The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1905-08-18

SpOt, Willie OluCiS, sweating OF cry
ing. were taking up collection. Enough
money to fill Baptist preachers stove
pine hat was raised in two minutes.
Mamie thanked everybody in sweet.
bewildered way, but told them that her
mother was dead, and that there was
no one to care for the children and run
the house in the absence of her father
but herself.
Told Her Story.
With the modesty of the violets by
her side, the girl talked shyly of her
family affairs, and explained why it
would be impossible for her to accept
the many kind offers showered upon
her for a home in big house, with serv-
ants to wait upon her and piano to
play after she had learned music and
other things.
She accepted the money however. be-
cause it was pressed upon her. and they
told her that she could do what she
pleased with it. 1t was all hers, they
said.
Like a dutiful daughter, she gave every
penny of it to her father, who is an in
dustrious and honest man. Instead of
going on a North Carolina spree to
drink moonshine whisky and have big
time with the boys at the crossroads,
he went further down the mountain and
bought the sweetest little home you
ever saw. There is patch of grass
around the house, fine area of farm
land under cultivation, with the clearest
of trout brooks flashing down frnm the
glens above to irrigate the crops during
dry seasons.
In New Home.
1t is an ideal place, where the blue
bells and violets bloom all the season,
where the skies are as blue as in Italy,
and the air is crisp and tingling with
health.
1t was in this new home that Mamie
and her father settled down with the
children the other day, and were six
times happier than Texas ranchman
with 100 square miles of land and cattle.
In this particular case it seemed as
if virtue were really its own reward
There was only one possible thing that
the girl hoped for, and that was an edu-
cation. Like all resolute minds who
read. she was ambitious for knowledge
of books and the world she dreamed of.
Such was the situation in that quiet
mountain home near the wonderful re-
gion of Asheville, where the Vanderbilts
and other millionaires have their pal
aces. when the unexpected happened A
80 10 n
company appeared and said the corpora
ton was anxious to offer the girl SUBJ
stantial and permanent reward for her
courageous foresight in saving the train
in that awful emergency.
Wanted Only Education.
TIL girl said that she wanted nothing
now that she had a home, except an edu-
cation; but she little thought that any
thing short of a miracle or a cloud of
angels from Heaven could bring that
wonderful thing about Then the rail-
road man told her that she should go
to college at the company's expense and
receive first-class up-to-date education.
In the bewilderment of this astounding
information when everything in the
world seemed dancing to fairy music,
she began talking of her brothers and
sisters and asking herself what would
become of them. 1t was explained to
her that with education she could easily
look after them.
So it came about that the matter was
speedily arranged, and in that longest
and most beautiful of all the sunny
days of the girls life she learned that
she was to begin her education at the
Asheville Normal Collegiate institute.
1t would take diamond-pointed pen
with an ink pot full of rainbows to begin
to describe the joy of the girl and her
household over their wonderful good
luck in saving the train full of people
and in getting pretty little mountain
farm, with first-class college education
thrown in. But that seems to be the
way they do things on great occasions
down among those mountains near
Asheville. N G.
Her Presence of Mind.
81 was listening to hear the train go
by when the landslide came" said Nam
ME, as she afterward described the incl
dents in what was to prove to be the
great and memorable day of her life.
81 knew by the sun that it was pretty
near the time. was listening for the
train to go along so as to put the potatoes
on. If you put them on when the
train goes by they are cooked just right
when daddy comes home to dinner So
when l heard the noise of the landslide
knew that it must be almost train
time. That's what made me hurry so
and run down the track to stop the
train. | didn't feel very sure that
could stop it, because the trains never
do stop here. l was afraid that the
engine driver wouldn't pay any atten-
ton to me even if l did get there in
time He might not know what meant
and didn't know how to signal to have
it mean STOP
Telling Time by Trains.
In sparsely settled mountain commu-
mites, like that where Nannie's home
was, clocks and watches are scarce
things. The sun is the most frequently
consulted timepiece, and in many cabins
the only one.
However, cabins located near the rail-
road are considered to be especially ia
vored, as the trains go by at certain'
hours, and their passing answers the
purpose of a town clock. When the up
express goes along the mountaineer