The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-10-17
Our Daily Short Stories
ON THE X Y z SIDING.
BY II. s. CA NFIELD.
Copyright. 1901. by Authors Syndicate,

.ovn of Thomaston, a town of
~. iris is 200 miles southwestward
prss ouis and depends for existence
~ the X. Y. q. Railroad. which was
upOH ~, local capital and subsequent
ou"' orbed by an Fastener who never
dollar into it, though he took
pu' " mt of it. John Griggsby found
n1n' pleasant enough place. Grisgsby'
,ng stalwart and of independent
YOU'VE ,ras a conductor on the x. Y. z.
mn .nducted No. Is, which was a fast
express. .. ,n FROM G.
-. ~ .Thomaston. where another
DVN .olieved him. In Thomaston he
in' ,, o,,er', for two days and then
bis train back to ST. Louis. His
'oon .orions in the big city used to
'o ndole with him upon his enforced
.,..,+ion in the country, whereupon
a-.uosbv winked solemnly to himself.
~. had no liking for dust, coalgrime
and brick detritus; he did like fresh
p' -. oood food and simple folk. He had
aosire to change places with any
..oinman in the roads employ.
qrho,,aston numbered 1,500 souls. 1t
"a aour mill and one or two other
,ndustries and thought no small beer
:. tsolf The country about it was
tn,. and broken; the water was good;
n.os a great place for butter, milk
and chickens.
As has been said. it contained pref
., Girls Like other pretty girls, they
10 owes for brass buttons whether
,ror conductors coat or a soldiers.
cr;ggehv. being a railroad man of
.,,,o exnerience, was a judge of pref
-, Girls 1t took only little of his
.io,s 70 discover that the prettiest girl
If them all was Lucy Simms and to
Wv Simms he attached himself. He
boror With the best intention to en-
io,. her company, to make himseiI
goarAeahle and to avoid seriousness. He
oecorfed her to church, to fish fries
on5 IN occasional dances. 1t is we'll
Gov q voung man to be sociable and to
avoid seriousness. In three weeks he
was mildly crazed, in another week ne
was a mnatic, and the week after that
he had reached a condition or drlvel-
ing idiocy The most pronounced symp-
ION of this stage was that he carried
her picture inside of the front case OF
his watch and looked at the time every
Ave minutes between stations.
rucv Simms was a gray-eyed girl,
with a peachlike skin and strong
chin Other girls envied her the con-
ouAst of the man with the brass but
IONS but if she cared for him especial
" she did not tell him so. He boarded
IN fine same street-in fact, there are
hut two streets to Thomaston-and
soent as much of his time in her COM
pany as she would permit. The Simms
residence was pretentious. 1t was
tvo-storied frame house, with many
gables was painted white with dark
green blinds and sat sixty feet back
from the sidewalk. In the front yard
were cedars and oaks and many
flowers, roses principally. Upon frames
near the long front gallery climbed
honeysuckles and yellow jessamine.
Griggsby found it good of summer
moonlit nights to sit on this gallery,
smell the honeysuckles and jessamine,
listen 10 a hooking bird in one of the
oaks and essay to hold Lucy's hand.
Her father was William Simms. He
was mayor of Thomaston, and his sal
ary therefore, was $500 a year. He was
supposed to have some stock in flour
mill and paid taxes on small farm
two miles from town. He was tan,
silent man of IS. with dark mustache'
sdewhiskers and good teeth. His chin
was heavy and jutted forward. 1t was
always smoothly shaven, and he was
the only man in town whose linen was
always immaculate. He did not ira
ternze with Griggsby, though ne
treated him with courtesy. Once or
twice he looked at him with a kind OF
specializing and estimating eye as II
seeing in him a possible son-in-laW
and wondering how. he would pan out.
Fathers often cast this glance upon
young men who hang about their house
steadily.
OF course Griggsby told her that he
loved her. That fact was patent TO
everybody. OF course, too, she side
tracked him with the remark that 1t
was nothing unusual, or he was dream
ing or he said that to every girl ne
knew. These affairs have much same
ness of progress. OF course, too. he