Warren sheaf. [volume] (Warren, Marshall County, Minn.) 1880-current, 1908-06-11

The evening train whistled IN from the
west. with mail, passengers, few
workmen, much forage and supplies.
Coils P.'s done the job! cried the
first trafnman to enter the hotel. His
little game O. talk with the president
won the tin. The bonds are issued!"
When was it," asked Sally B., ex-
citedly.
"Oh. weeks ago, probably It was
done fore Andy Johnson went out Of
the White House, anyway"
How much bonds?"
1.-TWO million four hundred thou
sand," the man said, rolling out the
words slowly and respectfully.
A small sum enough for eyes that
read to-day. Yet to railroad of the
present, forty millions could not mean
more than that sum meant to the
struggling Central Pacific.
! " The train came in from the Front, a
lot of empty cars humping over un-
settled track. Tonight came Louis
! McLane, a distinguished-loo looking gen.
tleman; yet great man as he was, and
earnestly as Sally B. tried to make
him comfortable, other matters over,
Swallowed him.
Then U. P. fellers laid seven and
half miles of track the other day."
The story ran from lip to lip.
Huh! bet game rooster George
Gregory'll beat that when the iron
! comes. It's on the way now, they
say" Sally B. looked challengingly
about
/ Waiting at table did not prevent her
: keeping up with all the railroad news,
| it rather aided her in doing so; and
her comments were a sort of daily oral
editorial that most of her patrons be-
lieved in, and all enjoyed
"The U. P.'s discharged IL engi-
neers cause they wouldn't run at
night" another loquacious diner re-
marked.
Don't wonder they refused" man
from the east replied. "The grades
are ticklish; the track amt half fin.
ished, to say nothin' O. being settled;
and the Injuns are raisin' Cain in
triplets"
"That's the way it's been all the
time over on the U. P.," second
stranger added. "Workmen never have
had the proper protection. I was on
the Denver line, and the chief of con-
struction telegraphed for more force,
saying. I have to fight while 1 dig
But the company didn't help him out.
Why, we had ten Injun fights in ten
weeks. From one to seven white men
killed every time. It wasn't fun, you
can bet!"
Esther was in the dining room and
heard. The dreadful day at the stage
station came to her. Across the way
violins began to twang, arousing
Esther from her reverie. The callers
voice came clear, and the low, seduc.
tive rumble Of dancing feet. One by
one the men finished eating and went
out The voice of the town called
louder and louder. Esther wondered,
were she man, If the calls would
seem hideous as now; or would she,
! !,
look around, join the fringe of the
curious onlookers, be caught by the
siren, Temptation, and drawn into
the human vortex, carried down
down!
Of all the guests, Mr.. McLane alone
was left. He ate slowly in dignified
silence, pried upon internationally by
Vic Wah. The wheedling voice of the
| town had no fascination for Mr.. Nc
Lane. He went at once to his room,
attended by Sally B.
Then the two women chatted a little
longer. when Esther, still tired from
her night spent sitting up in the car,
went to her bed.
But not to sleep. Unhindered by
tent walls the drone of the fiddles
came in at her open window; and the
clink Of glasses, the rhythmic beat of
many feet the voices of the dancing
girls between sets. How had she
shown thankfulness for the boon of
health. of friends, training, wealth.
all that was between her and these
poor girls? Had she not wasted her
days in idle longing? Among even the
noisy dancers yonder might there not
be some one better, according to her
miserable opportunity, than she her
self had been with her wider chance?
1t should be so no longer! When the
last tie was laid she would return to
her home, her city. She would cease
her foolish waiting for Alfred; and
somehow, wherever the way opened,
she would work for those less fortu-
nate than herself, would put herself
On record for. the better side of life.
A peace long unknown stole over
her; and she slept TRANQUILITY. .>
| ~(CONTINUED NEXT WEEK)