St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1896-12-25
Drunk, probably" interrupted the SUI

al wv
much, maybe" replied Mrs. Malone will
the air Of one making a concession fol
polteness' sake, "but he was loine on thu
section so his boss H. tell ye-Thoma'
Eagan, sor maybe ye know him. An {
kinder husband or better feyther nivel
was. Och, me Terry alack the day
should lose We from me hearrt, and siver
chlder." And Mrs. Malone, as if over.
come by the remembrance Of the virtues
OF her late spouse, threw her apron over
her head and rocked herself to and fro la
menting. When she recovered herself and
peeped forth, the superintendent was
gone.
He stoled away list loike thafe in
the noight,' said Mrs. Malone in describ-
ing The interview to Dinncy, ian niver a
chanst did ! have to tell him that me
Terence's teyther was hagman at the
Shawshine crossin' an mesiIi did washin
for the thrain- hands He'll be atther
wunnerin what mint by sayin' we all
belonged to the Road, an now Pm
ateard he'll n1vcr know. Alack the dayif
we should be turned away
But the second day thereafter Mrs.
Malone's fears were all set at rest A
farm wagon drew up to the fence which
separated the traln-yard from the high
way, and the driver called out:
is this Mrs. Malone's? ?"
"Yis, sor, I'm hopin So" replied the
widow
Whereupon the driver picked upa lump
ish and very lively bag torn the bottom
of the wagon, and handed it over the
fence, saying:
"Mr. Dunked, him that's jest been APP
pointed division superintendent O this
here road, he's sent We pig from his farm
out in the country, an | was to say that
he'd ruther We wouldn't name it after
him"
Great was the JOY in the Malone house
hold. For long it had been Mrs. Ma
lone's secret ambition to own a pig, an
ambition which had but been strength
ened by the seeming impossibiIity of its
fufillment. Now the qualification of her
hearts desire was doubly ielicitous in
that it contained an assurance of the SUI
perintendent's favor. Their home was
to remain their own. The Road had rec
Ognized their adoption. Dinny gathered
some old boards and built pen for the
pig under the car small Terry, with his
soap-box cart, made a tour of the neigh
borhood and secured promises of garbage
to be had for the carrying away, and the
other children took turns in hugging the
pig and examining his curly tail, his
funny snub nose, and his little pink ears,
much to his pigship's annoyance. Mrs.
Malone laid plans for buying in the fall
pork-barrel, in which the pig, by that
time grown to be a hog, should take up
his winter quarters, thence to be trans
ferred in small portions to Malone
mouths through the long and hungry
winter, There was not a member of the
Malone household who did not hail the
advent OF the pig as piece of good for
tune, the very greatest that bounteous
Providence, represented by the Road had
in its power to bestow.
"But | can't think why the shuperin-
tindent was unwilln' for us to name the
peeg for him, Shure, I'd be proud to
honor so foine jintleman," said Mrs.
Malone.
Let's name it for the Road" said
Dinny.
So the J., o., and X, shortened to
Jokkie, the pig became, and fine pig he
was indeed. He grew apace, and devel-
oped an appetite which kept small Terry
and his soap-box cart forever foraging.
Moreover, he was possessed of an intelli-
gence far above the most of his kind. No
amount Of fencing had power to restrain
his rowing spirit. Be free he would, yet
he was never known to stray beyond the
limits of the train-yard; nor amid all the
confusion of incoming and outgoing
trains and engines backing and shifting
and running hither and thither, did he
ever take the smallest injury. Truly he
was wonderful pig.
can, shure," said Mrs. Malone, "the
pceg takes to railroadin' by nacher.
Cause Why 1t belongs to the Road"
Jerry O'Toole, who was sometimes en-
ployed on odd jobs around the yard, con-
tinued to make vindictive remarks con-
corning the Malone family, and had even
been known to throw stones-whlch
never ht-at Jokkie, Dut the cause OF his
ill will was we'll known, being jealousy of
Dlnny's superior situation, and his course
was universally frowned down by the
other men. for all trainmen and station
men, section.hands and job-hands, united
in kindly disposition toward the Ma
lone family, and in a disposition to over
look such small irregularity as the keep
ing of pig in the tran-yard.
So the summer passed and the fall
came. Jokkie had attained size and ro-