St. Landry clarion. (Opelousas, La.) 1890-1921, 1901-03-09
A FLAGMAN's STORY.
BY MRS. CHARLES c. MARBLE.

@In the line of duty? Well, yes,
though that duty had nothing of the
heroic in it, sir, nothing at all. You
see,. thrusting out the insenslble bit
of wood and leather which did duty
for his once sturdy limb, you see, sir,
I was, not so long ago, a freight-hand-
Ter on the Little Miami, and able to
handle the heaviest with the best
of 'em, but, J" refectiyely, ut was with
me in time as with other strong men
who daily take their lives in their
hands net always to go down to the
sea in ships, but to face every day the
iron monsters between whose wheels
and the glistening track turks often
times something far worse than
death" the speakers eyes following,
as he spoke, flock of crows returning
from the .sbottoms," their "caw, caw'
sounding weirdly clear upon the sum-
mer air.
SWELL" he resunbed, aftera pause,
81 was unfortunate enough one day
to fall victim to one of the black
monsters slip, wild catching at
something which gave way, an ez-
press laundering by, a fall, and.
well, you can imagine the sound Of
crushing bones, the groan of agony,
the clang of the rushing ambulance,
the hospital, and-all the rest" with
a glance neither gloomy nor morose
at his poor manned limb.
"a mercy twas only my leg? Well,
yes, eonsiderin' | had four mother
less girls to bring up and educate.
Yes; but, sir, if the company hadn't
had. a berth like this at Langdon's
Crossing for cripple like me, where
would the mercy have come in, I'd
like to know"
The listener thought of the great
reduction in the mans wages, the
many mouths to feed upon the $25
per month, of hischappy philosophy,
his CHEEKY manner and smile, and
wondered in his heart of hearts if
honest Tom Owens was not entitled
to the name shero?"
"Yes," thoughtfully, it was in the
line of duty that / got the Lords per-
mission to go about on one good leg,
but you see, sir, if I had never met
with that accident and been assigned
to this very crossing, soul one night,
all unprepared, might have been hur-
ried into eternity"
There was a simple earnestness in
the speakers words and manner which
attracted the regard of his listener,
impressing him with the belief that
in the fagman's soul lived conscious
ness of having done something far
nobler and higher than his mere SIM
pie duty.
You'd like to hear the storys' aft
er pause. 'Well, just take my stool
here in the sentry box and I'll be
pleased to tell it, sir, in as few words
as possible
IT is something nigh onto two
years now" he began, when one
pretty cold night in December I sat
doing BY the fire IN my Little house
over yonder. I sat there. half asleep
and half awake, not disturbed by the
children's chatter around me tillnigh
onto nine o'clock. I had about con
cluded to so to bed then, but as ] still
sat there, the heavy rumbling of a |
team as it neared the crossing here
struck my ear, 1T was no unusual
thing for teams to be returning from
Cincinnati at that honr, of course,
but I listened as I had got into the
habit of doing even ii my sleep. I |
sometimes think, sir ffor the nauffied |
thunder Of the horses hoofs as they !
passed through the Duck creek bridge
over yonder, to the pike beyond.
Something within the room at
that moment attracted my attention, |
SO that il was full fFe minutes be-
fore / thought Of the team again.
Did you hear that wagon goI
through The BRIDGE asked my el-.
dest daughter, dimlI conscious some
how that I had not.