The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-03-29


some knowledge of my child, but with
out any tangible clue, and only enough
of that which was intangible to form
the basis for a hope or an impression
that she was living. Under that i'm
preston I have not only secured Italy
but every country in which I had
hopes of finding a clue.
Much of my search pilgrimage has
been made OH the wheel which some
of you have noticed in the lookout"
at the bridge, On the day which I ap
piled for the position as keeper, the
last of my fortune had boon spent and
l had only a few books and my wheel.
[ could part with neither of these. My
resources were exhausted and must be
replenished. More than this 1 was led
to seek this position from the very fact
that it was solitary and isolated. The
impression was so strong upon me that,
as l had exhausted several years and
thousands OF dollars in search of my
child among the people, without re
suits, there might be a paradoxical
providence in pursuing an opposite
course of retirement, %seclusiOn and rest
from pursuit.
Il obeyed that impulse, whether
wisely or not I was in doubt, until the
moment when on the morning Of the
recent accident I took down my lantern
preparatory to making my beat over
the bridge, before the evening train
should cross. AS l stepped on to the
track, in front of the look out [ re-
membered that I had felt strangely de-
pressed all the preceding day, and that
my mental state was not unlike that III
which one recalls the impressions of a
bad dream. Before I had taken six
steps the whole sickening recollections
of the moment in which the earthquake
began to rock the walls of Naples crept
over me, because the first Of those SEN.
sations was being repeated. 1 knew
what was coming, and l must confess,
gentlemen, that the motive Of stopping
the train, which that instant l heard
whistling around the mountain side,
before it should reach the trembling
bridge was intensified by the feeling
that upon my success in saving that
train hung that for which I have spent
the best Of my manhood, the discovery
of my child. To signal from the look
out end of the bridge was, asyou know
hopeless, because of the curve at the
| other approach. It was equally hope
less to attempt to run the length Of the
bridge before the train would be upon
me. That moment my eye CHANGED to
see the fash of my lantern light upon
the nickel of my wheel, which l had
taken outside to oil. 1t was my only
hope! To make it tread the centre of
the track, across the bridge in four
minutes, meant life to that train load
of human beings and perhaps to my
child-who could9 Anything less
meant-well, you know.
q caught my lantern on to the han
dlebar and sprang into the saddle.
With nearly my whole weight thrown
into every stroke, she responded to my
will like a part of my body. l could
feel the vibrations of the bridge in
crease with each second as the roar of
the swiftly approaching train grew
louder and louder. Could I save it9
A moment more would tell. AS I flew
over that last span the rocking was
tremendous! But, gentlemen, if the
span had snapped when l was within a
rod of the abutment, | believe that ma
chine would have made a leap and
carried me over, at the speed she was
under. Well, you know the rest; the
wheel saved the day, and, gentlemen, y
said the hero of High Bridge, inabroken
voice, THAT train carried a messenger
of the italian government who brings
me certain proof that my child has
been discovered and will soon come to
me-" :
If the carpets and furniture Of the
directors room had never felt the
touch of tears before, they did that
day.
If you should happen into the vice
presidents room of this railroad you
would notice the wheel which made
priceless time that night over the rock
ing bridge. At the desk you will see a
man Of middle age, who never looks up
at the wheel without a brighter CLEAN
in his clear, blue eyes; a CLEAN whose
warmth and tenderness is exceeded
only when a tall and beautiful young
woman enters, and resting her arm on
his shoulder, says with a slight foreign
accent: Father, dear, aren't you
most ready to go home with me9'-
WheeImen'S Gazette.