Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1903-02-27

expends j. handsome sum each year
putting its service into summer use.
The wires have to be fastened to the
rocks and on the ground and a daily
vigilance is alone the price of their
service.
do ever get lonesome?" said Mrs.
Howe. We'll. that depends on what
you mean by the word. 1t means
whole lot more to me than the common
acceptance of it by many. should
be lonesome if l kept from spending
my winters on the mountain. You.
must remember that this has been a
lifes' work with me and 1 reilly en-
joy it very much. We prepare for the
life early and experience has taught us
how to regulate things to nicely. we
know about what we will want to eat
and we have a lot of work to take up
the long evenings. There is the
Homework to attend to during part OF
the DAYS and the thousand and one
other things that come to every one
who looks for something to do. We
read. sew and eat. Occasionally We
have a chance to look outside and then
we see sunrises and sunsets that you
would hardly dream about. We don't
have rats, mice or tramps to bother us,
and that is something, and then there
is an absence OF social duties. Visit
ors are few and far between. There
is no danger of thieves taking the
property that we are guardians over
until spring"
Mrs Howe is sunshine enough to
cheer a more desolate place than her
winter home if such place could be
found While loyal to her trust, she
freely admits that she is glad to hear
the "Halloa' of the first shovelers in
spring. Every one knows her and
there is always a rivalry among the
men to be the first one to speak to her.
Up to this time there have been no
tragedies or deaths in the little home.
Nothing to report to the men who break
upon her solitude but a pleasant and
happy greeting. In the summer she is
equally as welcomed by the train men
on their trips because of good cheer
and jokes.
A pretty story of Mrs. Howe is told
by the residents of the mountains.
Two summers ago a fond mother and
her beautiful child were the attrac-
lions of a party of tourists which left
the train at Saddle Rock to pick up
specimens and hunt tiny flowers dur
ing the half-hOur wait of the train.
The little one wandered away from the
party and it was some time after the
train departed that Mrs. Howe found
the addition to her family. She knew
that a special train would be run back
| to the spot and she decided that her
20 ha and
also the anxiety of frantic parent.
She went to her shed and brought
| out the railroad toboggan with which
| she most always made her descents.
| Swapping the little one to her back
| she started the machine. Like shot
from a gun the two were soon sliding
at the rate of a mile a minute past
| the rocks and trees that line the road
| At the halfway house she slackened
| speed enough to shout to the operator
| to notify the office below that she was
| on her way down. Then off again with
| a lump that seemed as if it would land
in eternity. The little girl almost per-
| ished with fright. Just above the
| station at Manitou anxious watchers
| kept their eyes on the curve in the
road. Soon they saw a speck fly
around the massive rocks and in
| twinkling Mrs. Howe and the CIR
were in their midst and a frantic moth
er was hugging her child.
| To those who watch with interest the
efforts of the city authorities in clear
| ing the streets and structures of the
| city from snow the sight of the clear
| ing this railroad for the first traffic oil
| the summer would seem a strange
sight. Vast drifts are encountered as
| deep as some of the big buildings OF
this city are high. Science and ex-
perience have made the task easy in q
certain way. 1t is done by rolling tne
snow into big balls, some of them as
| big as a house. that are sent whirline
away into the depths below the
| tracks. When the snow is soft enough
these enlarge as they roll and make
the noise of an avalanche in theil
descent. They go miles at times
finally shattering against trees and
| rocks