The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-10-09
with the assurance that his listener
was as big IL liar as himself.

was as big IL mar as hlmSelf.
Above all this hung the woman's
hat and, as the talk went round,
wondered again rs 1 glanced at it
among it's coils Of tissue paper ropes,
SO high as to be out of reach, in this
strange place.
The talk was about wrecks, natur-
ally.
YES" the engineer was saying, I'm
a jumper all right Somehow when
see trouble ahead, ] do all L can and
light out. By preference | light on
my nose in ditch---but once / sprain-
Ell an ankle. It's just natural with
me. L do it without thinking"
That's right chimed i'll another
'"Member the time that ding-dongeo
switchman gave me the go-ahead and
sent me into the Union Station sc
burned fast / thought we wouldn't stop
till we got to the Park Hotel! Jump
Before we got to the gates at the street
crossing. Just naturally wore out my
knees and picked UP more splinters
than a porcupine-and then, blame
me, if old ninety-nine didn't bump into
the block and stop like a lamb!"
Funny wreck today" chimed in an
othe". "OEe Hundred and Ten and
Hundred and Sixty-Nine were running
along together. Porter on front train
making up berth, touched bell cord;
train stopped and before they could
find out what the trouble was and get
going. One Sixty-Nine was on EN-.
Smashed q private car and killed the
fireman. Sorter like that wreck be-
low here"
why don't somebody send home
that hat?" spoke one of the conduc-
tors, and then l knew. YES" he said,
when l asked him; that belonged to
the lady that was killed in that wreck.
l saw her take that hat off when her
train stopped here and sort of fix her
hair. She had been up in the moua-
tains and she was going home. They
brought the body back here and sent
it home I don't know why they
didn't send the hat"
And there it was in the restaurant.
the tasteful, modest little hat of grey
felt, with its motherly little feather
of brown on the side, half-tmld
concession to her childrens' plea that
she was still young, a patient purpose
to be gay as payment for this trip to
the mountains on which her husband
had insisted. And she had been gay.
too, this little mother homeWard
bound, when she had taken off the nat
to fix her hair, to shake off something
Of the dust of travel Her cheeks had
flushed as she sat like little grey
mouse in the corner of the big seat,
among the people who jostled up and
down the aisleS and read papers and
books. She held book, too, but she
did not care to read. She was looking
from the window, as she had been all
The way from the mountains, and as
the hills slipped away behind the train
and the country commenced to get flat
ter and fiatter and the fields bigger and
the woods to- be the struggling pine
and thick black-jacks that looked SO
much like home, her eyes grew bright
and filled with tears.
1.-TWO months away" she was think
ing; 1.-TWO months away and the money
spent on my health. Maybe I'm better
but think of what it might have done
az home-Oh, but they were good to
send me, only l ought not to have lei
them do it, And then-"click, click
! click, click'-nearer home-neareI
home,' sang the rhythmic trucks be-
meath the coach-"ooh! ooo-h!" went
the whistle-"over the creek-now for
, the river"-"over the creek-now
for the river''-click-clic nearer
/ home" Little grey mother Struggled
closer in the corner Of the b. g seat and
smiled.
Surely they got my telegram say
ling l was coming" she thought-and
| then, there was a Sickenlng heaVe OF
| the car, an instant's sound of grind
! irg, crashing wood, a gust of hot
steam, another swing of the car, a
scream from hundred threats Of Ter
ror and little grey mother lay jam
med in between two heavy seats and
the splintered window out of which
she had been looking framed a rock
that lay at the bottom of the gorge!
| And there was her hat-brave, mod
est, cheerful, patient little hat.-With
its brown feather, hung against the
walls among the tissue paper. Only
the brim showed that there had been
an accident; sharp crease pictured
how it had been bent back and put in
place again. That and the veil, which
some great hand that had fought its
way with axe and saw into the wreck
10 save, had pinned back upon the
felt with clumsy reverence for the
dead Just the hat upon the wall, but
as we looked, it seemed that we could
see the woman too. The men began tC
move towards the door.
WAS she Il began and paused
not knowing how to say it before the
face of that hat.
mo" said the conductor, "she didn't
have mark upon her."
And / thought the hat seemed glad
CT that, for those to whom the tele-
gram had gone.
/ "Click- click'-so near home.
~ n m ~