Ceredo advance. [volume] (Ceredo, W. Va.) 1885-1939, 1909-08-25

1 swung up into the cab Of the loco
motive at Colon and cuddled down on
the warm leather seat with a nod of
recognition and a handful of Pana-
maniac money to the engineer. 1t is
not every evening that one gets the
chance of riding from the Atlantic to
the Pacific in the cab of a locomotive
The distance from sea to sea at Pana-
ma is A miles. The Panama railroad
curves some and in one or two places
l was reminded of a railroad down in
West Virginia where the curves are
so sharp that the fireman often throws
coal into the headlight of his own en-
CINE.
The track from Colon, Panama, is
what railroad men call red hot
track; that Is. 1t is damned all day
long with passenger trains, ten cars
to train. and trains of flat cars load
ed with dirt from the Culebra excaya-
uon- AT night the freight goes
through from the big ships waiting on
one side to vessels at the wharves on
the other. 1t takes two hours and a
half to cross the isthmus and the fare
is $40. Our special train whirled
through station after station-about a
mile apart-and the buzzards horned
on the track and the other regular
tralnc stood aside to let us pass. To
right and left the rank vegetation
crowded right up to the rails-cocoa.
nut palms and banana trees. beiucca
vines and ceiba trees. AS Won leave
Colon it's hard to tell where the green
M
gins. Everything is green-a poison
Gus. verdigris green.
The main thoroughfare of the Pana.
ma railroad swings around quite ont.
side the Culebra cut. sending snur
tracks into 1t to fetch the spoil awav
FROM Paraiso you can look back he.
tween the mighty walls Of the cut with
terrace after terrace. where the steam
shoVels stand. eating out seven or
| eight tons OF clay at every bite. On
this particular occasion il was too
dark to see more than the vagina out-
line OF Gold hill and then directIv In
front OF us the moon rose, round and
pumpkin yellow, as our locomotive
charged up hill toward the east. and #
really seemed as though we were 90
Ing to take header right straight
into the moon, when we should get IN
the top of the grade.
So we rocked and reeled onward
through the soft flooding moonlight
and at all the stations near tn pspo,
ma the platforms were crowded with
Americans In evening dress and tbeir
partners in white muslin and chiffon
waiting to take the regular train IN
Panama, to attend the new years
dance OF the Culebra club So whom
we got TO Panama and I had clan
Dered down out OF the cab and said
my grimy and perspiring alden IN
their satanic majesties OF the brottIe
and the firebox-there was the TIvoII
hotel where the dance was tn no boId
ablaze with light and festooned with
| bunting and vines and all manner -
creeping things. all ready for the
/ fiesta.
| j ran upstairs and put on a boiIed
| shirt and a black coat. with two tans
/ TO 1t, and the usual evening regaIia n,
one who Is condemned" TO live I'm tho
midst OF "clean and shaven r,,, .,
! When ! got down stairs a band ovor
in the corner was vigorously going I,
| There was no piano. but tbev bad
about IL trombones, violonceIlo n
flute and the parts OF several vioIins
IT really made very tolerable music
At few minutes before - o'clock
when turned I'm. the dancers were
still hopping and gliding about. sYd.
denly the whistle of the ice plant and
the bells of the cathedral found out
that the new year was born and then
the whole town at once was I'm an nm.
roar. The Chinese were setting off
long strings of firecracker-; the bun.
hide drums and tambours. tae tin cans
full Of stones. the barkfsg dogs and