The Roanoke times. [volume] (Roanoke, Va.) 1890-1895, 1892-01-22
THE ROANOKE TIMES, FRIDAY, JANUARY p. 1892

fellow-pilgrim is bound, Is fifteen min.
utes- now hold in my hand bottle
OF my justly famous Getthereeli, or
Rapid Transit Pellets. L propose to
enter them i'll a race against this train.
Will now administer six of thcm to
our friend, and stake my reputation as
n benefactor of the race against tho
price OF another ticket that they will
overtake tho ticket in its wayward
course and restore it to its riphtful
owner before Cedar Hill is reached"
The crowd shouted, the fat man an
proached the patient, pills in hand,
while all the passengers roared. Sud-
denly bundle rolled off the scat and
tumbled out into the aisle in front of
the pill man. 1t was the atom. His
hat had fallen off and mass of
tangled, yellow curls fell around his
shoulders. His blue eyes blazed and
his sturdy little legs were planted wide
apart In his fist he held the missing
ticket. His childish, treble voice rang
out clear and true.
You bad mans. You makes fun of
my poor papa. You SAINT do it, you
naughty mans. He's my papa!'
he stood there like an infant Ajax.
glaring defiance at all of them for q
moment Then his chubby fists went
up to his eyes and tempest of sobs
burst forth.
silence fell on the crowd. The pill
man stood a moment with mouth agape
looking down on the atom. Then he
slipped into his seat looking very
sheepish. The atom climbed back into
his corner while the smiles faded from
tho fapnc ~
steadily out of the window and others
with sudden revulsion of feeling
looked reproachfully ut the pill man.
The conductor came bustling in, sized
up the jag" instantly, and shook
the man sharply, demanding his
ticket, receiving only mumbled and
indistinct replies, while the atom looked
up at him with such world of helpless
wonder and trouble i'll his eyes as would
have melted the heart of an iceberg.
The pill man saw that look, arose,
touched the conductors shoulder and
asked how much the mans fare was to
Cedar Hill, paid it out of his own
pocket, sat down and looked the crowd
squarely in the face with the air of a
man who has done the proper thing
and knows 1T. A colored man entered
the car announcing in succulent tones:
Oranges! bananas! fgsl candies"
One man bought box of candy,
reached over and dropped it into the
lap of the atom and looked around
with bcnignant and self-satisficd air.
1t was catching, and soon the atom
was half covered with all sorts of peace
offerings. He looked ut the things in
dazed sort of way, and then his blue
eyes went from face to face with a
puzzled expression. Pretty soon two
men were hanging over the back of his
seat, two more over the back of the
seat in front of him and the aisle near
him was crowded with men, all anxious
to talk to him, and to show him that
they were not the bad mans" he had
thought them. The gigantic Gag"
with man attachment, had dwindled
into insignifcance beside the atom.
Cedar Hill was soon reached, and a
dozen men stood ready to steer the
jag" and man safely out to the plat
form of the station. all for the sake of
the atom whose tiny fingers, straying
among their heart strings, had found
and touched hidden but tender chord
and made it thrill to the sweet music
of humanity.-N. Y. World.