The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1904-09-02

Ia TN sns ST - ll,,,. tsskz. shs anks
isresolved to suspend trahic generaliy en-
the road till they paid some attention
to- her. For this purpose she secured
an old red flannel shirt, and hitchina
It on the end Of an AZ helve, began "a
| flag all the trains going up the grade
industriously. +. s. SO .
You killed my muley COW, and
you've got to pay for, her, she said,
| when the trains came to a standstill.
Il won't take less'n SGT for her. = It "a
not necessary to state what the train
hands said. .:,+$z s, =s ..5s$SZ
The railroad men finally didn't pay.
any attention to her red flag at all, So
! far as stopping went, but as nobody
! knew just when she might, decide to.
do something serious, like piling up
stone wall on the track, for instance,
they watched that flag with consider
able curiosity. '5,'' - e Essas .. .zs
And at last she did decide to do
something. It was one Tuesday night.
She put the boy to bed early; then she
prepared for action. ii : - ~ ts.
Filling two buckets from the half
barrel of soft soap always kept on tap.
and taking bucket in each hand, Mrs.
Bilger started out into the dark, and
walked half mile up the grade. Then
she artistically applied her soft soap
to about quarter OF q mile Of the
| track - ~.
The next train was a freight due
from the east about nine o'clock. She
was late that night, and she came
down that grade for all she knew how.
When she struck that soft soap she
| slid ahead like a comet rollicking
through space: the engine rocked from
side to side like steam launch in 4
storm. The engineer saw there was
something wrong in minute, and
whistled down brakes" ferociously.
The brakemen put on enough power
on the brakes to lift her right of the
tracks and hold her suspended in the
air, but she just plunged ahead through
the darkness, squirting soft soap on
| all the surrounding landscape. y
cts that blamed Bilgers woman
again!" yelled the engineer to the fire.
man. whats she done now?"
"Oh, my Cod" said the fireman.
thinking of his family; "how do ]
know"
Then they both held onto the sides
Of the Keeling cab and hoped hard.
The engineer swore arpeggios to a sort
of running obligato on the whistle
The train went by the station like q
demoniac steam calliope escaped from
a circus, with frightened rain tan~
hanging on the brake of eve-y other
car. When they finally storped, two
miles down the road, the engineer said
he never had such an awful feeling in
his life-only he didn't say it tAat way.
The fireman was quite seasick e.
The worst of it was, they didn't have
the least idea what allied them, because
| by that time all the soft soap was worn
off the wheels. They hadn't the time
to look around, anyway, because they
had to get down on the next siding for
the through ten o'clock passenger
train. ~
| The express was extra heavy that
night, and the engineer had a horri-
bic rate of speed on her when she
reached the grade. Nevertheless, when
she struck it she stopped short within
two lengths. To the wild dismay Of
the engineer, the big drivers of his
engine just whirled around and around
like top. The engine couldn't get up
that grade any more than a man can
lift himself by his boot STRAPS. Final
ly the engineer stopped her and he and
the fireman got out to investigate. Up
the grade in front of the engine the
rails, in the beams of the headlight,
stretched in two strangely glistening
lines.
| by thunder!" exclaimed the fire.
man, STOPPING down; ''it's soft SOAP !"
"Now will you pay ME for my muley
cow" said voice from the darkness.
IF you don't, you'll never run your
darned road again."
| 1t was Mrs. Bilger. Her price had
risen to $87.
1t so happened tina. very impor-
tant person was on this train, no less
important a person, in fact, than the
president of the road. He was in a
hurry, too, and he came out of his spe-
cial car to see what waz going on, just
as Mrs. Bilger arrived on the scene.
well, what's the matter here?" said
the president.
soft soap, sir" said the excited en-
gineer; this woman's been daubing
up the track with soft soap SO we
can't run the train, because she had
her darned COW killed and they won't
pay for it, ..
eyes, they WILL said Mrs. bigger;
"and it'll cost 'em $87-not a cent
less"
Mrs. Bilger felt she was in a posi-
ton to dictate, and she proposed to
do SO. The railroad president appre-
ciated the situation. &
"Well, my good woman" said he,
don't you think you'd compromise for
little less-say $75?"
|