The copper country evening news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 18??-1907, 1898-05-05
WHAT DOROTHY DID.

..v.n,,, have TO stump yourself.
;, rsmarked Mrs. johnson as Doro-
~ ,,.s preparing for school. Ito get
py ny the trestle before the $50 comes
up" ~ ,,. ma 20, maLo
=. time even after she does come
over"
,,ns affair situated at the sudden bend
'o's no ~ the numerous curves OF the
'oI oU oaupe railroad as 1t assembled
h;,,s after having crossed the bot
.De lands of the valley far beneath. and
!o m which ran the silvery glitter
niV line and shifting bed Of the Little
I've. I've as it threaded its way to the Great
,'"aay river in the distance beyond.
"S ~he school nestled in the distant val
md it's red brick walls and white
N, could be deserted from the high
'oup s,,o under the center OF which ran
w. psdford turnpike, beside the wind
Inc and sudden curve OF Willow creek.
"S The narrow gauge had made cut on
,o,h sides. and the deolivity from the
S;m IN the turnpike was sleeper than
-nature had originally made 1t.
AS Az Dorothy neared the cut she heard
.,a 40 putting laboriously up grade
snd then rumbling over the trestlework
before coming into view.
She had stepped up on the bank as
No her favorite engine Though there
,,ora only four altogether on the mar
row gauge branch), with one passenger
coach. a combination mail, baggage and
smokinp car, two box cars and gon-
dola loaded with coal came into view.
The engineer, who bad little girl Of
norothy's age at home and had speak.
inc acquaintance with her, nodded good
bpmoredly as the train slowly passed
upward.
Dorothy regained the single track and
hrrr;sd onward with her lunch bucket
swinging on her arm, in the morning
breeze.
sudden turn through the sandy Gu
hrought her to the high trestle, under
meath which the shelving fill was over
grown with rank, dry weeds, and as nj
rain had fallen for months, the pin
Milling, holsters, Orders, stringers ant
oak crossties, were dry as finder.
hot, rainless August had left not
.drop of water in the creek far below
and as she stepped on the trestle, be
meath her startled eyes rose flame iron
a piece of burning waste lodged ON tn
bolster.
The stringpiece or girder had jus
started to blaze and she did not dare
knock the waste to the ground as with
six inches of the girder and the fam
was the growth Of rank, dry weed
stretching over the entire 20 feet OF tn
fill before reaching the sheer declivit
to the creek and pike below.
1t was only small blaze, but still
was fire, and fire on hot September ola
was hard to fight and beside the S:5
accommodation would come down SOC
with the commuters for Riverside Cl'
on board, sweeping around the bend
certain destruction If the blaze game
Roadway by being famed by the morl
ing breeze.
Dorothy wondered If she had pett
return through the cut and place b
red and white bandauna handkerchl
on an elder bush, or try to fight IL on
, She was sorry she had not let b
mother put bottle Of milk or coffee
her luncheon, even one capful won
almost extinguish the blaze, and tn
she thought, oh, if she had anythil
wooden on, she could smother the bla2
as she had read of people doing, but 1t W
still very warm and hot and she had
her summer clothes; anyhow she cou
prevent the spread of the fire temper
rily. She jumped from the trestle toy
filled ground three feet below and
oitedly pulled the dry weeds aside WI
nervous and feverish hands, for q
lance of some yards, then rushing
the embankment q sudden inspirati
seized her. Dumping her lunch Iro
the tin pail onto the track, she MI
the bucket with sand, fine yellow sai
and dashed it on the fire; bucketful al.
bucketful she poured on the blaze .
hattIaI -. =. lo,x~ ,,rtiI at last the sDr6t