The Camden chronicle. (Camden, Tenn.) 1890-current, 1903-01-16
ANE CREEK was O railroad
crossing on the S. and G. c.
Railroad, about two miles

* crossing on the S. and G. c.
Railroad, about two miles |
from the division terminal |
at Mercer. 1t was in the midst OF q |
scrubby pine forest, with a sandy road !
crooking out from the trees on one !
side and into the trees on the other. |
There were only two or three houses, |
q little general store with q porch like
the visor of a military cap. and q
school house, all arranged in q scraggy
row along the railroad track.
A dozen trains whirled through
Kane Creek every day with only a
Shrek of greeting and a whipping
wake Of fine sand. Only two of them
paid the slightest attention to the girl
in blue Bingham dress who stood in
the little observation window. One Of
them was the way freight which
stopped at Kane's every time it came
along while the conductor handed the
girl a bundle of yellow papers and
received another like it in return. The
other was the night express, westward
bound from ST Paul, and running at
forty miles anfhour. 1t was q splendid
train-ten cars, with the finest engine
on the'Foad, big Number Six Hundred
Six. AS it's glazing eye flashed around
theabend in the direction of Mercer the
girl in the Bingham dress often thought
of The great train as a powerful and
ferocious beast snorting and roaring
westward on a race with the sun. 1t
was q beast, but it was we'll trained,
and she knew the hand that trained
it. When the train was q mile away
there were always two blasts on the
whistle. Every one else in Kane's
thought they meant simply, 'Wake
up, look outr'--for that is what all
locomotives say at every crossing
but the girl in the gingham dress heard
Hello, Polly" and darted out on the
platform and waved her handkerchief.
AS the great train Numbered nearer a
hand was thrust from the engineer
window, and, although it was usually
dark, she could see the futter Of some
thing white, and oftentimes as the en-
CINE darted past the station she heard
the blurred sound OF q voice and
caught the glimpse Of a grimy face and
q blue jean jacket And then she went
back to her place in the little station
with q sigh Of deep contentment s-'-s"
For it was O moment Of great joy tt
Polly Marshall when her fathers en-
CINE went through Polly was thu
station agent at Kane Creek-any ont
could have told that a woman pre-
sided in the little depot, for was ther
not always a bouquet in the window
and dainty pictures surrounding tn
grimy time tables ON the walls, and
kitten curling upon the doorstep? A
seventeen Polly had gone in as assist
ant to learn biography, and whe
Clark, the agent, was called to Merce
the company had left the Independent
girl in charge She and her fathC
lived in one of the wooden houses
stones throw back from the depot, an
since Polly's mother died they ha
been everything to each other
Engineer Marshall was a big, sileI
man, and his companions, some {
them, thought him gruff and nl-teu
pered, but to Polly he was always te,
der as a kitten. Often when she W;
y a little girl he took her down vii
him to Mercer on his engine, az
while she sat on his black leather Sc
at the cab window clinging on wi
b&th hands. he explained to her no
the big black creature under them w
Started and stopped, what this bra
crank was for, and how, when the @
Ngine sqUeaked here and squealed thel
2 little oil was needed in this cup or
tnat c1evicc. And Polly had learn
TO know On engine as well rs she kne
the neat little pantry in the house
home. indeed. she had more than on
NJ managed The levers and the thrott
alss- 1-ls kerr hnn-v work (