Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1896-12-04
THE WIDOW MALONE AND HER PIG

ence Malone, a servant of the aforesaid
railroad in the capacity of section hand, had
preempted the car in the early days of his
marriage, and, owing partly to the negli-
gence and partly to the good nature of the
yard-master, it had remained in the undis-
puted possession Of the family ever since.
There the seven children of the Malone
household, 1.-TWO pair O. twins and three
SINGLE" as their fond mother described
them, had first seen the light of day; they
had been lulled to sleep by the roar of
trains and the shrek of locomotives, and
had played under the noses of the snorting
iron horses without ever suffering injury &c
life or limb.
awe do be in the railroad business as q
family, men," the Widow Malone often re-
marked, with pardonable pride, at the
houses where she was accustomed to assist
in house-cleaning time. me husbands
fevther was a fagman at the Shawshine
crossin'-a very Irresponsible position
mem. Me own Terence was in the empty
O. the railroad for siven year and half as
section -hand-till he was rim over by a
ghravel thrain and lost his breath entoirely
he bein' bit full at the tonne. Twas his
only failin' hiven rist himi Dinny, me
Oldest, is goin' to make a gra-ate railroad
man, I'm ixpectin'. He's thrain- by al
ready, and I'm tould he's gra-ate favorite
among drummers and such, he bein' sc
ceevil and obligin' Twas so 1 brought
him up. Mesilf, l does washin' for the
thrain- hands, and they do say there's no
budy else can suit 'em so well. And as fol-
the leetle childer, they do be dom what
they can. The leetlest pair O. twins, they
sits out on the step whin the big passenger
thrains goes by, and they do be the sauciest
pair o. colleens that liver was, though be
their mither that says it, It's many the
orange or banana that's thrown out to EN-
when the through thrains sthop for the
signal. Me own family was mostly in the
empty O. the city, and amt a-sayin' that
amt very respectable business, but for me-
silf prefer railroadin' It's more excitin'.'
Whence it will appear that the Widow
Malone, though deprived of the partner oil
her joys and sorrows, still considered her
self comfortably and even desirably stu
ated.
Rumor of possible trouble came to the
Malone family one day in the news, told by
Dinny, of the appointment OF new divl
sion superintendent, who was reported to
have begun, after the manner of new
brooms, a thorough overhauling and clean
ing out of all the departments under him
Jerry O'Toole, he's tellin' everywhere
that our old rat-trap-that's the very word
he said-'ll have to go. The new superin
tendent won't have the yard cluttered W
with old cars and squallin' brats. It's 9
disgrace to the road, that's what he said
So Dinny repeated the gossip of the train
ward when he came home from his days
work.
"Whisht there wild yer talkin'," com
manded his mother. 'Niver ye moind 6
wurrd o his talk, the splapeen. Is it loikely
the superintendent d be afther sphakin
his moind to such as Jerry O'Toolel He's
wantin' yer place on the thrain, that's the
flea that's bitin' his ear. AS for us bein
turned out O. our home, and me Terence a
section-hand, and his feyther a fiagman,
there's no fear O. that. The Road will niveI
sthand by and see it done"
Mrs. Malone always spoke of the road
with capital Il.
But in spite of her apparent confidence,
the widow was the prey of some secret
misgivings concerning her tenure of occu-
.PaHepy and when, one morning, as she saug
and scrubbed at her tubs just outside the
door of the car, with numerous young Ma
ZONES playing in the dirt about her, she
looked up to find herself frowningly OBJ
served by tall parsonage with an air OF
authority she knew that her time had
come. She dropped a courtesy, and the
tall parsonage said;
whats all thisl"
The widow favored him with another
courtesy and replied:
eff We Place, sor, I'm Molly Malone,
wildly of him that was Terence Malone,
formerly in the employ O. the Road, sor,
and these, sor, are me childer, me and Ter
ences, or, as l may say, sor, your childer. u
"Indeedl how's thatl" inquired the man.
"The childer O. the Road, sor. We all
belong to the Road; and as l take it ye're
the new division superintendent, ripresin-
tin the Road, l make bould to call 'em your
childer, sor."
"Hum! how many children have your
"Siven, sor-two pair O. twins and three
single. Dinny, me oldest, is thrain-b'y, sor,
and Pm ixpectin' nothin' less than that he'll
be conducther wan day, he's that smart
and ceevil, sor. Niver a day but says to
them childer, 'Childer, niver forgit that We
belong to the Road, and childer, always
ack so as to be an honor to the Road. Nora,
darlint, come out from ahint that thruck
and make yer curt'sy to the jintleman.
bring up my childer to have manners, sor.
Their feyther had the beautifulest manners
ye liver did see.
'Your husband is dead, you sayF'
''Yis, sor. He was rim over by ghravel
thrain. He worruked on the section, sor,
and his feyther-"
Drunk, probably, " interrupted the SUI
perintendent.
81 amt denyin' he'd taken a dhrop too
much, maybe" replied Mrs. Malone, with
the air of one making concession for po-
liteness' sake. "but he was foine on the
section, so his bossll tell ye-Thomas
Eagan, sor, maybe we know him. An a
kinder husband or better feyther niver
was. Och, me Terry alack the day that
1 should lose ye from me heart, and siven
childer." 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 lament
ing. When she recovered herself and
peeped forth. the superintendent was gone.
''He stoled away jist loike thafe in the
noight," said Mrs. Malone in describing
the interview to Dinny, can niver a chanst
did l have to tell him that me Terence's
feyther was flagman at the Shawshine
crossin', an mesilf did washin' for the
thrain hands. He'll be afther wunnerin
what mint by sayin' we all belonged to
the Road, an now I'm afeard he'll niver
know. Alack the day if we should be
turned away"
But the second day thereafter Mrs. Ma
lone's fears were all set at rest. A farm
wagon drew up to the fence which sepa-
rated the train-yard from the highway,
and the driver called out:
SIS this Mrs. Malone'sl
"Yis, sor. I'm hopin' So" replied the
widow.
Whereupon the driver picked up lump