The Laurens advertiser. (Laurens, S.C.) 1885-1973, 1896-05-19
I oUe'y Grsatea SanihM....

ard q few seconds after the carriage
began to rock violently from side to
side. / cannot say that L was not
alarmed, but when Jennie put her arm
around me and chung to me for protec-
zion. az trustfully as q child to its
was proud OF that implicit trust, SO
that | forgot my fear in a feeling OF
sweet responsibility. Almost i'm
mediately the train began to slacken
down In speed, and at last came To q,
standstill, and at the same instant we
heard q fearful crash. Then all was
silent.
l let down the window and looked
up the line. Great soft clouds of steam
were rolling silently toward us, their
under surface glowing q dull red as
though dyed with blood. Our train
was without engine, and, rs the team
slowly drifted away, and our eyes got
accustomed TO the gloom, we made u
The line, two engines locked together
as in a death embrace, while the frag-
meDts OF the goods train lay scattered
around.
We hurried toward the scene OF the
"NS.NSn iho ho"'J Soouo obBino 10y
on its side, and jammed between it and
the rocky bank was the passenger
engine. The fire had been shaken
out and the dying embers glowed with
u dull red light, as they lay spread
out on the ground, among fragments
OF wheels n twisted rods. From
under the goods engine we dragged
one poor fellow with many groans, for
his leg was broken, and the escaping
steam had scaled him fearfully, ana
then, with half his body crushed hope
lessly under a tangled mass of iron and
steel, we found another with his eyes
closed.
Oh twas 8 horrid sight. 1t turned
me sick, and tried to prevent Jennie
seeing it. But she, eager to be OF
service, pushed me aside, and gazed at
the poor, wounded figure lying there
so helplessly, and then gave a scream
of anguish and clung more closely to
me.
Jim, Jim !" she exclaimed, "don't
! You see who 1t is? It's Hugh
And Hugh it was, in his rough, en-
CINE drivers clothes, with q deadly
paleness showing through the SCOT on
his lace, and great drops of perspira-
ton on his brow. We thought him
dead at first, but at Jennie's eXclama-
ton he opened his eyes and smiled
family at us. We were powerless to
help him: W. could not move that great
mass of steel, nor could we draw him
sway from it, for, even as we touched
him, with a vague idea Of saving him,
it made us faint with horror, we knelt
by his side and watched the tide of life
quickly ebbing.
His right hand was crushed under
him, but his left wa free, and as
Jennie tenderly and gently stroked il
all greasy and sooty as it was-his
fingers closed over hers and held them.
1t seemed to give him relief, for q
smile, more beautiful than I have ever
seen on the face man, either before or
since, lit up his face with a great JOY
Jim" he painted, and his voice was
faint and low, so low that l had tc
place my a close to his lips to catch
the whispered words, 81 cannot last
many minutes,,-pray God-it may be
short. 1t was for your -sakes. | saw
you--on the train. Kiss me, jim
kiss me, ~Jennie-only once-the first
and last I'm coming home again.
In silence. with eyes Drumming over,
we kissed the pale lips, and, gently
wiping the death drops from his fore
head, waited for the end. 1t was not
long. We saw the film fast dimmine
his eyes, tho eyelids gently closing.
We saw the lines Of agony on his face
gradually softening, the painting of his
heart quieting, aid knew that the enc
vas m
With n sweet smile-in which il
seemed to me there was more O
Heaven than Of earth-one last con
v~ulsive effort, he placed Jennie's HAND
in mine, and whispered, "Jim, make
her happy"
That vas all. The poor, bruised
body lay still-the spirit had flown
Hugh had leone home " at last.