Daily tobacco leaf-chronicle. (Clarksville, Tenn.) 1890-1895, 1891-12-03

discovered me by the light OF MS ola ian
tern, crawling along the running board,
with my face rs black as the ace of spades
from the dusty diamonds.
"'Sit down. Sit DOWN. | cried so loud
that | almost imagined the whistle was
sounding for Attica; and down he sat so
hard and quick that he bit his tongue, and
the next moment we flew under the bridge,
while his lamp seemed to burn brighter as
it disclosed those heavy timbers over our
head that killed many poor brakemen.
He came near fainting when he clasped
my hand, and we sat for several moments
ON the wet deck of the car and neither of
us spoke a single word, but we were as
white around the eyes as the ghost of
Hamlet's father.
"Six years afterward | was in Fort
Wayne, Ind, at the Wabash depot, one
morning, the most disconsolate man on
Gods earth. / had been hurt on the road
several years before, was unable to work
and was trying to get back home to old
Lafayette, Ind, as l thought, to die.
was hungry and tired and didn't have
cent in the world, and to see people step
up to the lunch counter and call for hot
coffee that was smelling to heaven was
enough to set poor, fiat broke invalid
crazy. | had begun to think that all my
friends had been conveniently translated
bodily from earth to heaven, when a tall,
handsome conductor, with a silver lamp
and gold banded cap, approached me and
inquired:
"'Didn't you fire an engine about five
years ago-on the western division of the
Wabash?'
"'Yes,' replied, and it was a sorry day
that / ever went to railroading'
DO you recognize meP
No, sir;' and yet thought his face be-
gan to assume the angelic.
"'Well, will refresh your memory. Do
you recollect of risllng your life one dark,
stormy night in crawling over freight
train to warn a green brakeman about
dangerous overhead bridge below Atticap
"'You bet l dol But you're not Billy,
the brakeman"
"'No, sirl No more Billy in mine; it's
Will--sweet Will-the conductor on the
through passenger and he broke out into
a musical laugh that nearly ratified the
dishes on the lunch counter.
'The tears came to my eyes in spite OF
me, for was weak, weary and heartsick
He noticed them, and clasping my hands
said in sweetest words that ever fell ON
mortal ears
"'Come, comet Shut her off and oil the
valves, and he led me to stool at the
lunch counter and said
"'Now you sit here and fill up. Let II
few biscuits hit the chair and you will be
all right again
"He stepped into the dispatcher's Office
to get his orders while poured down cof-
fee that would discount the nectar of the
gods. He appeared in about ten minutes
and said, All aboard for Lafayette took
me by the arm and led me to a coach and
then stepped back to the platform and
waved his moss agate at the engineer.
curled up in the seat when the train started
to hide the tears that kept yelling up in
my eyes, and for the first time in twenty
long years could have cried like a baby
believe in "A special providence since that
terrible highland the morning | was heart
broken, and Bill-the sweetest Will on
earth-is still pulling bell cord in the
vanished cars on the old Wabash. AR
gentine (kan.) Republic.