The Somerset reporter., 1895-02-07


Andrew McChunk there ran silver
thread of sentiment. To those who sim
ply saw the uncouth exterior of the
san. as day after day he stood upon the
front platform of the car over whose
performances he presided, playing rude
ly on the alarm gong, swearing at the
truekmen who would block his trium-
/ phal passage this would have seemed al
most impossible. But the thread was
there nevertheless and showed itself on
every afternoon when he was off duty,
and with two youngsters, the property
of his landlady, Mrs. Halligan, hang
ing to each hand, he left the small fiat
on the fifth floor of 5O54 Ninth avenue
and hetook himself to Riverside park
Gripman McChunk loved nature not
] as she reveals herself in the hothouse
/ atmosphere of the so called gardens that
/ line the Harlem, but as she discloses
/ herself on the Riverside. He loved the
broad. silent stream, the high, wooded
/ palisades, the green grass at his feet,
/ the green leaves above his head, in
which the birds chirped and futtered to
/ and fro on the balmy summer days.
{ hl6ilY u litA7dllb dItfIIID'Ji dS ITO SLlbll-
i ed along the narrow gravel pathways he
would close his eyes to shut out the
| sight Of the endless line of equipages
rolling by. and trusting to the guidance
! of the children at his side would listen
to the twtter of the sparrows and rob
ms am To the swishing of the breeze
among the carefully pruned branches
and imagine himself back up country
Now, had he not had some little sent-
ment he would have spent those Same
afternoons sitting in his shirt sleeves by
the open window of Mrs. Halligan's
stufy fiat smoking his pipe and gazing
stolidly down ON the elevated trains as
they ratified along below.
To the man who delights in wander
ing among green trees and over green
grass, where he can see overhead few
Thousand acres of blue sky dotted with
white Clouds unsoiled by black smoke
and unbroken by the rough outlines of
factory chimnoys, the time always comes
when in imagination a purely ethereal
some one gazes with him ON those same
beauties. Perhaps it takes form of a crea-
! turo clad in light, airy drapery, with
long, golden hair, deep blue eyes and
seraphic smile. Andrew McChunk, when
he first began to stroll on the Riverside
went alone, with the exception of the
two HalIigan children. Then, as the
days flew by, the purely ethereal crea-
ton walked with him, and those We're
the times when he used to close his eyes
and squeeze lttlo Miss Halligans hands
quite tenderly Later the ideal form
took upon itself change; the golden
hair assumed "a dull red hue; the eyes
once blue became snappy black; tho
form shortened little and spread out
in proportion; the airy draperies were
changed into solid red calico In fact,
the ideal some one that once Walked by
the side Of Andrew McChunk became
the exact counterpart of the buxom
young woman who dispensed lemonade
and knotty apples from small stand at
the southeast corner of Trinity church
yard.
Who was this creature? Andrew Me
Chunk did not know her name He al
ways thought of her as "her" and
she y Her customers knew her as
plain Annie
McChunk had presided over cable
car for a whole year before he first came
beneath her softoning influence. For
that year he had been the most daring
gripman on the whole line. His con.
science never smote him in the least
when he flew by forlorn females a4 OH
rainy days they stood on the corners
frantically waving their umbrellas No
look of compassion ever passed across
his stolid face when he left behind him
truckman helplessly dancing about
broken wheels and axles.
Then the change came-slowly, sure
ly. One day as his car was spinning by
Trinity churchyard his eye fell upon
the form of her She had taken the
place of the old woman who for years
had kept the stand there and was sit
ting beneath the shade of a green UNI
brella. With one eye she kept watch
upon her glass covered case, in which
glistened the surfaces of numberess
blocks of chocolate of various Sizes
with the other upon her customers, to
whom she was dispensing | and cent
glasses of lemonade. She was short
woman, not over 30 perhaps and had
Nayy red hair, a complexion not unlike
that of the apples in the basket before
her and broad countcnance beaming
with good nature.
The very next day on his down trip
Andy MoChunk looked her way again.
and the next day, and the next day, until
at length he acquired the habit of
straining his eyes to see her from several
blocks up the street. But she never no.
ticed him until one day when passing
he petulently jumped on the gong pin
Then she looked up, and their eyes met
She smiled, and he smiled. and the car
banged into a truck. A moment later
rs he spun 10y Andy McChunk smiled
his unconcern at IA profane and injured
driver. 1t was for the first time IN his
career on the r0aC.
After that as he clattered along to-
ward the ohurcbyard he used to pound
the alarm. Then she would look up and
smile, and his Joy was complete. And
thus his love grew up on him. Then
came tho time when he used TO squeeze
little Miss Halligan's hand as no walk
ed along the Riverside, with his eyes
closed, ca his half days off, trying to
imagine Ger at his side. He no longer
bumped trucks Off the track without