The Ordway new era., 1909-08-06


swung up into the cab of the loco
motive at Colon and cuddied uown on
the warm leather seat with nod Of
recognition and a handful OF Pana
maniac money to the engineer. II is
not every evening that one gets the
chance of riding from the Atlantic to
the Pacific In the cab OF 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 n railroad down in
West Virginia where the curves are
coal into the headlight of his own en-.
sine.
The track from Colon. Panama. is
what railroad men call red-hot
track; that Is. 1t Is jammed all day
long with passenger trains. ten cars
to train. and trains Of fiat cars load
ed with dirt from the Culebra excava-
ton. 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 S2.4O. Our special train whirled
through station after station-about n
mile apart-and the buzzards hoped
OF the track and the other regular
traffic 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. bejucca
vines and ceiba trees. AS you leave
Colon it's hard to tell where the green
scum leaves on and the solid land be-
gins Everything Is green-a poison
GUS, verdigris green.
The main thoroughfare OF the Pana
ma railroad swings around quite out
side the Culebru cut. sending spur
tracks into 1t to fetch the spoil away.
From Paraiso you can look back be-
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 It was too
dark to see more than the vague out.
line Of Gold hill and then directly In
front of us the moon rose. round and
pumpkin yellow. as our locomotive
charged up hill toward the east, and It
really seemed as though we were 60
ing to take a header right straight
into the moon, when we should get to
the top Of the grade.
So we rocked and reeled onward
through the soft flooding moonlight,
and at all the stations near to Pana-
ma the platforms were crowded with
Americans In evening dress and their
partners in white muslin and chiffon,
waiting to take the regular train to
Panama, to attend the new years
dance Of the Culebra club. So when
we got to Panama and had clam
bered down out of the cab and said
my grimy and perspiring adieu to
their satanic majesties of the hrottle
and the firebox-there was the Tivoli
hotel, where the dance was to be held.
ablaze with light and festooned with
bunting and vines and all manner Of
creeping things. all ready for the
fiesta.
ran upstairs and put on a boiled
shirt and black coat, with two tails
to It, and the usual evening regalia of
one who Is condemned" to live in the
midst Of a clean and shaven race"
When I got down stairs band over
in the corner was vigorously going IT,
There was no plano. but they had
about IN trombones. violoncello. a
flute and the parts Of several violins
It really made very tolerable music.
At a few minutes before 12 o'clock
when turned In. the dancers we're
still hopping and gliding about. Sud.
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 in an up
roar. The Chinese were setting of
long strings of firecrackers; the bull
hide drums and tambours. the tin cans
full Of stones. the barking dogs and