Middletown transcript., 1900-12-29
ONE LIVES THERE ARI

II
- that seem to run in per
- petual sunshine and roses.
Some are rounded TO
darker lines, running al
ways besides the deeper abysses Of
tragedy
Some there are who live their three
score and drop out Of existence, and the
memory Of them. for good or i'll, ceases
with the tolling Of the bell that tells
their going. And there are some, short
little lives, to be sure, but 50 brim full Of
sweetness that the sunshine Of them lin
gers III the hearts OF those who knew
them long after the little lives are
ended.
When Jack Connor was promoted to
the position Of engineer on the Nash
vile and Chattanooga road, which cuts
the State Of Tennessee from north to
south, he emoved his family into the pretty
little cottage standing side by side with
crippled Jerry Cranes on the hill Just
above the railroad track, in the little vii
lage of Antioch. For the engineer was
from home most Of the time, and Jerry
being cripple, Jack knew, would insure
his own wife considerable company and
protection in Jerry's wife.
The houses stood side by side, and both
doors opened towards the railroad. The
village, indeed, was built so-straight
down the railroad, for the train was
about the biggest thing around Antioch.
Jack Connor's cottage stood on bill,
SO near to the track that he could speak
to his wife from his engine when she
stood in the door, as she usually did, to
see No. 6 go by.
The trainmen were prett well ac-
quainted with the Antioch people in gen
eral, but there was not one among them,
from conductor down, who did not know |
Jack Connor's son.
fIittle jack" they called him; and
the train never whistled for Antioch but |
they would look for the little fellow
hoisted on the wood-pile to see his
fathers engine 60 by.
He seldom went farther than the wood
pile: that was his mothers order; though
the brakeman and the tttrain butcher
would sometimes try to coax him down
to the platform with apples and sticks Of
striped candy. But he would shake his
yellow curls and throw them kiss as the
long train pulled out.
Sometimes his mother would take him
down to speak to his father, and the little
fellow would 90 almost wild over the big
engine and the glowing furnace, the great
bell changing hasty good-by and the
shrill whistle, which more than once he
had been permitted to "pull."
"Just naturally takes to the engine"
the fireman would often say; gets that
from his pappy."
And Jack did seem to have natural
love for locomotive Jerry Crane used
to say: Il
II can allus tell when the cyars are s
coming-there's sapbang Of neighbor I
Connor's door, click of the gate, and /
in minute little yellow head top OF big
pile Of woodland when see il aIlus say {
to my wife, Mary, the cyars are coming.
And she looks out, not at the railroad a
track, and says she, Yes, they are com s
ing, jerry" p
Sometimes neighbor would pass and \
speak to him:
ANY news to-day, Jack?' Il
Fathers abroad to-day, sir, /" he would b
answer; or else, There's bridge down n
between here and Chattanooga, sir;'' or, 6
'tNo.6 will be fifteen minutes late to-day, 5;
,ir." n
He always had something to tell, and 81
t was mostly Of the trains or the track, Il
engines or wrecks. Anything that con j
,erned the railroad was interesting to R
lack. o,
He had his fathers head, the train b
nen said, but the neighbors declar d he e
lad bis mothers sunny, hopeful help b
I'll nature a
But one day trouble came to her door.
engineer Connor was brought home in il
aboose, both legs mashed and an arm
one, while his engine lay in a ruined
eap under broken bridge just beyond s
ne Tennessee River al
Every man had jumped but him-fre
nan, brakeman, all but Jack. IN
Jump, Connor, for you lifep' the fire CO
IAN had called to him when the timbers sp
egah to crack; and the man had laid his
and upon the throttle and said: hs
'You forget I'm engineer sa
And there he stood until tile craeh er
anne. no
He was not quite dead when tha Bbys vc
,und him, and all the time they were an
orking with him he was praying. Just sy
y life to get home, they heard him
hisper. Just long enough to get home A
ld die with my wife and boy" fol
His prayer was granted; he reached lnt
ome and the two he loved best on Gods
lrth Just before he died he reached cir
! his pocketbook under his pillow and an
anded it to his wife. AS
It is all I've got, Annie he said. Fl SOL
ish it was more, wife. =
Then he laid his hand on the little inc
,ad with its crown Of yellow curls press 90
g his pillow. He seemed % forget the cei
y was only . baby !
aJack, he said, leave your mother Eel
you. Taxi care of her, NY man. nei
Thep I'd seemed ID wander; he up
one moment, tie next vol
u again the
company wiz 10 something for {
d wand by, lack, y be said, ssnd A. an
rvs reipernber don't forget iii Jack sen
at any man ii tine of danger may the
sert- any man but the engineer He D
ust stick stickstick-to bis post, cole
~ i, iltnni