The Union times. [volume] (Union, S.C.) 1894-1918, 1895-01-18

hands numbering q gray haired driver,
regular old-timer, by whose side |
sat as he stood at his levers, and a
young slip of fellow, very handy with
his fire.
When we were we'll up in the noun
tains, and just after the old man had
pulled the whistl-elever we'll down, and
sent out blast which resounded
among the hills like a roar from fog
horn, he turned, bade me look from
the cab wind, W out and down upon
the track. We were crossing the
Frankensteintrestle, $50 feet highly
the de-book-and it looks all of that
from the cab window as you cross.
Then he told this story:
"'F you look sharp down in tn bot
tom of tn gulch there. young fellow,
you'll see, piled up, heap of wrecked
fat cars, pretty well covered now by
the growth Of young trees, but still to
be seen II you've got good eyes.
''Well! why my old bones amt lying
down there under that wreck, stead
of my sailing up here like bird, s a
miracle done by a woman, tn smartest
woman and tn bravest in the whole
mountains.
There amt another bit of track
like this on tn whole Maine Central
dyer see, and there's precious few in
this whole country tell yer.
"You see me hittin' her hard rs
can along here, and she stranglin' fit
to burst, up these grades, with the
lever way down in tho corner, the
whole machine red-hot and crying for
more steam, and at the same timo we
movin SO slow that you'd swear if one
of the brakeys (brakemen) were ter
get out behind and drag his feet he'd
stop her dead, or another pound OF
freight would throw. the machine down,
stall her, see?
Then again you see us coming
back, down the hill, head up and tail
over the dasher, so to speak just
droppin' thro space th'out u pound of
steam bein' used, fire-box wide open,
fireman singin' Rock Me to Sleep,
Mother" and admiring the scenery.
There's nothin' like your fiat
drivers on the Mogul pattern locomo-
tive have no aange) for this noun
tain business four-fOot-eig wheel,
six drivers, built right onto the rails,
gives such a space for friction that you
can't help slip 'em. Many's the time,
when, il you was handlin' high
steppin' ordinary, six-foot driver, YOU'D
be fnmin, and frettin,' and she a
dancln ahu oVamuiin, anu you lucky
IL you Coulo oidCh Gill oNcE buc UOD Vi
tn divide and not have to doubler if
twas a Mogul she'd be churning her
steam, calm as June morning, and
walking that procession up the hill,
slow, mebbe', but with no signs of q
spasm.
when l blew that whistle back
there for the trestle, my memory
Stacked back to that incident started
to tell you of, and now, pardner, being
as this story will go into print, | will
begin at the first, when my boy and
were newly come into the White
Mountains. l as an engineer of the
mountain freight, and he telegraph
operator and agent at the little station
just under the cliffs there at tn end Of
the trestln.
81 dislike to speak of what followed,
but it's past and forgotten. The boy
went wild. You'd think he'd have
had hard work to find boon companions
in the regions, but I've noticed man
can find fellows to help him spend his
money Almost anywhere country or city.
was about to ask the super to
transfer him to some other station and
get him away from his tempters when
/ noticed change in the boy himself,
and you can bet 'twa'n't long fore |
got onto the reason. There was a
woman's gentle face leading him from
ruin.
" Although he had none of the usual
chances for his courting, way up here
in the hills, he kept the odd times and
evenings between the mountains and
the seaward plains, until finally he
brought the plains to the mountains
fer keeps, and then, one mornin', when
| steamed up to the station, there was
tho hnty an1 kprinnapo ho
named her. and so the boys always
called her.
Though | say it, you may believe
she deserved the little and it did me
proud to know the boy had won for his
wife.
"Well This relieved my mind OF
most OF its load concerning the boy
twice each day as | passed up and
down the line l saw them, this happy
pair, keeping house among these
peaks, high above the valley, happy,
on the modest salary OF $50 a month
Next on the programme came the
baby, little mOuntaineer. In short
time a lusty little fellow tOddle6 about
tn station platform holding up his
hands to me to take him into th' cab
and many's th' time The pair of 'em,
tn Prince and the Princess Alice,
h'plains but always to return next day.
1t was on one OF these | got the
secret. Things were going wrong at
tn cliffs. The gay Summer hotels
below in tn valley, and farther on
Summer company, were alluring, and,
as the Princess was an expert opera
tor, full many day she was left alone
with the wires while tn boy was chas-
ing pleasures below, unmiudful of
home
Not that tn boy was vicious, for
he wasn't that: he had a rollicking
disposition, too easily led, perhaps,
which needed just the check it got to
show him the worth Of what he held
above th' shadows he was chasing.
"Of course | tried to brace up the
Princess, and | talked TO tn boy, but
neither did much good. At last he
was relieved from duty at the cliffs by
my own request and came with me
upon tn engine, whore figured hard
work would show him his folly.
80 He made 81 great balk at tbio oil