Smyrna times., 1891-12-23

The children both began to shake
the papa, and he was glad enough to
go on sensibly.
well, anyway, the mother locomo-
tive certainly Oughtn't to have de-
ceived it. Still she had to say some
thing, and perhaps the little Pony
Engine was better employed watching
its buffers with its headlight to see
whether its cowcatcher had begun to
grow than it would have been in lis
tening to the stories of the old loco
motives and sometimes to their swear
ing"
do they swear, papa? ?" asked the
little girl somewhat shocked and yet
pleased.
"Well, l never heard them near by.
But it sounds a good deal like swear
when you hear them on the up grade
on our hill in the night. Where was
I?"
Swearing" said the boy. "And
please don't go back now papa"
"Well, | won't. It'll be as much as
can do to get through this story
without going over any of it again.
Well, the thing that the little Pony
Engine wanted to be most in the world
was the locomotive of the Pacific Ex-
press, that starts out every afternoon
at 3, you know. 1t intended to apply
for the place as soon as the cOwcatcher
was grown, and it was always trying
to attract the locomotives attention
backing and filling on the track along
side the train, and once it raced little
piece and beat it, before the Express
locomotive was under way, and
| almost got in front of it on
switch. My, but its mother was scared!
She just yelled to it with her whistle
and that night she sent it to sleep
without particle of coal or water in
its tender.
but the little Pony Engine didn't
care. 1t had beaten the Pacific Ex-
press in 100 yards, and what was to
hinder it from beating it as long as it
chose The little Pony Engine could
not get it out of its head 1t was Just
like the boy who thinks he can whip a
man."
The boy lifted his head, "Well, a
boy can, papa, if he goes to do it the
right way. Just stoop down before
the man knows it and catch him by the
legs and tip him right over"
"Ho! guess you see yourself" said
the little girl, scornfully.
"Well, 1 could" said the boy, "and
some day I'll just show you"
Nov. little cock-sparrow, now"
said the father, and he laughed. "Well,
the little Pony Engine thought it could
beat the Pacific Express, any way, and
so one dark, snowy, blowy afternoon,
when his mother was off pushing some
empty coal cars up past the knownoth-
ing crossing beyond Charlestown, he
! got on the track in front of the express
and when he heard the conductor saw,
All Aboard and the starting gong
| struck, and the brakeman leaned
out and waved to the engineer, he
darted off like lightning. He had his
steam up and he just scuttled.
"Well, he was so excited for awhile
that he couldn't tell whether the Ex-
press was gaining on him or not, but
after twenty or thirty miles it Thought
it heard it pretty near. Of course the
Express was drawing a heavy train of
cars and it had to make stop or two
at CharlestOwn, and at Concord
Junction, and at Ayer-so the Pony
Engine did really gain on it g. little,
and when it began to be scared it
gained a good deal. But the place
where it began to feel sorry and to
want its mother was ia HoOsac tunnel.
II never was in the tunnel before, and
it seemed as as if it would never get
out again. 1t kept thinking what if
the Pacific express was to run over it
there in the dark, and its mother off
there in the Fitchburg depot in Boston
looking for it among the side tracks d?
1t gave a shrek and just then it shot
out of the tunnel. There was lot of
locomotives loafiing around there at
North Adams, and one of them shouted
to it as it few by, What's your hurry,
little One?' and it screamed back
Pacific Express and never stopped to
explain. They talked in locomotive
language"
"Oh, what did it sound like?" the
boy asked.
"Well, pretty queer. I'll tell you
some day. 1t knew it had no time to
fool away, and all through the long
dark night whenever a locomotive
hailed it just screamed Pacific Ex-
press and never stopped to explain
but kept on. And the express kept
gaining on it. Some of the locomotives
wanted to stop it but thought they had
better not get in its way, and it WhiZ-
zed across New York state and Ohio
and India till it got to Chicago. And
the express kept gaining Onit. By that
time it was so hOarse it could hardly
whisper, bat it kept saying Pacific
Express! Pacific Express = and it kept
right on till it reached the Mississippi
river. There it found long tram of
freight cars before it on the bridge. 1t
couldn't wait, and so it slipped down
from the track to the edge of the river
and jumped across, and then scram-
bled up the embankment to the track
again."
Papa ~ said the little girl, warn.
ingly.
"Truly it did," said he.
"HoI That's nothing" said the boy
"a whole train of cars did it in that
Jules Verne book"
"Well," the papa went on, latter
that it had little rest, for the express
train had to wait for the freight train
to get off the bridge, and the Pony
| 11uklu0 SlODpcu az INC uFSG STATION 10
get drink of water and mOuthful OF
coal, and then it flew ahead. There
was kind old locomotive at Omaha
that tried to End out where it be-
lOnged, 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 death. But the worst of it was
when the nightmare got after it,"
"The nightmare ? Goodness !" said
the boy.
"Tve had the nightmare" said the
girl.
"Oh, yes, a mere human night
mare" said the papa. But a loco
motive nightmare is a 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"
"Pshaw 70
wheel, 1 mean. And it has four
COW catchers and four headlights and
two boilers and eight whistle, and il
! justgoes whirling and screeching along
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