con-
ductor was hurled from the roof of
the car to the road beneath. For
tunately, he tel in a marshy piece
of ground that lined each side of the
track me- the river. The soft.
yielding earth saved him from being
knocked insensible; and, as he in
stinctively struggled up, he was
conscious of u flash, q
shock, crash, and then a
dead silence, followed Immediately by
loud cries, escaping steam, and agon-
izing shrieks that seemed to pierce
through and ride above the awful
tumult.
Joe knew only too we'll that a col
lsion Ind occurred at the mouth of
the very bridge he had selected to
dieupon. Dragging himself from the
mire, he hurried to the wrecked train.
The telescoped cars were jammed and
smashed into each other, and the aw-
full tact that they had taken fire
was but too evident; and the wounded
wretches, held to an awful death with
in, were screaming in agony for relief.
All these had been extricated by the
men and passengers left unhurt, save
one, a woman whose screams pierced
the hearts ofall. Joe, Selling an ak, ,
cut his way into the burning car and
found the poor sufferer cruelty hurt,
held by seat. How in the smoke
and heat he worked cannot be told
in words. He would have persisted
in his attempt but for the water
poured over him from buckets and
avo,, hats u,bich Tho o,-