Bellows Falls times. [volume] (Bellows Falls, Vt.) 1856-1965, 1895-10-10
Bellows Falls News.
A Trip on the Narrow Gauge.

crustily, "what can we do for your"
"Oh, give me time, give ME time.
am convalescing aud any severe exer,
ton now might prove fatal"
"What's the trouble, old man? l
hadn't heard you were sick"
"Sick! Great Scott, mani"
Here "Observer" began fannin 6
himself with copy of the London.
derry Sitter, and his manly counte-
nance manifested ineXpressible weari-
ness.
81 took trip on the narrow gauge
yesterday" he began with a feeble
gasp; 81 went from Brattleboro to New
fame and am alive to tell the tale"
The editor heaved sigh of relief.
"Is that all? 1 suspected that the do c.
tor had just come to the conclusion you
had an incurable case of dementia, or
some similar malady."
"Never took trip over the narrow
gauge?'
"No.'
"My advice is don't start out unless
you have the entire day before you and
your grip is we'll stocked with refresh
ments both solid and liquid"
This advice was given in the presence
of the devil, and the editor was so in
dignant at the mention of liquid re-
freshments and the sly insinuation
carried with it that he was on the
point of ejecting the intruder when e
braced up enough to tell the following
yarn.
Eyes, ! was down to Brattleboro YES
terday, aud never having seen mar
row gauge before thought | would take
trip just for the experience. 1 ap-
preached the gentleman who haunts
the Brattleboro station in the early
hours of the morning and serves in the
triple capacity of station agent, Grand
express for Londonderry left. He
looked at me in a plying sort Of way,
and said that the "miXed" left at
seven 1t was then $50 | hustled up
town, swallowed a breakfast whole,
and hustled back again; but the
mixed did not show up until nearly
s O'Clock. When asked what caused
the delay, the triple capacity man
said that some of the train men had at
tended a dance the night before and
oversight.
GAS soon as the mixed round ed
the bend from Hinsdale, it was discov-
cred that it consisted of ten freight cars
and a passenger coach. The coach was
provided with portable steps in the
shape of small dry goods box on legs
At each station these steps were placed
on the ground and passengers assisted
to board by one of the obliging train
men who had oversight the night be-
fore.
"After 20 minutes spent in getting
orders, the mixed started out at
dizzy rate of speed. The busting little
village of West Dummerston, a suburb
of Brattleboro seven miles out, was
reached TWO hours after the scheduled
time for leaving Brattleboro. Here
little switching had to be done, and
the passenger coach was side-tracked.
AS it was not convenient to use an en-
CINE to pull this coach back onto the
main line, it was pushed back by hand,
most of the passengers dismounting
and giving lift. There were two or
three of the passengers, however, who
refused to do this, saying that they had
paid for their ride, etc. Their con-
temptible laziness and ill-breeding were
the subject of general condemnation.
1.-THE narrow gauge boasts of few
quite respectable grades. In these
grades it is customary to divide trains,
taking the first half to the nea rest
switching point, three or six miles as
the case may be, and then return ing
for the remainder of the train. This is
one of the pleasures of travelling for
which the passengers are not charged
extra. On such occasions the hungry
scour the fields for berries and the Gu
rious view the landscape.
"But they are darnation good folks
up that way. The train men are oblig-
ing, the conductors are courteous, and
the people along the line are as hospi-
table as any in the land. The fact is,
nature never intended that a railroad
should go up among those hills, but
somehow people got scattered up that
way and they insisted on having rapid
transit connection with the rest of the
world"
Here observer" threw his cigar stub
into the waste basket with the rejected
manuscript, pulled down his vest and
said he would have to bid the sanctum
a good-afternoon. He stopped long
enough, however, to remark that his
experience with the narrow gauge was
nothing compared with. an experience
he had down in Georgia once; but
knowing the gentleman's tendency TO
prevaricate, the editor buried himself
in poem on Autumn" recently con-
tributed by a country correspondent,
opd tho Georgia eXDerieQce was not re-