The Owosso times. (Owosso, Mich.) 1897-1926, 1913-05-30

ufe ike SOluleTS uSutiiS Deulnu DTedSt-
works. Unfortunately brave. Jim might
have gone out to the place when not
ON duty, made an excuse to call on the
woman. find out II she were single and
court her, If he liked her, In the regu-
lar way. But he was not up to this.
So he laid plan for attacking her
while travelling by on his locomotive.
She could not strike back, for she
could not get at him. With his hand
on the throttle he felt like warrior
graspipg sword.
On several occasions during the sum-
mer this lone lady was in that part
Of her grounds nearest the track when
Jim passed. and safe In his cab he
made bold to look at her admiringly.
How she took this evidence Of interest
in her he could not tell, but she gave
no evidence of being displeased
with 1t. Jien was not bad looking
fellow, and If any profession requires
strength and nerve that Of engine driv-
ing surely does. But Jim was not
conscious Of the advantage this would
give him with a woman.
Jim nailed several boards together,
making surface about four feet by
three. On one side he chalked Good
morning and on the other Good even
ing" He took the board with him in
his cab and waited for time when the
woman whose acquaintance he wished
to form was in the yard and looking at
the passing train, as she often did.
Then he prepared to swing out his
message. displaying the appropriate
side.
An opportunity occurred on his In
run. The woman was standing In her
doorway and was looking at the train.
jim took mp his message and held 1t
where she could see 1t. But she was
not looking at the engine and failed to
notice this beginning Of correspond
ence. But Jim tried it again and again
till one morning he saw her laugh and
knew that he had attracted her atten-
ton. He hoped that when he passed
her house on his return trip he would
get reply, but this was not to be eX-
pected. She might alone read mes
sage from Jim. but all on the train
could read message from her to him.
One morning when he passed he saw
something white in one of the upper
windows. 1t would not attract the at
tention of any one except the one for
whom it was intended. and Jim felt
confident that 1t was meant for him.
Jim made inquiries about the woman
and learned that she was Il young wild
ow who had been q dressmaker, but,
having greater taste for country life
and q small bank account of savings.
had rented the cottage with view to
getting a living out of it either by
chickens or vegetables. She had no
children and was an orphan. without
brothers or sisters.
Jim thought Of great many things
he would like to say to her in chalk
letters, but a reply would be too con-
spicuous to he considered, so he was
obliged to make up his mind to beard
the lioness in her den. 1t did not re-
quire much bravery to call upon wo-
man who had waved to him from her
window, but the moment he left his
cab he seemed to lose all courage
However, he was not up to facing
the widow without some kind Of an
nouncement and wrote the following
note with carpenters pencil on the
bottom of cardboard box:
I'm coming to see you next Sunday. If
you don't want me to, put out a notice.
One day when passing and having
the woman's attention he threw the
curve farther on, looked back to see
her pick it up.
When Jim went by the place again
he saw a sign in the yard, "No Tres
passing on These Premises on Sun
day."
Jim's heart sank within him till he
saw the widow at window waving ut
him. But even this did not convince
him that the sign in the yard was to let
him know that his message had been
received and the waving was to assure
him that he would be welcome.
When Sunday morning came round
the sun rose bright and shone straight
into Jim's heart. He put on his best
clothes and made himself look as at
tractive as possible. He would have
liked to go on his visit as soon as he
had finished his breakfast, but had
the discretion to give the widow time
to do her chores and the usual Sunday
morning tidying up. About 10 o'clock.
finding that the minutes were going
like hours. he could wait no longer.
When he approached the house the
widow saw him coming and met him
at the gate.
Jims call was success. The widow
had good dinner for him. and neither
she nor Jim was disposed to a long
delay in coming to an understanding.
Jim wanted home and the widow
wanted man for companion, pro-
tector and partner. Before Jim left the
preliminaries were settled-that is.
Jim was to call often. and they were
to take steps to find out something
about each other.
In month they were engaged, and
in the fall they were married. The
next spring Jim spent more money on
the house and a good deal Of labor on
the grounds Mrs. Jim chose chicken