The Winslow mail., 1897-07-03
RAlNEp OYSTER SOUP.
So This Railroad Man Said to His
Friends.

So This Railroad Man Said to His
Friends.
He was more than an ordinarily ac-
complished liar for an amateur, and
they all knew it when they asked him
for a story.
81 can tell you how I once ran an
engine and saved train load of people
with an oyster stew, If you want to
know, but l don't think Of anything
more exciting than that" he said apol-
ogetically.
That's good enough" they all de-
clared. "Give us that"
'All right, then, here goes" he said,
as he settled back in his chair. Il was
once engineer on road that ran for
long distance through the forests or
Northern Wisconsin, and we were fire.
Quently bothered by forest fires. They
were particularly bad at the time l
speak Of
''One day / had run through one big
blaze, only to find that there was big
ger one ahead. The worst of 1t was we
were low on water, and there was no
chance to fill the tank without dashing
through the fire ahead Of US. / sent the
fireman out to see If we had enough to
make the run, but he came back and
told me the boiler was almost dry.
Il was puzzled for while. 1t was
death to all of us l knew to stay there,
but how to get out was the question.
Suddenly happy thought struck me.
There was a milk car just behind the
first baggage car and made for 1t.
How much milk have you got?
says to the fellow in charge.
About forty cans, l guess he an
swered. Why do you ask?
Never mind says l. What's that
in those cans in the corner?
"'Oysters,' he answered. But why
do you want to knowT
Never you mind told him, and
then l ordered the other train hands
who had come up to see why we had
stopped to tote that milk and those oys-
ters up to the engine. They did it in
spite of the kicking of the milkman,
and when they had brought them up [
ordered them all chucked into the tank.
1.-THE conductor came up, too, and de-
clared it was funny notion to be max
ing oyster stew IN an engine boiler, but
l soon convinced him that it was nec-
essary if we did not want to stay there
and roast.
"Well, we finally dumped In all the
milk and all the oysters and started
ahead You ought to have smelled the
steam that came back into that engine
cab. 1t would have made you think Of
an old-time church festival. Whew!
How that soup did smell. 1t made the
engine jump, though, and that was all
we wanted.
I'VE got up a great head Of steam in
no time, and the way we plunged
through that next fire belt was a eau
ton. AS we pulled up at the next sta
ton just beyond 1 opened up and be-
gan to whistle. A great cloud Of oyster
soup or vapor shot into the sky, Of
course, and didn't come down till we
were far out of sight. Then it settled
like thick fog, oysters, soup and all.
Everybody noticed 1t, Of course, and
there was a country scientist in the
town who was sure it was the greatest
phenomenon Of the age 1t was rain
ing oyster soup up there he was sure,
and the next issue Of the weekly papers
were full Of it-not the soup, but the
news Of it. After the residents up that
way had all swallowed it-not the
soup, but the story-we told them about
1t, and that was the silliest looking
scientist l ever saw"
Ladies of Athens.
My old ideas about Athenian ladies
being mewed up in the gynecee, writes
Mrs. Crawford In London Truth, have
been quite unsettled by visiting the Par
thenon and the noble museum-the
work of Greek patriotism. Is it possi-
BILE that those girls, their sisters, their
mothers and aunts, did not understand
what the procession Of the daffodil pep
lum meant? They could not have been
enlightened at Eleusis (read Cicero on
the Eleusinian Mysteries) and benight-
ed at Athens, the university city Of the
ancient world They must have known
that they were not engaged in any act
Of fetishism, but Of homage to the wise,
the Just, the true, SarcOphagi at the
museum Of Athens gave us beautiful
vistas ON family life there. To believe
the bas-reliefs upon them, the daughter
and the mother were cherished and
honored Their condition afforded no
parallel to that of the Mohammedan
women. 1t was rather that Of the bour-
geoise of Provence and her girls. Their
daily occupations kept them at home, and
not masculine compulsion. There were
no factories or workshops. The home
was a hive of industry. Nausicca help
ed TO wash the family linen; Penelope,
the great lady Of ithaca, spun her weo,
and glorious Athene patronized domes-
tic industries. How could girls gad
about when their artistic honor as en-
broiderers Of the daffodil peplum was
at stake?
| Passing OF the Drum Major.
"The drum major as he used to exist,
the pride Of the band and the glory OF
the procession, is thing OF the past,
remarked bandmaster. I'm his place
freaks of all kinds are now popular,
from small boys with their tWlrlng