The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1891-12-24
like lightning. He had his steam up and

had TO MAKE s. Stop or IWQTat ChAr1eS- :
town, and at Concord Junction. and At J
Ayer-so the Pony Engfne did really gain
on it 3 little, and when & began TO be scar
place where it began to feel sorry and to
want its mother was in Hoosac tunnel It
never was in a tunnel before, and it seemed
as if it would never get out. 1t kept think
ing what if the Pacific Express was to run
over it there III the dark. and its mother off
there in the Fitchburg depot in Boston,
looking for it among the side tracks? 1t
gave a perfect shrek, and Just then it shot
out of the tunnel. There were a lot of
locomotives loafing around there at North
Adams, and one of them sh outed out to it
as it flew by, What's your hurry, little
one? and it just screamed back, Pacific
Express and never stopped to explain.
| They talked in locomotive language"-
ooh what did it sound like?" the boy
asked.
"Well, pretty queer. rll tell you some
| day. 1t knew it had no time to fool away,
and all through the long, dark night when
| ever locomotive hailed it it just screamed
| Pacific Express and kept on. And the
Express kept gaining on it. Some of the
locomotives wanted to stop it, but they
decided they had better not get in it's way,
aud so itwhizzed along across New York
state and. Ohio and Indiana till it get to
1 Cnicaxg. And the Express kept gaining on
Iit. EBysthat time it was so hoarse it could
Ehandly whisper, but it kept saying Pacific
;lHxpressl Pacific Express, and it kept right
on till IL reached the Mississippi river.
EThere it found long train Of freight cars
before it olFthe bridge It couldn't wait,
and so it slipped down from the track to the
edge of the river and jumped across, and
L. Id 49, 81,
track again"
'Papap' said the little girl warningly.
'Truly it did," said the papa.
"Ho that's nothing" said the boy. IA
| whole train of cars did it in that Jules
| Verne book"
"Weh," the papa went on, latter that it
q had a little rest, for the Express had to wait
for the freight train to get off the bridge,
and the Pony Engine stopped ut the first
station for drink of water and mouth
full of COAL and then it flew ahead. There
was kind old locomotive at Omaha that
tried to find out where it belonged, and
what its mothers name was, but the Pony
Engine was SO be wildered that it couldn't
tell. And the Express kept gaining on it.
On the plains it was chased by a pack of
prairie wolves, but it left them far behind,
and the antelopes were scared half to
nightmare got after it"
1.-The nightmare? Goodness!' said the
boy.
''Tve had the nightmare" said the girl.
"Oh, yes, a mere human nightmare"
said the papa But locomotive night
mare is very different thing"
"Why, what's it like?" asked the boy.
The little girl was almost afraid to ask.
"Well, it has only one leg, to begin with. !"
''Pshawr'
sWheel, mean. And it has four cow
catchers and four headlights and two boil
ers and eight Whistles and it just goes
whirling and screeching along. OF course,
2. It wabbles awfully, and as it's only got one
wheel it has to keep skipping from one
i track to the other.,A a - s4if
!, "I should think it would runon the cross
ties,' said the boy. l.xs41 azI3z : z3 sz.2-s
i ooh, very well, them" said the papa, III
. you know SO much more about it than
- do. Who's telling this story, anyway
Now shall have to go back to the begin
) ming. Once there was little Pony En-
They both put their hands over his
mouth and fairly begged him to go on, and
:. at last he did. "Well, it got away from
the nightmare about morning, but not till
: the nightmare had bitten Q large piece ont
!, of its tender, and thenit braeed up for the
Z shomestretch. IF Thought that ns it could
: once beat The Express to the Sierrassi II
could keep the start the rest Of the way
Tor it could get over the mountains quick
..aEer than the Express could, and IL might 81
In San Francisco before the Express got to
Sacramento. The Express kept gaining on
it. But just zipped along the upper edge OF
Kansas and the lower edge of Nebraska an6
on through Colorado and Utah and Nevada
and when it got to the Sierras it just
stopped little and went over them like q
!, goat-it did, truly; just doubled up its
fore wheels under it and jumped. And the
Express kept gaining on it,
''By this time it couldn't say Pacific Elk
press any more, and it didn't try. 1t just
said Express! Express!' and then Press
'Pressr and then ''Ess! 'Essp and pretty
soon only ''Ss! 'Ssn And the Express KEEP
gaining on it, Before they reached Sar
Francisco the Express locomotives COW
I catcher was almost touching the Pony En-
I gine's tender. 1t gave one howl of anguish
as it felt the Express locomotives no
breath on the place where the nightmare
had bitten the piece out, and tore through
), the end of the San Francisco depot ant
plunged into the Pacific ocean and wa
Q never seen again. There, now" said tn
papa, trying to make the children ge
9 down; that's all. Go to bed" The littl
:. girl was crying, and so he tried to comfor
!, her by keeping her in his lap.
The boy cleared his throat. "What i
the moral, papa?" he asked, huskily.
children, obey your parents" said tn
- papa.
land what became of the mother loco
:. motive?" pursued the boy. ..- .,rs. O..
9 'tShe had a brain fever, and never quit
recovered the use Of hes mind again"
- The boy thought awhile. 'sWeif, dom
9 see what it had to do with Christmas, any
!. way" A'oaA5 g. esa q
"Why it was Christmas eve when til
+ Pony Engine started from Boston an
!, Christmas afternoon when it reached Sa
Francisco s.. s...-...s. ...,
n "Hol" said the boy. mo locomotiv
could get across the continent in day an
and a night, let alone little Pony En-
. CINE" +s.-~ ~A4'- '-t+.s
But this Pony Engine had to- Did 20
- never hear Of the beaver that clomb th
n tree?"
IL mo! Tell"-
Eyes, some other time"
- But how could it get across SO quick
Just one day.
l "Well, perhaps it was year. May be
~ was the next Christmas after that when
e got to San Francisco"
III The papa set the little girl down an
y started to run out Of the room, and bot
Is of the children started after him, to poun
u him.
le When they were in bed the boy Gale
- down stairs to the papa, well, anyway,
u u didn't put up my lp."-William Dea
X Howells in Harper's Young People
-. He Got the Tree.
rs Say, ma" said Tommy ''aren't we e
- ing to have Christmas tree this year,"
nj NO, Tommy" answered his mother,
a. haven't time to attend to it this year, an
your father is so busy that he will not ha,
% time to fix it up either"
M Tommy was silent for some time, the
m he went over and sat on footstool besit
10 his mother, who was doing some fant
- needlework.
no Say, ma" said Tommy meekly, after
long pause Seeing that her son was n
tn Rvich hns - n