Clarke courier. [volume] (Berryville, Va.) 1869-1997, 1899-07-12
ENDMS&C%T>&r7NS
Y THE 81" ENGINEERS !
!ESwL STORY. y


from the Battery To the Harlem bnt
the hours have always been the same.
and I've never missed an hour in the
cab the company was entitled TO in all
that time
'Tire of itr No. Some Of the men
tell me-when we meet and talk. in the
engine yards beyond the Hundred and
Fifty fifth street station. while waiting
10 relieve-some of the men rav they
see nothing in the run that interests
them. and they get tired of r.
'Maybe IN different from most. hut
in all my years the sights see from nv
cab window have always been like a
play on the stage 10 me
do we get acquainted with the peo-
pie in the windows we see so often, day
after day. year after year,
mo. | wouldn't say acquainted. ex-
actly, for that means 20 speak to each
other. and we never get To know them
well enough for that. except the kids.
''Oh. yes. the kids get to call Ms by
the number of our engines and become
very friendly. especially those who live
IN the houses opposite our stops
Il said we didn't get acquainted, hut
there was case, and if you re looking
for story III tell you that
1T was > years ago-yes. not more
than 10, and t. think what's happened
that ] noticed kindly faced. well
dressed woman sitting always in the
same window at the same hour in the
afternoons. just opposite to where my
cab stopped at-well. it was one of the
stations beyond the Central park turn.
1T was good neighborhood and in
one Of the big apartment houses they
were rushing mp at that time along the
line of the road on Eighth avenue.
1T might be the home. | should say.
of a salesman. head salesman. in some
wholesale house who'd be making a
good salary-like "A couple of thousand
a year or SO.
1T looked like happy home. a
comfortable home where there was never
any sleep lost about whether the rent
money would be in the good wife's
hands at the end of the month or the
butchers bill be paid on time
The lady would sometimes smile or
nod at me as I'd come To a full stop Just
opposite her window.
''Well. a shift in my run brought me
along there on the up trip about 10
minutes later after awhile, and saw
what the lady was always looking for
"A schoolgirl, n big. hearty. fine look
ing lass-who threw a kiss to the lady,
and ON the next trip mp. for il was late
in the spring and the days were long.
l saw the two. mother and daughter
at the open window. The girl WAS read
ing aloud and the mother listening
with some sewing in her hand. and
proud of the daughter, as l well knew,
for I'd one of my own about the same
age.
after awhile they would both look
out and smile pleasantly and nod at me
ont there in the cab waiting for the
starting signal. and I'd nod hack
1T was a year or so / saw them that
way-sometimes at supper, sometimes
in the morning before the husband took
his train. and then one day the shut
tels were all drawn, and a day or two
later there was funeral
THE station agent told me it was
the husband and father who died.
''Soon there We're strangers in the
house. and for whole year l never
saw my friends. They moved of the
line. | guess. for / looked sharp, but
never saw them again until at the end
of a year 1 saw them in a poorer fiat.
both of them at work sewing on ma
chimes
They saw me and smiled. but sad
like, and If was not many months be-
fore they moved again, not off the line
but farther down on Sixth avenue
Then, / take it. the mother died, for /
saw the young woman alone for few
weeks. and she was weeping as she
sewed.
Again / lost her. until one day l
saw her on the platform with man.
and she looked as happy-well. you
know how happy young woman looks
when she's with the first man she loves.
II didn't like him. To be sure. only
had sight of him, but that sight made
me uneasy. as told my own good wife
in talking about it that night
'He did not look honest.
For year-maybe two-I saw
them off and on. Sometimes they lived
where L could see them in their rooms,
sometimes not, but I'd catch sight of
her taking or leaving train.
''Then she was mostly alone, and she
began to look troubled.
''It was in a winter month / next
saw the woman, in room below the
Washington square turn. She was
standing at the window like one who
had plenty of trouble and no hope and
holding baby-it might be year old.
say-in her arms She happened to see
me and pointed me out to the baby. but
the little one was without spirit and
only turned his face to his mothers
breast and lay there quiet.
Every day 1 saw them. and-I'm a
father. I've told you--I made up my
mind from the looks of both what was
the matter.
Il told my good woman. and she
said: John, I'll put something extra in
your dinner pail tomorrow, and you get
~ tn fha f,Ccr oorl fn, oha'.