The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1891-07-17
HIS YOUNG WIFE.
She Always Knew the Whistle Of
Toms Locomotive.
y. n Sterens III Phaadelphia re.


r. N Steuens in Philadelphia Press.
She was the wife of a railway locomotive
engineer, and the two lived in the newly
built little house to which he had taken her
as bride year before.
! Many other people in the country rail-
road town used 10 laugh at a thing which
she had once said to a gossiping neighbour:
Il can tell the sound of the whistle on
Toms engine from all the other whistles.
Every afternoon when his train gets TO the
crossing at the planning mill | hear that
thistle. and then l know it's time TO get
Toms supper"
The gossips found something humorous
in the fact that the engineers wife recog-
Dized the whistle Of her husbands engine
and knew by it when to begin to prepare
his supper. So are the small manifestations
of love and devotion regarded by coarse
minds You can frequently observe this in
the conduct Of certain people at the theater
when tender sentiments are uttered upon
the stage.
Perhaps the men were envious of the en-
gineer. He had prsttier wife, they said,
when he was not present, than was de-
se-v@d by q mere freight engineer very
recently elevated from the post of a fire.
man. Perhaps, also, the petty malevolence
of the women was due to the wlfes superior
comeliness.
Dc budt tS IL may, 6dCu dII0IuOOu hL 4 sOO
o'clock or thereabouts when Toms whistle
was blown at the crossing by the planning
mill, loungers in the grocery stores and
wives in their kitchens smiled knowingly
and said:
Time to begin to get Toms supper now"
But the engineer was careless and lis wife
was disdainful Of their neighbors She loved
the sound of that whistle. In the earliest
days of their married life it even sent the
70 hos Tho nOn1d
make 1t as expressive as music. 1t began
like sudden glad cry; it died away linger-
ingly, tenderly. Virtually it said to one
pair of ears:
my darling, have come back to you"
Whenever the engineer pulled the rope
for that particular signal he pictured his
wife arising from her work-basket in their
little parlOr with a thrill of pleasure and
affection, and passing out to the kitchen.
She, likewise, at the signal, made a men,
tai image of Tom seated in the hot engine
cab, his one hand resting upon the shining
lever, his eyes fixed upon the glistening
tracks ahead.
AT O'Clock, usually, supper was hot, and
Tom arrived through the front gateway,
CHANGING at the flower bed in the center of
the diminutive glass plot, carrying his dim
ner pail, having Invested himself of his
| grimy greasy blouse and overalls at the
great repair shops, where his engine had al
| ready begun, with much painting, to spend
| the night.
In small railroad town on the main line
| one is continually hearing locomotive whis-
| ties All the inhabitants know that one
long moan of the steam is a signal of the
| trains swift approach; that two short
| shrleks of the whistle direct the trainmen
to tighten the brakes, that four, given when
the train is still, are intended for the flag
man, who has gone away to the rear to warn
| back the near train, and they tell him to
return to his own train, as it is about to
start; that five whistles in succession an
nounce a wreck, and command the imme-
date attention of the wreck crew.
| In the town many cheeks blanch when
| these five long, ominous walls Of the escap-
| ing steam cleave the air. A husband, a
son, father who has gone forth blithely in
the morning with his dInner-pail full, may be
| brought out of the wreck mangled or dead.
| And until complete details are known there
| is a tremor in the whole community. Some
hearts beat faster, others seem to stand
still. People speak in hushed tones.
One afternoon the engineers wife observ-
ing the attitude of the sun. looked at the
clock and saw that the time was few min
utes before 5.
Toms whistle had not yet blown.
At 5:15 o'clock came the sound Of an
other whistle. 1t was prolonged and then
repeated. The engineers wife stood still
and counted.
Five.
The most docile and apparently cheerful
patient in the -- asylum for the insane
is widow, still young who spends the
greater part of each day sewing and hum
ming tunes softly to herself Every after
noon at about 4;30 o'clock she assumes a
listening attitude, suddenly hears an in
audible whistle, smiles tenderly, starts up
and places invisible dishes and i'm palpabie
viands upon an imaginary table and then
loses herself in reverie which ends in a
slumber.
No striking clock is allowed within her
hearing. 1t was long ago noticed that
the stroke of 5 or any series of five similar
sounds would cause her to moan piteously.
The people afar in the country town do
not laugh now when they talk of Tom ana
the whistle which was shrinking nndlv as