The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-15
THE STATION MASTERS STORY.
A Pathetic Romance Related to Holiday Travellers
 HomeWard-bOund.

patnos that no woman could misunder- stand.
 He asked her for her love. her heart, her hand. She was silent.
 May not hope. then, for the prom ise of your thoughts-loving thoughtsP
 .:' No; mo-. please don't ask me that always think of you as dear' dear friend
 And must I stop there? May I not hope for something else? Something more
 "she hssitated and he stepped back. paling.
 "A swift shadow darkened his race. The disappointment crushed him. the glance of her eyes. the quiver of her lovely lips. the sorrow, the suggestive ness in her voice sent his brain awhirl, shattered, his air castles demolished and his love unreuuited.
 She. in her pale beauty, sank down in a low chair, beside a marble table, half hidden by a great ssray like maiden hair fern, resembling some dropping pas sion flower on whom the noon day sun had shone too hot. The witchery of the the roof seemed to be mocking the throbS of his heart. His senses were astir with in him, but his will and judgment were lullel. His fate had been sealed but he knew not the reason why.
 They parted in tenderness. Relieve mo. I was sincere, for love I have regarded always as something di- vine.'
 CT have faith in you. she said and it grieves me If have caused you pain
 He took her hand in his and pressed | it to his lips.
 " Goodbye. dear girl.
 " Goodbye. dear boy
 'He turned and without looking back, strode out into the night and out of her ! life. but he knew not the reason why. | Friends. that is my love story. The yOllth myself and the maid my | sweetheart. Rtfshel Harris.
 Though it was forty years ago I
 have in memory every detail of the day that I left the scene of my child
 hood. my home. wanted to go far
 away from everything that could remind me of her. Every trinket which was as-
 packing my grip stole away. knew moi
 where. My father and mother were not l informed of my departure, for I knew il
 would break their hearts to know theii | only boy was going away, but I was
 firm in my determination, and like thief | in the night, stole away.
 | T went to Idaho with a party of pros
 pectors. We plunged into the mountains | wealthy. I purchased railroads. devel- oped the country and increased my for | tune. But with all my wealth and bril-
 liant future. could not forget. vision | of bright curls and a smiling face was
 constantly before me, and the echo of her merry laugh would ever jingle in my | cars. Excitement I craved Excitement
 l must have. Something to blot out the memory of her. I plunged into the Stock
 Exchange. I speculated. First I wor
 and then lost The fluctuations of the
 market the rise and fall of my fortune
 made me happy, supremely happy. foi
 "One day I lost heavily. This loss was
 doubled with the hope to regain wha
 had gone before. But the market agair
 turned against me. Mortgages, stock ant , nrtytI, I Il up as a last stake. The market opened
 lively. The prices advanced my forum,
 was rising. l would regain what haC
 been lost and, taught by the narrow mar
 gin to which I had been reduced. l re
 solved to cease speculating. But fate in tervened, the market again slumped
 The quotations went down-down-down
 Never in the history of the Northwes
 was there such excitement on the Stoci Exchange. Men were wild with excite ment. In minutes fortunes were mad ? and fortunes were lost. l stood like on dazed as 1 watched the figures on tn blackboard which. told of my ruin. Small ? CT and smaller became the margin unti g the last dollar I possessed was gone.
 The old mans voice faltered. My prosperity had vanished as quick
 lv as 1t came.
 s My friends heard of my bad luck = They offered to assist me. l was tend n cred a position with large mining COT d poration. I worked hard and saved m 1 earnings. In a few years l had amasse G comfortable fortune But the OlC $ longing for excitement returned. I wa O tempted-I fell. Into the Stock Exchang y once more I plunged, and-lost. The : my friends distrusted me- They desert Il ed me. I left Idaho and, broken i F health and in spirits wandered int f Montana. For years was a nomad T Finally I came here and secured the pc = sition which I now hold.
 r "Rushel I have never seen since.
 heard she died soon after my departur n from Kentucky"
 Q The old man moved away to anothe f corner of the dingy waiting room to hid
 his tears but there were many wet eye
 among that group of Christmas traveler O as they listened to his story. @ His sad life was made more forceabl 3. in their memory as they thought of tn h joyous me-comng which awaited thei
 on the morrow-Christmas Day. The shril whistle of the locomotive ar = nounced the approach of the belate U train The old station master took Il
 his lantern and went out of the room t The passengers picked up their baggae Q and quickly followed him. Each or l. warmly shook the hand of the old ma s as they boarded the train and went o'
 into the night and out of his life, b' q they never forgot, and for years atte r wards on Christmas Day in memory the f would still see the old station mastt Is at the lonely depot in Montana, nurslr 1t the memories of his young heart Whlc
 was buried with the girl who sieel T. 'nee tn the Blue Grass in Old hentucky'