The Press., 1919-12-04
5F'3
 Better Days
 0 ."t' + ~~ s-.. 7: By VICTOR REDCLIFFE ..t-. v's5-. 'ii-

$~~~<~~~~~~~~~>~~e~ e~~~~~~~~~>s<$>>l ' Copyright. 1919. by the Western News- paper Union) ' ->s ',' Cuddled up like a mouse, lying up on a rude board bench at the side of an abandoned switch shanty, her hand supporting her head and enmeshed in g mass of loose golden tresses, the girl fast asleep, wore smile upon her face as though her dreams were pleas; ant ones. -.., -s,- 4: She could not have been over eight cen and her worn and ragged shoes and crinkled ribbons were not in ac- cord with the general neatness of her attire. A man lurched by, young like herself, paused and stared hard.
 "Well, this is new one!'' he nut tered. q say little one, wake up! This old switch yard is no place for you." - ' ' -' >,' He had touched one" hand lying loosely over the edge of ,the- bench The girl aroused so magical1y quick and her big blue eyes opened so wide and challenging that Myron Trask, re treated a step or two. ....,. ... ,,
 "That is the 6:15 western dispatch isn't it-can you tell me?" ....
 "T can," nodded 'Trask. "but what have you to do with the :15?"
 gro get into an empty car., It goes to Meriden, my home town, and that Is the only way, unless I walk"
 'T see you have done something in n a 1y .Sfy glancing at her broken shoes, one heel less and its side ripped by a rail splin- ter, the other with a Tapping sole.
 Yes, clear from Chicago. I can't go barefooted as I will soon be if I keep on tramping, SO I was going to steal my way" s
 :. .Myron Trask took a silent survey of the forlorn little figure. He steadied himself erect and breathed hard through compressed lips. See here Miss" he said finally, "I had a sister once and you've set me thinking. ,!IeH me little about yourself and maybe I can help you on your way" -2s9 <:
 "Why, yes, I'll tell you all about it. said the girl with ingenious frank ness. My name is Irma Dalzief. T have been filling little speaking part in Hearts and Homes' Good people, they were, from the manager down. ran away from home to join them They went to pieces last week and there wasn't enough left to pay car fare. I've written father and moth CT that l am through with my foolish 0f and am on my way back to the dear old place I'll never leave again. Oh never-never-never
 So longing, so intense, so rapturous were the accents, so vivid, so rapturous did they frame within the mentality of MyrOn Trask, that he seemed to c6vet such a paradise of relief and joy as if for himself, for Trask was on the seat of contrition and repentance at the present time.
 Strange, Miss" he said in an uncer- tain tone, "but you and I seem to, be in the same boat. I got my dismissal from service last week for going on a bout with the crowd. The road may or may not take me back, but no more of the reckless and silly for me. I've got no money, but tho hotel will give Myron Trask anything he wants, and you're going to go there with me and get good meal. Then you are going to the depot and wait for the 8 IS passenger. I'll put you in charge of old Boyd Wesley, the conductor. Hell see you onto the branch at Aberdeen. At that terminus you'll have only fifty. six miles on the Northern. And when you get back to your dear little home, stay there, and once in a while think of the railroad lads, rough and ready, and sometimes reckless, but with hearts as big as pumpkins when, they see woman needing help." - ,'-.;~ ;.
 "Why you almost make me cry,'' said Irma sOherly. You'd make a. star hit on the. stage with such human interest speech as that. I'll never for get you" Maybe I'd have made a better rec ord and kept straight if I had been lucky enough 10 run across a girl like you," said Myron, with slight catch i in his voice, as he bade her goedby at the depot. "Show this card to what ever conductor you run across,". and he handed her bit of pasteboar5 upon which he had scrawled a few words. "I'm not much just now, but my name will go as far as that of the president of the road with my true pals" :.
 A sudden rush of tears came to the eyes of Irma as she clasped the hand of her benefactor. She leaned towards him and impulsively kissed his bronzed, beard-toughened face with the words: "How your dead sister must have loved you!'' Then moment later she waved adieu to him through an open coach window and for a long time after the train had gone Myron Trask stood refecting, caressing the cheek where that warm kiss of grati- tude had been bestowed.
 It was noticeable by the former reckless comrades of Myron later. that he eschewed their company and idle ness. By some influence he became reinstated with the road and asked for position as station agent and his chosen post was the little town where Irma lived. .s " :.,, ,.-.. ::
 She was not dull girl and she dis cerned a motive in his seeking to be near her. He was frank and out spoken and he emphasized the why and wherefore by a free confession