The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-09-02
A COUNTRY CRACKER.

IA w ~ lVA OhOAAA1A
According to his city s~choolmates,
Bubber Ramp was a country cracker.
And who knows better a child's social
and financial standing thar it's school
fellows?
His face was not round n rosy, i k
other jolly, sweet-tempered boys, for
Rubber was a slender child, with pale
face, and lanky, straight hair, streaked
in color with the shades Of half-pulled
molasses candy. He was subject to
chills and fevers, which kept him away
from school about half the time and
gave his teacher an excuse for scolding
him whenever there was no one else in
particular for her to scold. His father
was a section master on the Georgia
railroad, and they i've in the ten
mile shanties, which were built on the
side Of the railroad and on the edge OF
a deep cut, through which the wind
blew a perfect gale the whole year
round.
But if by living on the cut Bubber &C
quired the chill and fever habit he also
gained the knowledge which enabled
him to save the lives of some 500 peo-
ple-Sunday school children with the
friends and teachers. 1t was the picnic
Of Bubber's Sunday school, but because
it fell on his chill day his mother said
he could not attend. So he ~contented
himself with walking five miles up the
railroad to Belair, the nearest station
where the train would stop, with a huge
bunch of flowers for his Sunday school
teacher. This teacher, be it known,
was one of the people who did not
know about Bubber's being a country
cracker, but considered him a jolly,
amiable boy.
After handing the bouquet through
the car window Rubber stood for a
while looking wistfully at the train
load of happy children. Then some
thing occurred which made his school
mates forget forever that he was home
ly and poor, and his is how it hap
pened.
Southwark from Brazelia he road
drops down steadily for five or six
miles. There follows the little rise to
the top Of Habersham hill, and then
comes the sharp sag of a mile or more
to Belair and the level valley of the
Savannah.
John Johnson, or "'Yucker," as he
was called for short, was the most
daring engineer on the Georgia and had
the best run OF the road until he Joined
the strike of the Knights of Labor.
After the difficulty vas settled and the
strikers went back to work, Yucker,
for the sake of discipline, was put to
hauling way freight between Union
Point and Augusta.
On this particular day, while his fire
man was taking water at the big red
tank at Thompson, fucker went into
the station for orders. He found out
that there was nothing for him at Bra
celia or Belair. He had nothing to
leave at either station, so he climbed
back into his cab, meaning to go
through to Wheeless to meet the UP
freight. Sometimes he met it at Belair,
but ne got the cnanace ne ran
by and trusted to luck that it would be
held for him at Wheeless.
1t was in the early summer, and the
green grass n bright flowers made
the earth seems like a great garden.
fucker was half out of the window of
his cab when his train passed through
Brazelia. His feet were on the running
board, his elbows on his knees, and his
chin in his hands. He was absorbed in
the beauty of the landscape plunging
past him, so he did not see the agent
run out as the rear of the train reached
the end of the platform and shout fran
tically at him.
fucker had thirty cars behind him
so he climbed in from the window and