Marshall County independent. (Plymouth, Marshall County, Ind.) 1894-1895, 1895-10-11
SURVIVAL OF
THE FITTEST.

Dragging itself westward across the
drcary plains of Utah. the overland
train, from n vantage point in the sky,
looked like a small horsehair snake
crawling over the earth'S surface. The
earth-almost the air--waS white with
the heat of the summer sun. All was
vastness. immensely. silence, loneliness;
above. the fawless blue; below, those
seemingly illimitable plains Of reddish
yellow. streaked with alkali white, that
swan back and forth before the eyes
In parallel lines until far off they melt
ed into Il long. low stretch OF ShiverinS
light, the hooking water mirage at the
base of the mountain range hundreds
OF miles away. Encompassed within
that horizon there vas no thing Of life
except within that desIltory moving
train.
Stocked in the emigrant o. third-class
car of the train was Il crowd ct tired,
miserable and dirty people. They
looked out listlessly 1T the passing
landscape. or stupidly at each other, or
twisted themselves into ali sorts Of
uncomfortable positions on the bard
wooden seats in vain efforts to secure
little sleep. Perhaps the most unpre-
possessing of them all was dark
featured, roughly dressed man. Beside
him was a very little girl In a blue
dress. His lowering, repellent face
had a scowl upon it which suggested
The convict or the desperate, but he
was neither. The Scowl and the I'M
conscious sheer about his ugly mouth
were born simply of long and thor
oughly fruitless struggle with misfor-
tune
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 steerage. 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 now size was lying asleep on the
breast of the ili-fayored looking man,
one chbby hand pressed against his
necessary to ask If the child had a
mother.
She was a mOmcntous factor in q
mighty problem to the man whose arm
was about her and whose knit brOws
aud troubled face showed how hard
IT was he studied 1t. A crazy letter had
come TO him across the continent, and
he had left the tenements of New York
to try and reach the golden land Of
California. He had started with hard
~ sufficient money to take himself and
child more than half the distance, but
he he'd confused sort of an idea that
hc would in some way reach his desti-
nation. ''etter it was, at all events,
than to remain in the noisOme Hester
street den, where. without work or the
prospect of any. his little sum of money
would soon be gone.
The station to which his scanty purse
had enabled him to buy a 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 Imposition he
was practicing upon the railway com
pany. He had not much longer to wait,
for presently the autocrat of the train,
In hurried passage through the car
stopped suddenly before him and
glanced at the check I'm his hat.
Hello! Where are you going?"
The man locked up In what was in.
tended as an humble, respectful and
piteous appeal. but his lip curled ur
over his teeth like that Of harried dog
He could not help 1t. His voice wa
mild enough. though. as he said:
81 am going to California, sir, with
my little girl"
The mans looks seemed to irritate