Arizona silver belt., 1893-07-01
A BABY IN THE SNOW.
A STRANGE CHRISTMAS ExPERl-
 ENcs oe a rRAckwALKER.

l
 the Snow Was Piled in Banks Along
 the Railroad Trnok--A Christmas Gift.
 Every time think of Christmas I
 think of the year 1879. said au old track walker "That's more than twenty years ago, ispt ity Twenty years is a good
 long stretch. Lots can happen to man in twenty years He could get rich and spend 1t all and get rich again in that spare of time and still havo lots of time to spare But haven't. I've just staid poor right along
 But ss ! was saying speaking os Christmas always reminds me of 1872. 1 wac trackwalking then for the Vapdalia line on section between Terre Haute and Burlington. in the state Of Indiana That Christmas night was corker, I'll tell you heard al noon from the sec uon ooss that the thermometer was 10 degs. below zero and as night came on it seemed 10 ret colder and colder. It had snowed the day before-one of the deepest in that year-and the engines nsd mad pretty tough time of it blow log tuelr way through in the morning.
 Alter they did get by my section the snow was banked no seven or eight feet deep in some places by she side of the track lt was so cold that | wrapped coffee sacks around my feet before start Ing out lnst 10 keep them from frost uite. You bet l hated to start out, but ! did muster up the courage after a rt. Q f eIar'eh to go back to Harrington, and ,he wlnd was in my face It's durn poor Christmas for me, thought to myself as the wind caught me a belt in inc side of the head Here I'm fated to walk this cold track until midnight without even q kind word from anybody to say Merry Christmas to you It's pTp'itv tough l guess track walking in ,nsl snout the worst trade man who loves eCmpany can adopt
 As WAS stamping along thinking hke this away of ahead Of Ihe 1 saw d suarkie It's lhe St Louis express. 1 aa,d to myself. and she'll be rumbling over me at about sixty miles an hour. Yon nsd better go out n the snow, old qiaD. unless you like being ground into .;tfle uits l}oo, but that snow was deen Way np oyer my vast But when 0pi dCwn of The track and ehugly rrHFed away ir the drift l was a heap ~srtnet because the wInd couldn't reach ge. And the old tram cano right ahead with pnS2 and a roar and her old vel f"w headlight getting brighter and biz. gsi every second t was S train of six o' seven passenger coacbcs All were ht m as prlGht as kerosene oil could make cru ,Jle two three four of the ears whiz2ed past me Bui the Gfta seemed Q sop II didnt Of cturse but the sIgnt SEW seemed 10 nail it to my eye.
 4 man and wainan They stood at the rear window il was open saw 'he man with his arms put out, suppli. caung hbe The woman had bnudle n her eruIS Then sbe didn't have it The man gave cry of horror that rang oui nlgn above tbe clamor of the wheels and The rattle oi The rails and the ereak- ing oi the coaches Something shot down lnst naSl my head and landed in the sncwdrn beside me l shut my eves Uui still saw the woman with the bundle qnd the man W1th outstretched oieadlng arms When l opened my eyes Ggaln line tram was quarter of miie away with her rear green hgnt sirg'ng swiftly into a dot and then lis ! spIeauns The wind cut me sharp on the "neek. and five miles uf heard the church chime ID Harrington tolling the quarter hour That sight WAS a dream, i old nIsn | said to myself as 1 pulled . my legs out Of the drift But the bun de exclaimed lnvoluntarily 1 looked down In The drift and saw another holo f n :he snow not the one came out of. | uni smaller one
 Mayhe you ve guessed the thing by this tune and maybe you haven i Well. | ali thai bundle was just as cute 2C- | pound Rld as want to look upon Hurtl | Neh guess not little blt. When ] ! iound um he was laughing coutentedly Rs you please and chewing d chunk of . snow for sugar cake.
 Who did he belong tor
 Ton tell l can 1. never knew and never expect to know He had good ciotnes on and the odd little collar of iaee ne wore was marked with pretty sllk He was tai as Christmas tur- sey and The biggest eater ron ever saw
 Why didn you find his parents?
 Didn't try my durudest2 Didn't l spend naii my wages for the next month III the newspapersg But no apswer dId get 10 any of them It seems Ic me that the man ought to have come and eot the child. for he evidently didnt want to see it fired out like that Hls outstretched, supplicating arms showed that But perhaps he only wanted to prevent it's being killed. Who knows' Perhaps he was glad to get rid ot IL. and when he saw that somebody 0ad II ell rght he was glad enough to leave II to its chance fate,
 What became of the child?
 Named Il Tom after myself Ton IS d pretty good. solid sort ot name, You know My family may 1of he very stylish. but none of them rsve ben hanged anyway And you sas the Kids collar had T on it. Ial- moat md to name him Tom"
 Where Is he nowp'
 'Irackwalking on the Yandalia. nol mo's than twenty-liv miles from the very spot where his little baby head into that snowbank Christmas nlght, 1872. ."--St Louis Globe Demo. crat. l
 w"men May Be Masous.
 A well known Freemason tells me thai women may become members of that