Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1903-04-22

on q quarter of Il turn to carry off the
gas. We lighted our pipes, cooked our
heels on the boiler butt and listened IN
comfort to the bowling blast without.
AS l sat and pulled on my fragrant old
brierwood my gaze became riveted on
the only thing visible, the steam gauge,
like spectral face suspended in the
center of the uniform blackness. The
soothing hum of the blower, the i
warmth and sense of coziness combin- |
ed with the hypnotic effect of my fixed |
gaze, set me to dreaming.
Tomorrow would be Christmas, and
mother was with us. 1t was her first
visit since my marriage. Katie, her
poor little heart a-flutter at the pros
pect of visit from that dreaded in
spector general, her mother-in-law, had
shaved herself nearly to death. Three
year-old Bob had nearly wrecked his
mothers wonderful patience by his
persistent efforts to render her labor
futile, and had fingered" on the runs
for a month to make sure of being
home on this the greatest Christmas
that ever was. For wonder, had
iOt vain. GNSly tAlhS AuO
come out exactly as l had hoped 1t
would. would get home early enough
for Christmas dinner and late enough
to preclude the possibility of being sent
out again before the next day.
A curling wreath of blue smoke float
ing across the face of the gauge arrest
ed the selfish course of my thoughts
and directed them to the boy on the
other side of the cab. Harry Mervin
had been on the road only a couple Of
months, most of which time he had
been firing for me- He was bright,
pleasant and willing. 1t now occurred
to me that | rather liked him, but that
knew absolutely nothing about him.
| 1t wasn't so very many years ago that
l was a strange boy on this same road
myself, and this was Christmas eve. 1
made pretense of getting a light for
my pipe at the gauge lamp and leaned
across the boiler.
where are you going to spend
Christmas, Harry?" I shouted above
| the noise of the gale and the Stating
of the curtain.
The fire glowed brightly in the bowl
of his pipe once, twice, before he an
swered. He leaned against the boiler
on his side SO that could barely dis
Germ his features in the dim light and
replied cheerlessly:
"Oh, in the board'n' house, guess.
Where else? They're agoin' to have
roast turkey an cranberry sauce an
plum pudd'n', hear
l soon knew his story-a stepmother
three months after his own mothers
death and, mentally added, red
headed stepson. He had picked I'D q
Ls5ner1i idea Of firing while beating his
way on here from Wisconsin, and, hap
pening to arrive at our roundhOuse
just as man was urgently needed,
he caught on.
They're callin' U.s." he concluded,
and, giving the bellrope a jerk, he
stepped down to hook up his fire.
When l got coupled up and he
stepped up in the cab again, l said:
1--WE expect to have little time at
our house tomorrow, Harry, and 1
should like to have you come up and
take dinner with u.s.
".rhank you, Alec" he replied. II
will"
There was an inch Of snow on the
rails when l got my orders to run as
an extra, keeping out of the way Of all
regular trains" But Davis, the con.
ductor, said he had nice, light run,
ming train, the cars all loaded with
whiskbrooms and straw hats. / wal
glad enough to hear 1t, for there were
175 miles of iron, slippery with the
heavy falling snow, between old 1871
pilot and home. If l averaged thu
maximum of freight train speed, TWEEN
ty miles per hour, would arrive hom
by o'clock in the morning, but 1t wa
a bad night, and should never b.
able to keep them going ut that gait
SO promised myself not to kick If
got home by noon, very liberal al
lowance.
1t was hard pull out Of Tabor
junction. When the yardmaster hap
pened to be feeling just right, he woul'
J let one of the switch engines get in be
hind train and give her shove 70
half or three-quarters Of q mile, bu
} Davis was no crony of his, SO W
! didn't get it.
1t was fearful night. The gal
howled and the snow drove horizontal
ly, like sand blast. The wind was o
the fireman's side, Which made it pc:
sible for Inc to look out, but all l coul
II see was an impenetrable white scree1
made visible in one small spot by tn
headlight. l had been easing the thro
tie when she slipped-for should nee
all the sand had before got home
until she nearly stalled. That wouldn
do, so gave her a bare taste an
leaned out to hear the gratifyin
crunch Of it under the wheels.
2 Harry gripped my shoulder an
q shouted:
9 Merry Christmas!"
b wished him the same and many {
p them and noticed that it was just
b by the engine clock. She hadn't slippe
@ since l gave her the sand, but was puff
= ing along with suspicious freedom, Il
= we were not up the grade yet. l tol
d the brakeman to go back on top Of tt
p train and see IL the caboose were con
y ing. He went off growing, but |
J went, which was the main thing. Fro
4 the back of the tender he gave II
p what l expected and dreaded, sign
n that the train had broken in two.
Q whistled the flag back to protect IL
rear and kept on. took the cars ha
. to the next siding. four miles away.
II had two more cars than the sidir
J would hold. backed them all in haI
& against the stop block. Then cut IL
p two head cars off, pulled them out
y the switch and backed down the mai
! track with them until the engine WI
behind the two head cars in the sidin
o l had the brakeman cut these two Of
= and stocked" them out on the mai
Q track ahead of the engine. ran ahea
4 until the two cars behind the engiI
Q were over the switch. backed thel
= in on the siding, leaving the other tw
out on the main track. Then l can