The Forest Republican. [volume] (Tionesta, Pa.) 1869-1952, 1897-07-28

Sko%.. minal at Mercer. 1t
NAAO was in the midst of
~ W - scrubby pine forest,
with sandy road crooking out from
the trees on one side aud into the trees
on the other. There were only two or
three houses, little general store
with porch like the visor OF military
cap, and schoolhouse, all arranged
in scraggy row along the railroad
track. The dusty red depot was an
oasis in the midst of cinder desert,
with a great many telegraph wires
singing overhead.
A dozen trains whirled through
Kane Creek every day with only
shrek of greeting and whipping
wake of fine sand. Only two of them
paid the slightest attention to the girl
in blue gingham dress who stood in
the little observation window. One
of them was the way freight which
stopped at Kane's every time it came
along while the conductor handed the
girl bundle of yellow papers and re-
ceived another like it in return. The
other was the night express westward
bound from st. Paul, and running at
forty miles an hour. 1t was splen-
did train-ten cars, with the finest en-
| gine on the road, big No. COG. As its
glaring eye flashed around the bend in
the direction of Mercer the girl in the
gingham dress often thought of the
great train as powerful and ferocious
beast snorting and roaring westward
on race with the sun. 1t was u
beast, but it was we'll trained, and she
knew the hand that trained it. When
the train was mile away there were
always two blasts on the whistle.
Everyone else in Kanes thought they
meant simply, "Wake up, look out!'
for that is what all locomotives say
at every crossing-but the girl in the
gingham dress heard "Hello, Polly" ="
and darted out ON the platform and
waved her handkerchief. AS the great
train Numbered nearer hand was
thrust from the engineers window,
and although it was usually dark, she
could see the futter of something
white, and oftentimes as the engine
darted past the station she heard the
blurred sound of voice and caught
the glimpse of grimy face and a blue
jean jacket. And then she went back
to her place in the little station with a
sigh of deep contentment.
For it was n mOment of great Joy to
Polly Marshall when her fathers en-
gine went through. Polly was the
station agent at Kane Creek-any one
could have told that woman presided
in the little depot, for was there not
always a bouquet in the window and
dainty pictures surrounding the grimy
timetables on the walls, and kitten
curling upon the doorstep? At seven
teen Polly had gone III asassistant to
learn telegraphy and when Clark, the
agent, was called to Mercer the com
pany had left the Independent girl in
charge. She and her father lived in one
of the wooden houses stones throw
back from the depot, and since Polly's
mother died they had been everything
TO each other.
Engineer Marshall was big, silent
man, and his companions, some of
them, thought him gruff and ill temp
cred, but to Polly he was always ten
der rs a kitten. Often when she was
little girl he took her down with him
to Mercer on his engine, and while she
sat on his black leather seat at the cab
window, clinging ON with both hands,
he explained to her how the big black
creature under them was started and
stopped, what this brass crank was for,
] aud hArxr xrrhat, a
here or squealed there, little oil was
needed in this cup or in that crevice.
And Polly had learned to know an en-
gine as well as she knew theneat little
| pantry in the house at home. Indeed,
she had more than once managed the
levers and the throttle, although it was
very heavy work for girl to do.
1t was one night late in the fall that
Polly Marshall had need of all her
knowledge of engines. She was sit
ting at her desk in the little observa-
ton window, shaded light throwing
its rays down ON her telegraph instru-
ments and the sounder clicking sleep
lily. Suddenly she was startled by the
sudden call of her number. Instantly
her fingers sought the keys, and she
gave the answer that signifed that she
was all attention.
"Look out for" clicked the
sounder, and then it suddenly ceased,
and try as she would Polly could get
no further communication with the
station next to the eastward. What
could the trouble be? What was she
to look out for? Polly sprung to her
feet, remembering that the night ex-
press, of which her father was engineer,
was the next train due. Could any
thing be the matter? She ran out on
the dark platform to see that her lights
were all in place and that the switches
were properly set, so that the express
would slip past the station without an
accident Then she went back and
called up Mercer.
"Can you get Pinekney?" she asked.
Pinckney was the station which had
sent her the warming dispatch so
mysteriously interrupted. She knew
Nthe operator at Pineknav well--everv