The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1895-10-08
GREATER LOVE HAra no NAN THAN THIS

Dragging Itself westward across
the dreary plans of Utah, the over
land train, frosn agyantage point In the
sky, looked like "a small horsehair
snake crawling over the earth's SUR
face. The e~arth-almost the air-was
white with the heat of the Summer
sun. All was vastness, immensity, |
silence, loneliness; above, the Hawless
blue below, those seemingly ilIimit-
able plains of reddish yellow, streaked
with alkali white, hat swan back and
forth before the eyes In parallel lines
until lar of they melted into o long,
low stretch of shivering light, the
hooking water mirage at the base of
the mountain range hundreds of miles
away. E~ncompassed within that
horizon there was nothing of life ex-
cep1t within that desultory moving
train.
Stocked in the emigrant or third
class a of the train was a crowd of
tired, miserable and dirty people.
They looked out listlessly at the
passing landscape, or stupidity at each
other, or twisted themselves into all
sorts OF uncomfortable positions on
the hard wooden seats in vain efforts
to secure a little sleep. Perhaps the
most unprepossessing of them ali was
a dark-featured, roughly-dressed man.
Beside him was a very little girl in a
blue dress. His lowering, repellant
face had a scowl upon it which sug-
gested the convict or the desperate,
u he was neither. The scowl and
the unconscious sneer about his ugly
mouth were born simply of a long anu
thoroughly fruitless struggle with mis-
fortune.
Although pretty, it was easily to be
seen that the little girl was his child.
She was the solitary ray Of sunshine
In that railway Storage. Even the
dull faces of the people In the car took
on an expression of tenderness when
they looked at her, for she had cheered
them during the last three weary days
with her joyous laughter and merry
play. just nov she was lying asleep
on the breast of the i%ll-favored looking
man, one chubby hand pressed against
bis rough, unshaven cheek. Ii was
unnecessary to ask IL the child had u
mother.
She a a momentous factor in q
mighty problem to the man whose
arm was about her and whose knit
brows/ and troubled face showed how
hard/it was he studied it.. A crazy
letter had come to him across the con.
tinent. and he had left the tenements
OF New York to try and reach the
golden land Of California. He had
started with hardly sufficient money
to take himself and child more than
half the distance, but he had u con-
fused sort of an idea that he would in
some way reach his destination. Bet
ter it was, at all events, than to re-
main in the noisome Hester street den,
where, without work, Or the prospect
OF any, his little sum of money would
soon be one
|he station to which his scanty
purse had enabled him to buy q ticket
for himself and child had been passed
hours before. and he was wondering
how soon the conductor of the train
would discover the shameless imposi-
ton he was practicing upon the rail
way company. He had not much
longer to wait, for presently the auto
crat OF the train, in a hurried passage
through the car, stopped suddenly be-
fore him and glanced at the check in
his hat.
Hello! Where are you going ~
The man looked up in what was in
tended as a humble, respectful, and
piteous appeal, but his lip curled up
over his teeth, like hat of a BARRED
dog. He could not help it. His voice
was mild enough though, as he said
l. am going to California, sir. with
my little girl"
The mans looks seemed to irritate
the n~ot-too-even temper Of the railway
officer:
"You are, oh Well, where's youl
ticket Tor the rest Of the way 2"
IF you would please let me &c
through the train with my little girl
replied the unfortunate one. falter
ingly, 81 think [ could raise the
money"
Go through the train? Not much
IhIrd-class passengers stay in this car
You get off at the next station" said
the conductor in a voice of fierce warn
ing as he passed on.
The man looked despairiugly around
at his fellow passengers. There was
a glimmering of sympathy and pity
for him in some of their ~woe-begone
faces, but there was little money ir
their pockets. even II they desired tc
help him.
In about an hour the conductor came
into the car again and gave the bell
rope a vicious pull. The engine re.
sponded with two short whistles, AND
gradually the train slackened it's speed
and stopped.
Come, now, you get of here
cried the conductor, roughly we're
behind time already, and you want c
hurry up about it,"
again VIC udu b Up CuTleu In al
ugly way, but he made no answer,
except to gather up the few paper
bundles of bread and meat on the seat
before him. Then, taking his child
in his arms, he followed the conduc,
tor to the platform and stepped off the
train. Before it was under way again,
however, a humane brakeman on the
last step called out to him:
Say, partner, ther amt nothin
here. This is only a flag station. The
ea%st-boundll be along in a few hours.
Stop her and board her. The con.
ductor on that train'll let you on. It's
a mean shame to put Thai kid off in
such a place
In truth, little about the place In.
dicated u railway station. There was
a little closed sentry-box-looking affair
beside the track, and fifty yards be.
hind 1t the remains Of an old dug-Out.
Not even u trail showed where IL was
that any human being had visited the
spot. And round was the dreary waste
OF billowy plains and the burning sun
overhead.
In the ear of the s%entry-box it's pro-
jecting roof had cast q little shade,
and here the man sat down upon the
ground with his child still In his arms.
Strange things, for him, came to his
~eyes-tears. The little one looked up
at him In apuzzled way, and he hastily
brushed his hand across his face and
left a broad smudge of railway SCOT
upon his cheek. She clapped her
hands and laughed with glee at his
funny face.
Then thirst came to them-that