The Newtown bee., 1909-06-18
IAN HOUR AND FIFTY MINUTES
 Much May Be Learned Therein
SUCH AS HUMBLE INDUSTRY AND DEVOTION, ROMANTIC
 LOVE AND HITMANITY, AND THE BEAUTY OF THE PRAIRIE.
Anna Deming Gray in The Springfield
 Republican.

"Yes, ma'am-an hour and 50
 minutes" ," said the ticket-agent, not
 glancing up from the ticket he was
 filling out. The ticket was for a
 black-eyed woman with an alarming
 hat, where bunch of bright green
 rooster feathers has been transplant
 ed and bloomed brillantly. l noticed that when at last the
 ticket agent did look up his eyes
 rested in fascinated manner upon
 the bobbing green feathers and not
 upon the woman.
 And do they never make up
 time?" l ventured again. Never,
 madam" said the ticket-agent And
 this time his tired voice had a note of reproof.
 turned hopelessly away, to face a scene which seemed to me totally uninteresting. The wind was blow ing a gale. The little red-painted station seemed to face the west. It held the ticket office and a small waiting room, upon whose uncom- fortable benches women ir all stages of weariness and dust waited for the train. Some of them had babies or small children, who needed to have their faces washed, but whose mothers did not seem to know it. Outside upon the narrow plat form the men paced and eyed each other indifferently. I went outside and walked the length of the plat form.
 An hour and 50 minutes to wait! What an interminable time to spend in a place like this And yet in those specks of houses away off there on the prairie, people lived, had their interests, their narrow lives. Those miles and miles of level prai. ie that seemed to have no limit, and were bound only by the sky line. i were fa;nlliar, even lear perhaps to those who knew them.
 My reverie was interrupted by a 1 crooning voice singing softly and with a perfect melody:
 Dis is der road what we all mus
 tread,
 Trablin' On-trablin' 1n- Follerin' along Whar the Savior led. on-trabIin' on to glory.
 A wagon creaked dismally. Now you JezGell, stan still dar!" said the voice, stopping the chant abruptly You done nose turn dis yere wagon ?bbern
 l walked to the cage of the plat form and looked around the corner of the station. An awning made of red and blue ticking had been tackled to the side of the station, and then stretched to upright posts. Under it was a small table and two chairs. lnd heyonH. tiny gas"lehe steve, where an old negro man was break ng an egg into a pan of hot water. He was short and very bow-legged. md wore over his clothing a white tpron, spotlassly clean and reaching rom his chin to his feet. A little gray donkey, hitched to a rickety art by wonderful combination of trihgs and ropes, was tied a few ards away.
 The man saw me and bent double with a polite gesture toward the mpty chair, that was irresistible. {
 'Is yo all rSady now fur 700 ( erched ag3, lady?" he said. "Ah one got hit all perched on de toast [ Take dar cheer highest ' 0 der wall, so der win won't talk ter { ar offen yoo' hade." S
 have never been in the habit of l ndulging in a poached egg at in 2 he afternoon but at once I felt had t rossed the continent for this pur- I ose. 1 found myself seated at the i are, clean table with square of Y rown toast before me and upon it c
 poached egg, the white done to a lrn, the center ball of gold. Mean nile a steaming and delicious cup V tea had been placed before my t late. q
 10 Suan Will reel Dettah wen yO fl Il eat dat; yes um, ah done iarned 2 DIV ter perch eggs des right. Lilly, le larned ne. She usterrur dis n md of der brsiness. Now she all II 'ippled up wid rheumatism. Des W IS ter stay dar in huh cheer, whar l, It's huh, twill me and Jezbell gifts tck. yes Im She's a nowerfr1 ey- ct -u-tiv- woman, Lilly is. She runs al s yere stan eff she is two miles off I
 dat Til house you kin see way il ndar by dat alfalfa fiel. No um, tc e dos'nt git upset bouten hit. Says W t it's jes her cross, an she's goin ter git all the enlargement outen Il | she kin, yes um. Ali Lilly kin read, she's a powerful lnatnd nrlrrnan I illrr ic rrnr ,,r, n.