The Van Buren press., 1896-12-26

| 9QiIti Hletfe OE Tue Iullap With the tines
and resumed blowing corn.
He had not gone over half way acros
the 40-aere field ere he regretted tina
he had not paid for the delivery of TIL
message, If his nephew were eompelle,
to pay for it, he would be notified tina
the deacon had refused payment, which
would be the means of knocking thi
deacon out of the 500 which he SO mucl
coveted.
BY the time he had returned to tn,
side of the field where Swipes ha(
given him the message he had concluded
to hail the boy and pay him the so cents
if he could not jew him down to 25
Swipes was nearly mile away, and the
deacon could not get his attention, al
though he called Justify. lie finally un.
hitched his team, and, mounting the old
sorrel mare, started her toward town al
her best gait. When he had oyertaken
| Swipes the deacon said:
'I'll give you 25 cents for fetchin
out that air message, an not another
cent"
81 amt earryin' messages three miles
for 25 cents" answered Swipes, in a
sarcastic tone. AN since you're so
anxious to settle, it'll take jst dollar
an half to square H." he added.
The agent had told Swipes that the
telegraph company would allow mes
senger TO collect so cents per mile 'in
some cases.
Tho DAMON, foor,a,l nd - eead 4braat
ening whipping and arrest, but to no
avail swipes stucN to his price.
After making the boy promise that
nothing would be said to his nephew
about refusing payment for the deliv-
cry of the message. the deacon grudg-
ingly paid the $1.50.
When Swipes related the circumstance
TO the agent it so amused him that the
little fellow was Immediately engaged
as messenger boy, which position was
vacant at the time. The salary was
small, though more than enough to pay
his board, and by sleeping in the office
he was able to economic closely
enough to clothe himself fairly we'll.
He also had the privilege of learning
telegraphy and station work.
Thus it was that, at the end Of ten
years, Swipes had charge of the bag
gage department of the station at a sal
AIRY of $50 month.
The name of "Swipesn still chung to
him, though he had proven himself not
only an honest young man, but a gen
tlenan IN every sense of the word. Al.
though he worked hard and faithfully
for the company, there appeared to be
no show for promotion for him.
There is no hope for me- he would
say. How can |, who have not even a
name for sure, ever expect promotion,
when | must compete with young men
who have respectable parents and nice
honest If they want promotion, some
one of their influential friends who has
stand-in' with the superintendent or
some other official of the road, speaks a
good word for them and they go right
past mel"
He would not even unburden himself
to his closest friend-the agent-as he
had arrived at that point in a young
mans life where the conviction is forced
upon him that no one cares whether he
lives or dies. lie plodded along during
the day, and attended a night school in
the evening. He had mastered station
work, and was capable of taking charge
of and running a small station-with
the exception of telegraphing; in this
he appeared to be rather obtuse, al
though he could telegraph, after a
fashion.
The only recreation he took was with
his bicycle. He had become an expert
on a wheel and was considered author
ity on anything pertaining TO cycling
Swipes still slept in the office. A sec
ton of the wainscoting partition be-
tween the baggage-room and the office
bad been cut out and the lower side
hung on hinges, and a stationary box
bunk had been made in the opening in
the baggage-room, which had drop
door on the baggage-room side, so there
would be chance for draught in the
warm weather when both doors were
open, and could be closed when not in
use.
One night in the fall he crawled into
his bunk from the baggage-room, and,
as The night was rather chilly, he did
not drop the door on the office side. He
soon fell asleep. How long he had
slept he could not say, but suddenly he
found himself wide awake.
Presently he heard someone conyers-
ing in low tone in the office, directly
IN front of his bunk. He recognized in
one of the speakers the new night oper-
ator, who had arrived but day or two
before. The other voice was strange
TO him. AS he listened he heard un-
folded plot that almost caused his
heart to cease beating.
The new operator was member of a
gang who intended to wreck No. 16, the
east-bonnd express train, due at Cromp-
ton at 1870 that night. AS the operator
knew nothing of the bunk being in the
baggage-room, and Swipes had made no
noise on retiring, he supposed that he
and his pal were alone. 1t seemed that
a part of the gang had gone to bridge
which crossed wide, deep ravine, five
miles west of town, and would remove
the angie bars from two rails at the
west end of the bridge, and pull the rails
over three or four inches and spike
them, thus making a sure thing of a
complete wreck of the train. During
the confusion consequent upon the
wreck, the wreckers would rush in and
secure 100000 which the operator had